Vinalhaven Island Neighbors Win Round in Superior Court

One of the Fox Island Wind turbines on Vinalhaven Island, seen in the moonlight.  The turbines must be lit with flashing red lights to warn aircraft of their presence.

Neighbors living in the shadow and sound-shed of the Fox Island Wind turbines on Vinalhaven Island have been trying to get relief from the debilitating, near-constant noise for two and a half years.  Almost 2 years ago, Maine's Department of Environmental Protection found that the wind facility was out of compliance with the State's noise regulations--but FIW has not been forced to comply.  The story is complicated, but the issue is simple.  The wind facility (FIW) often operates outside the parameters set by law.  The wind facility has not been made to comply.  FIW has been allowed to thumb their noses at Maine Law and at citizens on the Island.  The DEP has not protected the People who are impacted and who have lost their quality of life.

This week, a Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the Neighbors, who petitioned to review the Conditional Compliance Order which DEP's Commissioner issued last summer.  When their motion was filed, FIW then requested the court dismiss the Neighbors' petition. 

Items of note: DEP had issued a Conditional Compliance Order requiring that FIW regularly demonstrate compliance and shut down operations if they weren't in compliance.  The wind facility was also told to post for the public its data on operations, sound and meterological data.  FIW objected to the DEP's order, and "negotiations continued".

Pardon me for this aside...but,  if "Joe Citizen" broke the law--and especially if the law he broke harmed others--he would NOT be allowed to "negotiate"!  How is it that a wind developer is allowed to arbitrarily decide it doesn't need to comply with a Maine law?

Is the system corrupt, or merely incredibly unfair and biased?

The story gets better.  On June 20th, Patricia Aho became Acting Commissioner of the DEP.  Her most recent job was as a lobbyist for Pierce Atwood, the legal firm representing FIW.  Did she recuse herself from having input on the FIW debate once she was directing the agency charged with forcing FIW to comply with DEP regulations?  Certainly not.  In practically her first official action in the DEP, she issued a final Conditional Compliance Order for FIW, and removed the Appendix which required that FIW affirmatively test for compliance, shut down operations when not in compliance, and post their meterological and operational data for the public, which effectively insulated FIW from any further regulation.  This Appendix, so haphazardly thrown out, had been written/recommended by DEP staffers who had worked exhaustively for months on the FIW issue.  In one fell swoop, their hard work was dismissed out of hand.

So, yes; the Neighbors filed a motion to review the Conditional Compliance Order--and FIW filed a motion to dismiss, stating that the Court lacked the jurisdiction to review.  And on March 20, 2012, the Kennebec County Superior Court Justice denied FIW's motion to dismiss the Neighbors' petition to review the Conditional Compliance Order.

Read the New York Times article on this judge's order here. 

To view the decision and other relevant documents, please visit the Fox Island Wind Neighbors website.

Voices of Vinalhaven--A Year-End Update

All across the state of Maine, good people are battling to preserve their quality of life.  The story of Vinalhaven Island is a poignant one. 

It’s also the poster child of what’s gone wrong…. what’s gone wrong with the ‘system’, with our priorities, and with our policies.

Please take a moment to read the year end update published by Fox Islands Wind Neighbors.  And then, please consider speaking out in support of our fellow Mainers.  

Thank you, and Happy New Year.

Vinalhaven Voices--No Longer Willing to Be Ignored

Below is a press release from Fox Island Wind Neighbors.  These folks--some of whom are friends of mine--have struggled for 20 months to get some relief... some justice.  For additional background on this story, including a copy of the lawsuit FIWN has just filed, please visit their website, http://fiwn.wordpress.com/.

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Vinalhaven citizen lawsuit alleges political interference in wind turbine regulatory process at top level of Maine government
Contact: Alan Farago, Fox Islands Wind Neighbors, 207-867-4770


(July 28, 2011 For Immediate Release) Vinalhaven, once only famous for its lobsters, is now also nefarious for demonstrating what happens when wind turbines are improperly permitted too close to homes.

