copy to Barbara Gray and all members of the Planning Board, all members of the BoS, Town Manager,paul Sieloff, all members of the Board of Health, all members of the WEC.
To Barbara Gray, Chair and The Wellfleet Planning Board:
I urge you to walk the area in the National Seashore which is threatened by the planning of a wind turbine. I believe that the National Park has been a tremendous asset to the town of Wellfleet bringing numerous visitors who drive and bicycle Ocean View Drive and hike the white sand trails of this land. The ownership of this area, named Wellfleet by the Sea on old maps, has fallen to the town, but I believe the boundaries of the park with its mission of preservation and conservation should not be compromised in favor of industrial use. A wind turbine with the proposed height of 400 feet, its attendant 20 to 35 foot wide access road, the 800 plus ton concrete base and the resulting destruction of the woods can only go by the name of industrial development.
A discussion of the inappropriateness of this project should begin and end with the panorama one sees heading toward Le Count Hollow on Ocean View Drive, a designated scenic road. Just above The Beachcomber, the expansiveness of the view of ocean, dune and forest will be disturbed. A 400 foot tall wind turbine will dominate, no matter how much one may want to look only toward the sea. Unfortunately, these decisions are not made solely around aesthetics which seem to be so subjective; yet I have read testimony that people visit this National Seashore for inspiration and renewal of spirit. Isn't that state of mind invited by just such unencumbered views? The founders of the Seashore made a special point to include the forested dunes beyond the beach, including a half mile into what Thoreau called a miniature forest. Although growing and slowly changing to oaks after 160 years, the forest is still small and twisted by the wind and will be overwhelmed by such a large structure. The shortness of the trees also cannot mask the shadow flicker effect caused by a wind turbine. The Flicker studies commissioned by the Wellfleet Energy Committee concentrate on the light hitting residences, but we also look out windows across the landscape and not always toward the sea. This Outer Cape area has been lauded for the quality of its light which is most intense, most beautiful, at the times of day when flicker would affect the area. Viewing the sunset, we would not only have the obstruction of a huge turbine but also the strobe-like light show of it's flicker.
On a different scale I fear for the disturbed ecology of the area. The constant noise of the turbine's blades change with the wind direction, but reportedly can be heard up to a distance of a mile and a half in an area with low ambient sound. Every summer I celebrate the wonderful silence of the evening when we listen for the waves or the whip-o-wills in surrounding woods. We shall all be disturbed - people, animals, birds and plants. New medical studies report a syndrome of imbalance found in many people living within a mile and a quarter of turbines. This imbalance is caused by the imperceptible infrasound or vibration effects and possibly also by the shadow flicker effect caused by sunlight being interrupted by a turbine's blades. The acoustic analysis commissioned by the Wellfleet Energy Committee states that the low frequency sounds "will not cause vibration effects INSIDE residences." I ask you to consider the OUTSIDE summer lifestyle of residents and visitors. What is the setback of a home from a turbine in Wellfleet's zoning by-laws? The acoustic analysis condemns itself and all nearby residences by the following statement:
"The project will be audible at certain times in the residential areas next to the project area.
The swishing sound characteristic of a wind turbine will be audible outdoors
when these three conditions occur: 1) the residential area is downwind of the wind turbine.
2) ambient sound levels are low (usually late at night with calm surface winds),and
3) wind speeds at the hub height of the turbine are high enough for wind turbine operation. Project sounds will not be audible inside any residence."
We live in cherished cottages, not necessarily finished houses, where living is geared to the outside. Most of the cottages along Ocean View Drive. are downwind of the prevailing west wind 2) Ambient sound levels are almost always low with the exception of the busiest summer traffic day and the worst storms. 3)Our residences keep windows open in the summer, and the living is primarily geared outdoors. The noise of the turbine will keep people awake at night as well as be an annoyance during the day. For humans and wildlife, this noise is certainly a nuisance that will carry for a distance.
Lightning storms on the backshore are severe. Turbines elsewhere have been struck by lightning, and a forest fire in this Wellfleet by the Sea area would be a tragedy. The environmental benefit does not outweigh the potential adverse environmental impacts. While I am sympathetic to global warming concerns, the solutions cannot involve destruction of local habitats and lifestyles.
Please do not permit this project which would allow wildlife and human life in the South Wellfleet area to become collateral damage to the town's wind turbine ambitions.
Sincerely,
Patricia Connor Rogers
I thought I would pass along some quotes from Henry David Thoreau concerning the area in Wellfleet that the CCNS and Wellfleet are considering placing a 400 foot wind turbine that emits 103 decibels of noise. He considered this area as the Best on the Atlantic. He was well traveled and still knew this to be an exceedingly special area as did JFK. Read Cape Cod
From Henry David Thoreau's Cape Cod Vol II
We went to see the Ocean and that is probably the best place of all our coast to go to If you go by water you may experience what it is to leave and to approach these shores you may see the Stormy Petrel ... running over the sea and if the weather is but a little thick may lose sight of the land in mid passage I do not know where there is another beach in the Atlantic States attached to the mainland so long and at the same time so straight and completely uninterrupted by creeks or coves or fresh water rivers or marshes for though there may be clear places on the map they would probaby be found by the foot traveler to be intersected by creeks and marshes certainly there is none where there is a double way such as I have described a beach and a bank which at the same time shows you the land and the sea and part of the time two seas.
Here Thoreau talks about the special stretch of beach from Orlean to Proviencetown. Which will, in 2010 contain a 400 foot tower, dwarfing the 80 foot dunes. The wind Turbine will be the defining characteristic of what was the "best place of all our coast to go to"
Another passage
One of the most attractive points for visitors is in the northeast part of Wellfleet where accommodations I mean for men and women of tolerable health and habits could probably be had within half a mile of the seashore It best combines the country and the seaside Though the Ocean is out of sight its faintest murmur is audible and you have only to climb a hill to find yourself on its brink It is but a step from the glassy surface of the Herring Ponds to the big Atlantic Pond where the waves never cease to break.
Amazing, out of all his travels on the Cape he chooses Wellfleet. Thoreau refers to a point just north of the spot, the Wellfleet Energy Committee wishes to build their loud Wind Turbine. He takes note of how he listens to the Ocean just out of sight from half mile. Oddly enough that is the distance they will place the turbine. Even today, because of previous far sighted protection, you can probably do just as Thoreau. Tragic that Thoreau's experience which Kennedy's vision protected, will be vanquished in 2010 with the Giant Wind Turbine churning at 103 decibels!
