Around New England

Falmouth Boots Two Turbines For Good

January 16, 2019

Two formerly noisy but now-dormant town-owned wind turbines will never return to Falmouth, thanks to a vote of the Cape town’s selectmen.

Getting rid of the pair is expected to cost the town between $8.1 and $9.6 million, according to the Cape Cod Times. The figures include remaining loan payments on installing them plus the cost of removing them.

The figures don’t include a $5 million loan from the state’s Clean Water Trust. The trust has forgiven $1.5 million of the loan, but the town may be on the hook for the remaining $3.5 million, according to the Cape Cod Times.

Neighbors filed a total of nine lawsuits against the town over the turbines, one of which was finished in 2010 and the other in 2012.

In 2015 the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that the town’s Board of Selectmen needed a special permit to operate, and the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals subsequently denied the special permit.

To try to avoid having to repay the Clean Water Trust loan, the Cape Cod Times reports, town officials may try to find land outside the town that Falmouth can lease to operate the turbines there, or try to find another town willing to take ownership of them and operate them.