Bourne Residents Wind Turbine Abutters Noise

Dear Selectmen and Town Administrators,   I am writing to you on behalf of the elected Bourne Board of Health members. It has come to my attention that the Town of Duxbury will be voting on whether to approve the purchase of electricity from the future New Generation Wind Project to be constructed in Plymouth. I believe that the Wind Turbines will be constructed on land owned by Mr. Mann in the Plymouth Area.  The Special Permit for the project was approve in 2010.  I have been approached to make comment on Duxbury’s plan to purchase electricity from the proposed Wind Turbines, specifically to make comments related to Bourne existing WECS regulation and any concerns about the potential health impacts to the residents of Bourne from such a project.  Although I have not formally seen a plan of the project, I have been informed that it abuts Town of Bourne property and may affect neighboring residents in Bourne.    I just wanted to make you aware of our Wind Energy Conversion System Regulation  adopted by the Board of Health in 2011 and last amended on March 14, 2012.  These regulations were developed and adopted after almost 9 months of testimony by an applicant intending to construct wind turbines in the Town of Bourne and from opponents of that construction.  My Board members would hope that any construction of wind turbines would be so constructed as to cause no detriments to public health for the neighboring residents of Bourne, if not for your residents as well.  Our Board of Health regulation requires a filing with the Board of Health before any construction of a WECS, information to include an ambient noise study (excluding those WECS with a capacity of less than 10 KW or less than 75 feet in height.  We also require daytime and nighttime noise and modulation standards (see attached regulation). In addition, for any WECS in Bourne, shadow flicker shall not extend beyond the lot lines of the property upon which the WECS is located, although a variance can be requested.    It is my hope that construction of any project in Plymouth will be approved with conditions that maintain the same degree of public health protection that would be achieved if it were permitted in Bourne, especially in regard to the effects any out of town project might still have on Bourne residents. I realize that any vote on the purchase of electricity by Duxbury is not really speaking to the merits or health aspects of the WECS itself, but maybe there can be some consideration of public health implications before any final approvals. The Town of Bourne supports WECS projects as long as the safety and health of the citizens are protected.