Today neighbors of the Vinalhaven wind turbine farm filed a lawsuit against the state of Maine—after a year and a half controversy-- for failing to enforce noise regulations against Fox Islands Wind, the turbine operator. The neighbors’ lawsuit charges that the decision by Maine DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) on June 30th meant to resolve the year and a half controversy of noise violations by the turbines was arbitrary and capricious and driven by political meddling at the highest levels of Maine government against the recommendation of its own regulatory staff.

The citizen lawsuit documents how DEP abandoned its regulatory mission one step at a time and finally caved to political pressure instead of protecting nearby residents from noise violations that have impacted neighbors’ health, peace and quiet, and property values. The neighbors are asking the Maine court to vacate the politically driven decision and order DEP to go back and follow the recommendations of its own regulators; the effect of those recommendations would have placed the burden of proof of compliance on the wind turbine operator and held the turbine operator accountable for ongoing violations of noise standards.

Since the moment the 3 GE 1.5 megawatt turbines on Vinalhaven began to spin in November 2009, nearby residents complained their quiet properties on the island had turned into dumping grounds for noise pollution in excess of state regulations. Everywhere industrial wind turbines are placed too close to residences, there are complaints. What distinguishes Vinalhaven from other aggrieved victims of wind turbine noise is the extent to which neighbors initiated their own acoustical measurements and engagement with state regulators who admit that state standards fail to capture the acoustical impacts of wind turbines. For a year and a half, Vinalhaven neighbors carefully documented violations of the state noise standard while the wind turbine farm operator, Fox Islands Wind, continuously denied it was breaking state law. The complaint filed today details these facts.

Initially, DEP regulators were willing to use the Vinalhaven problem—where wind shear was a known, significant factor in upsetting noise and acoustic models—to pin down gaps in the state’s protocol for evaluating the noise generated by wind turbines and especially violations at night-time according to the 45dbA standard.

While costs mounted for neighbors, including acoustics engineering and legal resources, state regulators began to assemble a new regulatory schematic to capture the gaps in existing law. At the same time, the Vinalhaven turbine operator launched a strong, politically driven counter-offensive against the regulators. Over time, this push-back from local advocates and finally political intervention by the Office of the Governor overwhelmed the regulators.

“We invited board members of Fox Island Electric Coop to come up and spend a few nights listening to the terrible noise,” says Art Lindgren, who mastered both the methodology and presentation of acoustical measurements taken from equipment often in the dead of night. “None took us up on the offer. Instead we have moved from our home because of the noise.”

Neighbors’ hopes were dashed on June 30th, the date when the Maine DEP approved an operational plan for Fox Island Wind turbines that ignored, in its key details, recommendations of its own staff.  Maine has four major wind farms, including Kibby Mountain in Franklin County, Mars Hill in Aroostook County and Stetson Mountain in Washington County. Rollins is about to commence operation and construction is underway at Spruce Mountain in Woodstock and Record Hill near Rumford. Wherever turbines are sited too close to residences, there are complaints from property owners whose lives have been turned upside down.

Noise from wind turbines has emerged as a serious concern in Maine where the legislature has mandated 2000 Megawatts of power to be generated from renewable energy sources by the year 2015. Financial incentives for wind power include lucrative depreciation benefits for investors. According to a recent report in Forbes, subsidies for wind power per kilowatt energy produced are 200 times the subsidy for oil and gas.

These subsidies provide huge motivation for investors to steamroller environmental protections, including noise pollution. At a recent public hearing in Augusta, one industry spokesperson referred to Vinalhaven has a facility that had given the industry "a black eye". The reason is evidence-- withheld from neighbors in the permitting phase of the project-- that neighbors would likely be subject to very high levels of noise.

The lawsuit alleges a pattern of political interference in the normal regulatory process that had already stretched out more than a year and a half at considerable expense to neighbors. The complaint alleges that the Office of the Governor interceded through the newly installed DEP Director, Patricia Aho, whose immediate prior employment had been with Pierce Atwood, the law firm that represents the wind turbine operator, Fox Islands Wind. Rather than recuse herself, one of her first decisions as newly appointed head of the state environmental agency was to reach around career regulators and change the final compliance protocol according to what Fox Island Wind wanted.

