This is to demonstrate the problems with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) Wind Science Panel process, the findings of the panel and subsequent actions taken by MassDEP

The attached document (Windwise Cape Cod overview of problems withMassachusetts State Agencies) will fully demonstrate why the conclusions have been challenged, not least due to the claims of independence by panel members are found to be untrue.  This overview alone is an indictment of that panel report and must be taken very seriously by government departments before an unquestioning adoption of such a report being regarded as wholly reliable.  That summary document was supported by the following observations from Mrs. Lilli Green (who works in the field of medical information provision to health professionals) which are important in relation to this document. Omissions and failures noted include:

“A. MassDEP never even gave the panel over 200 documents the public submitted which included journal articles in well respected journals, white papers, reports, over 80 adverse event reports from people experiencing health problems and newspaper articles (all within the scope document produced by MassDEP) If you would like to receive the CD-ROM that took 3 months to compile by the public, please let me know.

1.  The panel never conducted first hand research by taking a field trip to any wind turbine location and Falmouth is only 45 minutes from Boston (even though the scope document produced by MassDEP called for a field trip)
2.  All meetings were held in secret, no member of the public was allowed to attend, there was no public input (according to one panel member, there were only 3 meetings held on this very important topic and the company coordinating the project was “terrible”).
3.  No minutes were made public and no drafts of the panel’s work was made public.In fact, after 6 months of public records requests, the public was told in would cost over $19,000 (and it could cost more) to receive documents related to the panel and part of the cost would be to redact the associated documents.
4.  Several panel members are blatantly biased in favor of wind turbines even though senior staff at MDPH assured the public that all panel members would be independent and have no bias in favor or against wind turbines. The public was told they could not advance names but would be able to review suggestions for panel members and their review would be taken seriously with action to not appoint members who came to the table with a bias (this was not done.) The public found out who the panel members were in a Boston Globe article after the panel had already met once.

4. Following the release of the panel’s work, MassDEP by their own admission, received over 500 documents and over 4,700 pages during the comment period. Most were highly critical of the panel’s so called report.  MassDEP never posted this information online. I did obtain the documents through the Freedom of Information Act. (If you would like to receive the documents, please let me know.)

5.  MassDEP told the public at the beginning of the panel review that the panel report would be a draft. There would be a comment period following the release of the panel’s report and based upon the comments, MassDEP would write a final report. MassDEP never wrote a final report. MassDEP changed the wording on their website regarding the project and calls the panel’s work a final report by an independent panel.

6.  Numerous journal articles have been published with new evidence of health impacts from wind turbines since the panel’s work has been completed. A good number of letters have been sent to MassDEP with the new evidence, requests to update the panel’s work and to make revisions based upon new scientific evidence of adverse health impacts from wind turbines.

7. As you know, there are people throughout MA who live and work too close to wind turbines, are experiencing health problems and have submitted adverse event reports to MassDEP and their local authorities and boards. According to the attached peer-reviewed journal article by Carl Phillips, a Harvard trained epidemiologist.

“There is overwhelming evidence that wind turbines cause serious health problems in nearby residents, usually stress-disorder type diseases, at a nontrivial rate. The bulk of the evidence takes the form of thousands of adverse event reports…The attempts to deny the evidence cannot be seen as honest scientific disagreement, and represent either gross incompetence or intentional bias.”

Senator Welch and Representative Benson have received notification that ‘…There are serious health problems for many in Massachusetts and around the world who live too close to wind turbines.’ And…  ‘Some in MA have abandoned their homes and others have been told by their doctors to leave their homes because their life is in danger due to health problems they are experiencing. These MA citizens did not experience the adverse health symptoms they now are afflicted with prior to the construction of wind turbine/s nearby. These MA citizens do not experience the same symptoms when they spend time away from their homes.’

Just like so many others around the world,  all such citizens deserve far more protection from that which is both beyond their control and a increasingly undeniable direct threat to their wellbeing.