Scenery, Natural spots, Historic Objects, Wildlife

...and turbines. Read through, many things to consider as energy committee member resigns

By Kaimi Rose Lum
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jan 15, 2010 @ 11:49 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WELLFLEET — A tempest is brewing over the proposed wind turbine at White Crest Beach.

Last week, vandals absconded with the stakes used to mark the site of the turbine. This week, a large group of Outer Cape homeowners gathered at National Seashore headquarters to voice their objections to the project.

And it appears that the vice-chair of the Wellfleet Energy Committee, which spearheaded the project, has resigned.

The plan, as described by energy committee member Jim Sexton, is to erect a 400-foot wind turbine off Ocean View Drive — on town-owned land within the National Seashore — and divvy up the 5,300 megawatts it produces each year between Wellfleet and nearby communities that could purchase the electricity from the town.

The proposal isn’t official yet, Sexton told the Seashore’s Advisory Commission on Monday; his committee is in the process of completing a study of the noise the turbine is expected to generate as well as a study of its impacts on wildlife as required by the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. And other questions, such as whether the town will be able to use “net metering” to transport and sell the electricity, must be answered before the turbine is a done deal.

But members of Save Our Seashore, a recently organized coalition of home owners in the area, disagree with it in principle. They told the Advisory Commission and Seashore Supt. George Price on Monday that they could not understand why a national park would even consider allowing a 400-foot turbine to be constructed within its boundaries.

“We are completely baffled that this wouldn’t be rejected outright,” said Eric Bibler, a part-time Wellfleet resident who has inundated park authorities with studies and newspaper articles about the detrimental effects of turbines put up in places like Vinalhaven, Maine and Oakfield, Wis. Bibler and others in his group said the turbine plan cannot be reconciled with the inherent mission of the Seashore.

Reading from the Seashore’s charter, Phil Hesse, of North Eastham and Wellfleet, pointed out that that mission “‘is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future generations.’”

Hesse said, “I have a problem with how that is compatible or congruent with industrial development in the park.”

Francie Williamson, an Eastham homeowner, said the push for wind energy is misguided if it fails to recognize that conservation is still essential. “I would like to implore the Advisory Commission to take your charge very seriously. This is a very tiny area of land,” she said of the Outer Cape, with “hardly anything left” for the flora and fauna. “I think the Seashore has a role to play in protecting whatever open space is left.”

Supt. Price noted that the Seashore must manage both conservation and use of its land. “We have to utilize these parks,” he said. He added that a wind turbine in the park “is looked as a utility,” falling into the same category that a water tower built in the Seashore might fall.

Price did not downplay the “very sincere, heartfelt testimonies by people who really care about the area” that he has read or heard. Although such testimonies should be directed to the town of Wellfleet at this point, he said, “Certainly as an advisory commission and a national park we have to take these issues seriously as well.”

“The park service’s position is that the project ought to be reviewed, and as material comes out on the project it will be our responsibility to evaluate the issues,” Price said. Seashore staff have already completed research on the effect the turbine will have on the northern harrier population, and the park’s “noise people” are doing an analysis of the turbine’s acoustical impacts.

That emotions are escalating over the project was apparent not only at Monday’s meeting but when the Wellfleet Police Dept. reported Thursday that someone has been destroying or removing the stakes used to survey the area for the turbine.

In an interview on Tuesday, Wellfleet Board of Selectmen chair Dale Donovan said he thought the opposition is jumping the gun. He pointed out that “a lot of variables” exist and that there is no official proposal at this time to build a wind turbine.

“I think the selectmen and the energy committee think it is a very good idea to pursue the possibility [of a turbine],” he said, “but I don’t think anyone has made a final decision on whether or not it’s a good idea to go ahead and build one because we don’t have the information yet.”

Donovan said he thinks the opposition is “unfairly going after the Seashore, because, yes, they may have a role in this but it is a town project for municipal purposes on municipally owned land.” And unlike wilderness parks that are less integrated with their adjacent communities, such as Yellowstone, the Seashore “exists to some extent because of the arrangements that were made with private owners ... and one of those agreements was that the town would retain significant chunks of land,” he said.

Donovan added that the energy committee has gone to great lengths to respond to the opponents’ concerns, “way beyond the normal kind of response that a volunteer committee like the energy committee would engage in.”

The challenges related to the turbine plan may have been a factor in the resignation of one member of the energy committee. Former vice-chair Griswold “Gooz” Draz stepped down on Jan. 1.

“Unfortunately, I now believe this particular proposal for a municipal wind turbine cannot be accomplished without causing disruption to ourselves here, individually and collectively, as a thoughtful and caring community; one that makes us desirable to visit and live in, as well as volunteer to serve on town boards,” Draz wrote in his resignation letter.

“I can now only hope that this proposal and investigation is concluded in a reasonable way, rather than in a way that unnecessarily divides us.”

Provincetown Banner