Alan Farago, a neighbor, says; "First DEP agreed with the neighbors that Fox Islands Wind was violating state noise regulations. Then with the turn of the political screw, DEP began ratcheting back the recommendations of its consultant and finally backed out of the decision by its own regulatory staff. This all happened because politics is covering up an energy project of dubious value that is profitable for a prominent Maine investor, Horace Hildreth, while imposing a heavy financial burden on nearby residents who purchased their property for rural peace and quiet and now have health issues, property value destruction, and industrial noise."

A year ago, as a result of ongoing frustration with the state regulatory agency, Farago initiated a petition, signed by 174 Maine citizens, to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging a study of wind turbine noise.  He wrote, "Noise from wind turbines has emerged as a national issue ... State regulations on turbine noise are an obsolete patchwork. As a result, affected individuals, homeowners and entire communities are left without defense. The time for federal regulation of wind turbine noise is long overdue."

In December 2010, EPA turned the petitioners down. The federal agency referred citizens back to Maine regulators; the same staff who were left in the dark on June 30th. Farago says, "The position taken by DEP forced ordinary taxpayers into litigation. We use after-tax dollars while Fox Islands Wind uses its marketing budget to fight us. For the misfortune of being guinea pigs of a new energy economy, we are paying through the nose.”

In a separate matter, the neighbors recently filed a complaint against the Vinalhaven Electric Cooperative with the Maine Public Utilities Commission, charging that the utility had improperly billed ratepayers for the turbine operator's expenses related to ongoing regulatory issues. (https://files.me.com/alanfarago/34e13t) But at this week’s annual meeting of the Fox Islands Electric Coop, news that the utility was required to respond to the Maine PUC by August 1st was not even raised. One defender of the wind turbines said, “We are bending over backwards for the neighbors.” At the same time, the Town of Vinalhaven is considering whether to take back administration of the noise rule for the wind turbines from the state. The town proposes to give the responsibility to the local Code Enforcement Officer; a position that often changes hands and is chronically subject to local influence peddling.

The neighbors hope the Maine court will vacate the decision by DEP, based on evidence that it was an arbitrary and capricious action that violated recommendations of staff. They hope the Maine Public Utilities Commission will look at the serious inequities levied on ratepayers. The neighbors also hope that the US EPA will understand that noise from wind turbines is a major public concern and needs to be regulated so there are no more Vinalhavens. In the meantime the neighbors are weighing other legal recourse to protect their health, peace and quiet, and property.

Voices in Dispute--From the Huffington Post

What follows is an article from the Huffington Post regarding the ongoing controversy on Vinalhaven Island, Maine. As I've watched this story unfold, I have been shocked and saddened by the actions of Fox Island Wind and George Baker, as well as the behavior of a few of the islanders who have gone out of their way to belittle and demean the residents who are suffering from the unexpected effects of the turbines. It is my sincere hope that this community will come together and not let this issue further divide them.

I believe that the time is up for the developer. FIW has had months to comply with the DEP. FIW has refused. FIW has thumbed its nose at the DEP and taken blatant steps to create controversy on the island, pitting neighbor against neighbor.

If you or I did not comply with the law, we'd be arrested and thrown in jail. Are industrial wind developers above the law?

Maine citizens deserve to know the answer to that question.


Wind Power Noise Dispute On Tranquil Maine Island Intensifies

A three-turbine wind farm on the island village of Vinalhaven in Maine has caused a multi-year rift that recently intensified.

While thousands of wind power enthusiasts and industry representatives gather in Anaheim Calif. for Windpower 2011, the American Wind Power Association's popular annual conference and exhibition, some 3,300 miles due east, wind power is tearing a tiny island community asunder.

In the latest turn, an attorney representing several homeowners living closest to a three-turbine wind installation on the tiny island of Vinalhaven in Maine's Penobscot Bay filed a formal complaint with the Maine Public Utilities Commission on Monday.

