Cape Wind Complex ~ 50 dBA 24 hours a day~

Cape Vincent New York~
British Petroleum has designed the Cape Vincent wind project to allow up to 50 decibels of audible noise at participating landowners' residences.
The project is also designed to allow the turbines to generate at or below
48 decibels of audible noise on the property of nonparticipating landowners and at or below 47 decibels at nonparticipating residences.

In the supplemental statement, BP sticks with a study by Hessler Associates, Haymarket, Va., that finds an average background noise of 46.7 decibels of audible noise in the summer and 30.5 decibels in the winter. The study came to that conclusion using an analysis that tied noise to wind speeds.

BP's sound study drew criticism from the town's independent noise consultant, Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Sudbury, Mass., who said that the Hessler study did not show a strong correlation between wind speed and noise levels because the wind speed monitors and decibel meters were not in close proximity.

I have heard lease holders use the line, it's my property and I can do what I want with it, but what these people have not taken into consideration is their neighbors right to what is called the quiet enjoyment of their property as well, this is why it is important to have zoning laws established to protect citizens from inappropriate industrial development.

Recently HydroFracking has become an issue not unlike wind development.
In August, Dryden’s Town Board used its zoning laws to pass a drilling ban.A month after the ban’s passage, Anschutz Exploration Corporation, a Colorado driller with 22,200 acres under lease in the town, filed a lawsuit arguing that the town’s authority did not extend to regulating or prohibiting gas drilling.

However, for the second time in a week, a State Supreme Court judge upheld the ability of municipalities to ban hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling within their limits.
The plaintiffs claim to have lost property value, enjoyment of their property and quality of life. Additionally, the plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction to stop drilling operations, as well as ,compensatory damages, punitive damages and they are seeking to have the company pay for their future health monitoring.

So far, 77 municipalities across the state have taken action to ban hydrofracking, issue a moratorium or use zoning laws to prohibit the activity.

We should pay close attention to this lawsuit if the impending wind development in Cape Vincent comes to fruition there will be quality of life issues on a grand scale, add to this the property devaluation outlined in the Cape Vincent Wind Economic report coupled with the noise from the wind turbines - quiet enjoyment of one’s property will be a thing of the past.



Sources:

The New York Times

The Watertown Times
Press connects .com

Rochester D&C

British Petroleum's SDEIS