Brian T. Watson
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Last week I attended a gathering of Salem residents from six of the households on Winter Island Road, the street nearest to the proposed wind turbine location on Winter Island.
They had called the meeting and invited me to attend specifically to discuss the issues that have been raised about the turbine, and also to emphasize to me that nine of the 12 households on Winter Island Road strongly support the plan to erect one.
Two residents — attorney Ed Moriarty and former City Councilor Kevin Harvey — oppose the turbine. I spoke with them directly to hear their concerns.
The proposal for Winter Island — the best of nine sites considered — is to build a 1.5-megawatt machine, which would stand about 260 feet tall at the hub of the blades, and roughly 382 feet tall at the tip of a blade at the top of its rotation.
The energy output would be roughly equivalent to the annual power needs of 300 to 400 average homes.
The meeting with the Winter Island Road residents was very encouraging. Here was a group of diverse citizens of all different ages and interests — none of whom initially had known anything about turbines — who had done their homework, visited actual operating turbines, and developed a clear and accurate understandings of the issues that are typically raised when the machines are being considered anywhere.
For all Salem city councilors and residents, this point should be impressive: The homeowners closest to the proposed turbine location — only 1,700 feet away — have thoroughly examined the myriad potential impacts of the structure and have concluded that the project deserves their enthusiastic support.
These neighbors have studied the noise issue, the size and visual impact of the structure, the danger to birds, the potential for "flicker" (intermittent blade shadows), the need (or not) for a buffer zone, the annual maintenance costs, the economics of the project, and the potential impact on residential property values.
Furthermore, as the residents explained to me, they have considered issues that are unique to Winter Island. These people, as much as anyone in Salem, appreciate the valuable asset and resource that the island is. They described in detail how they and others use the open space and shore access there.
Some take regular walks there, others sit in their cars relaxing with a cup of coffee while observing the harbor. They pointed out that many other city residents do these same things.
They described the many recreational motor vehicles that regularly stay for extended periods. They described the activities of the summer sailing camp, the Shakespeare theater, the YMCA day trips, the children's playground, the boat launch area, and the impromptu games of catch, touch football and Frisbee that occur in the island's open spaces.
Because some opponents of the turbine — including Moriarty and Harvey — have claimed that its installation would negatively impact the use of the island and reduce the open space available for activities, it is important to know how the land is used now, understand that all of those activities could continue if a turbine is erected, and also understand that the total "footprint" of the machine on the land is limited to one, 25-foot-by-25-foot concrete pad on which the pole is mounted. This pad would be located near the harbormaster's building and outside of all active recreational areas.
Moriarty and Harvey have argued that it is unsafe to play in the area under a wind turbine, or conduct any activities there. Their reasoning would place a huge area of the island off-limits if a turbine were erected.
But their argument is persuasively rebutted by the actual practices employed around the machines in operation today. Most have not even a fence around the base, and almost all place no restrictions whatsoever on the land uses under the turbine.
The sites of the two turbines in the town of Hull offer a good example of this. Although one machine is located in an unused landfill, the other is installed immediately adjacent to a busy high school soccer field. For 25 years, children have played games while the turbine spun overhead. (This machine is smaller than that proposed for Salem, but at 240 feet to its blade tip, it is still large enough to validate the safety of big turbines.)
I think that the majority of the neighbors on Winter Island Road have the right perspective. They plan to continue all of their activities on the island if the turbine is erected. They are convinced of the safety of the machine, the financial soundness of the project and the ecological benefits of our society beginning the slow transition to non-polluting energy.
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Brian T. Watson of Swampscott is a regular Salem News columnist. Contact him at watson@nii.net.