The complaint charges that the Fox Island Electric Cooperative, the local utility, and Fox Island Wind, the developer of the wind installation which is owned by the utility, have engaged in repeated harassment of the homeowners, who have argued since shortly after the turbines came online in late 2009 that the machines have been in violation of state noise ordinances. That assertion was subsequently supported by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The developer has repeatedly disputed those findings, and the majority of the island's residents support the wind farm, which is seen as a source of eco-pride and sensible thrift, ostensibly saving the island from the need to import pricier power from the mainland.

But Monday's complaint states that the residents nearest the turbines have legitimate concerns that have long gone unheeded, despite multiple attempts to resolve the issue through negotiation, and that instead the local utility has recently upped the rhetorical ante by placing two separate "inserts" inside all islanders' utility bills. The inserts claim that legal expenses associated with the neighbors' noise complaints were costing the cooperative hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that as a result, a 5 percent increase in utility rates was needed.

The announcement caused the neighbors, perhaps not surprisingly, to suffer "retribution, harassment and hostility" from fellow Vinalhaven residents who are not within earshot of the turbines, according to the complaint. The utility's tactic also amounted to what the complaint called "intimidation and an abuse of the powers of a utility."

Vinalhaven became a flashpoint last year for a small but persistent backlash against industrial wind power, as residents living nearest the spinning behemoths became vocal about their experiences.

Like nearly all residents of the island, they supported the idea of a wind farm at first. Yet the Fox Island Wind Neighbors, as the loosely knit group of a dozen or so residents dubbed themselves, said they soon began to worry about the noise, being within a one-mile radius of the project site.

Representatives of Fox Island Wind assured them the noise would be minimal. But as Art Lindgren, one of the neighbors, told this reporter last year, their worst fears were confirmed once the turbines were switched on.

“In the first 10 minutes, our jaws dropped to the ground,” he said. “Nobody in the area could believe it. They were so loud.”

Lindgren's lament has been echoed in jurisdictions across the land, as an increasing number of communities come to weigh the innumerable collective benefits of wind power -- clean, non-toxic, no emissions, climate-friendly, water-friendly, renewable, sustainable -- against some of the downsides experienced by those living nearby.

Indeed, proximate residents around the country have cited everything from the throbbing, low-frequency drone to mind-numbing strobe effects as the rising or setting sun slices through the spinning blades:

Others have gone so far as to describe something called "wind turbine syndrome," arising from turbine-generated low-frequency noise and "infrasound," and causing all manner of symptoms -- from headache and dizziness to ear pressure, nausea, visual blurring, racing heartbeat, and panic episodes -- though the science on these claims is still thin.

And there are still lingering and long-standing concerns over hazards presented by turbines to migrating birds and bats.

At Vinalhaven, for example, a 28-month study conducted by ornithologist Richard Podolsky, who was hired by Fox Island Wind, the project's developer, recently declared the turbines' impacts on local eagle and osprey populations to be negligible.


But in March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent a letter to attorneys representing the Fox Island Wind project, lambasting those conclusions. The letter questioned the study's methodologies for studying eagle, bat and bird collision assessment and mortality, suggesting that they needed to be more rigorous and better-defined and described.

The wildlife regulators asked that new studies be conducted before a permit necessary to allow the project to proceed -- despite the potential for incidental harm to bald and golden eagle species in the area -- is issued. Both are protected by federal legislation.

Meanwhile, the complaint filed on Monday asks the Maine Public Utility Commission to sanction the Vinalhaven utility and Fox Island Wind for the utility bill inserts, and urges them to prevent any similar communications with ratepayers in the future.

It also asks that the state commission prevent the island utility from attempting to raise rates to cover expenses from its dispute with the affected homeowners going forward -- characterizing such expenses as "the product of mismanagement, and reckless conduct."

Queries sent to officials at Fox Island Wind and the Vinalhaven electric cooperative were not immediately returned Tuesday morning. This report will be updated if they respond.