Town and
Areglado Ill Winders Lose
 |
| We need to get serious about acquiring the 81 acres for open space to end this drama |
By
Will Collette
The
anticipated decision in the complex array of lawsuits over the proposed
Whalerock industrial wind farm was issued today by RI Superior Court Judge
Kristin Rodgers.
It’s
bad news for the town of Charlestown and the group of neighbors who filed suit
to block the project. It’s great news for Whalerock and developer Larry LeBlanc (and his silent partner, James Barrows of Brooklyn, Connecticut).
Read
the 47 page decision in its entirety by clicking here.
Judge
Rodgers has remanded Whalerock’s application for a special use permit directly to
the Charlestown Zoning Board for one final review on the merits. Zoning has
already approved the Whalerock project, twice, which was the action that led to
all of the lawsuits that were decided today. It is unlikely that the law that governs the Zoning Board's decision-making or
circumstances involved in this case will have changed before they consider
Whalerock’s application for the third and probably final time.
Judge
Rodgers also explicitly states that “no
further review or action of the Planning Commission is necessary prior to
review of Whalerock‘s application for a special use permit by the Zoning Board.”
Despite
LeBlanc’s judicial clean sweep and the ass-whooping the town and the Areglado plaintiffs took, the construction of Whalerock is not a foregone conclusion. The economics of wind energy have
changed radically since the start of the Whalerock saga.
 |
| US Energy Dept. data shows that Whalerock probably would not be commercially viable. More recent URI data backs that up. |
Wind data for the site still make it an iffy proposition, one that will be hard
to fund. Land-based industrial turbines are unpopular, and not just in
Charlestown, so don’t expect LeBlanc to hold a ground-breaking anytime soon.
The
CCA Party is holding a workshop on Friday evening that was supposed to revolve
around one of the two dozen or so families in Falmouth, MA who think that town’s
wind turbines are making them sick.
Those claims have been studied and dismissed by the Massachusetts Department of Health.
Those claims have been studied and dismissed by the Massachusetts Department of Health.
The
Falmouth wind turbines are bad turbines. Obsolete technology bought for cheap
at the rough equivalent of a wind energy thrift shop. But even though there
have been lots of complaints from those turbines’ neighbors, last night the residents of Falmouth in their town meeting rejected the
proposal to remove the turbines. This outcome was a shock to the turbine opponents.
The
Whalerock project is a bad project. However, health effects, real or imagined, are only a small part of it. At its core, this fight is about money. It's about economics.
It makes no sense for Charlestown or even for LeBlanc, given the economics. But perhaps this legal setback will make it crystal clear that we damn well better get into serious negotiations about buying his 81 acres and permanently setting aside that prime real estate as open space once and for all. Click here to read my Five Reasons why we need to buy LarryLand.
It makes no sense for Charlestown or even for LeBlanc, given the economics. But perhaps this legal setback will make it crystal clear that we damn well better get into serious negotiations about buying his 81 acres and permanently setting aside that prime real estate as open space once and for all. Click here to read my Five Reasons why we need to buy LarryLand.
And
maybe it’s time for the CCA Party and the Ill Winders to quit fooling around
with specious claims about health effects and focus on how to take those 81
acres off the table by preserving that land as open space.