Wind turbine not likely to come up at spring Town Meeting – Wellfleet, MA
WELLFLEET Feb 12 2010
Geof Karlson, chair of the Wellfleet Energy Committee, told the board of selectmen at their meeting on Tuesday that it is likely no articles will appear on the spring Town Meeting warrant for the proposed wind turbine near White Crest Beach.
Wind turbine critics Jim Rogers and Dennis O’Connell, who both spoke out against the proposed project at the fall Town Meeting, listened carefully as Karlson spoke about the project.
The two attended the meeting out of concern that Town Administrator Paul Sieloff had placed two articles on the draft of the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting, one of which would seek an appropriation of money to construct a turbine and the other of which would authorize the selectmen to apply for membership in the Cape & Vineyard Electrical Cooperative.
Referring to the articles, which had been put in the warrant as place holders, board chair Dale Donovan asked Karlson, “Is it the recommendation of your committee that these be held until the fall Town Meeting?”
“I think it’s likely that we will be going in that direction,” Karlson said. He added that he believed the funding voters approved for the project last fall was all they need at this point, but said the committee will make this decision at its next meeting.
Rogers had sent a letter to the selectmen raising concerns about these two articles and their possible placement on the Annual Town Meeting warrant when important information about the project is still not known.
“We’re concerned that they will prematurely put something forward asking for money from the town and that this may end up as an article,” Rogers said.
Prior to the meeting, O’Connell said Sieloff may very well have put those two articles in the draft warrant “just to keep people's options open.”
Karlson said that by next fall the committee will have a lot of information it does not have now about the economic feasibility of the project and related environmental issues.
“We will know how the Seashore feels about it, and by then I think we’ll have all the information we’ll need to proceed to the next stage, which would be to construct it or to decide not to do it.”
