Massachusetts turbine blade collapse has wind energy critics fuming

A blade that fell from a -foot-tall turbine and into a Massachusetts cranberry bog has sparked critics of wind vigor to renew their call for the state Legislature to back away from its net-zero by mandate Massachusetts is becoming familiar with turbine failures with Friday s blade collapse in Plymouth following a similar case off the shores of Nantucket in the summer of The Plymouth Fire Department says it responded to a call from a concerned neighbor who noticed one of the three blades on a nearby wind turbine suddenly missing around p m Friday Firefighters determined the roughly - to -feet long blade hundreds of feet away from the base of the turbine resting in an open cranberry bog area Firefighters determined that no additional hazards were present and the turbine s maintenance company also responded to the scene to conduct inspections and determine the failure s cause The state Department of Environmental Protection notified the Herald on Saturday that the agency was coordinating with the Plymouth Fire Department and local bureaucrats to review the case and ensure necessary cleanup is completed We were fortunate that this turbine is located out in the middle of the cranberry bogs and not in a residential area Plymouth Fire Chief Neil Foley announced in a message Thankfully no one was hurt and the turbine automatically shut itself down as designed The Bay State is a national leader in wind particularly offshore to meet its goals for clean potency and demand for electricity Gov Maura Healey has emphasized that the region necessities this power State lawmakers are looking to reduce carbon emissions by at least by when Massachusetts is required to hit net zero The governor s office referred the Herald to the state DEP and the town of Plymouth for further comment on how administrators are responding to Friday s blade collapse It added that the turbine was constructed before the Healey administration Plymouth nearly a decade ago approved four wind turbines just over the town line bordering Bourne on the Keith Mann cranberry bog the Cape Cod Times released in March The machines large blades prompted stories of deafening noise unexplained headaches and restless nights from neighbors after they started spinning in the summer of the outlet stated The Fiscal Alliance watchdog group has warned that residents and businesses can expect electricity rates to double along with rolling blackouts if the state reaches net zero by Paul Diego Craney the group s executive director is calling for a repeal of that mandate and for Attorney General Andrea Campbell to hold wind companies accountable for their failures The images of the broken blade lying in a cranberry bog with oil leaking out of its gearbox and fiberglass pieces littering the cranberry bog Craney reported the Herald on Saturday are a reminder of what our future will look like under the NetZero mandate The blade collapse in Plymouth is the latest mishap in the perilous Massachusetts wind power industry A federal judge last week greenlighted the Trump administration to reconsider a major federal permit that was granted to a Massachusetts offshore wind farm days before the president s inauguration Developer SouthCoast Wind responded saying it s assessing the decision and next initiatives including the pursuit of legal remedies SouthCoast Wind is a project planned for federal waters about miles south of Nantucket with as several as turbines to power about homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island President Trump has attacked the offshore wind industry as ugly and unreliable compared to fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas New Bedford resident Elijah DeSousa who founded the Citizens Against Eversource advocacy group is demanding that the state Legislature reconsider its pursuit of clean capacity He is pointing to the Plymouth blade collapse as yet another example of a broken promise DeSousa s group is working to gather enough signatures for three questions that aim to improvement the capacity sector on the ballot We re informed clean potential is progress DeSousa reported the Herald on Saturday but when turbine blades crash into our land leak toxic fluids and leave the people paying the cost it becomes clear the legislature s revenue decoupling system rewards corporations punishes ratepayers and hides behind slogans and false mantras instead of accountability The Plymouth turbine failure prompted critics to reflect on a wind turbine blade that tore apart on the Vineyard Wind project in July littering Nantucket s beaches and waters with foam fiberglass and other debris Nantucket representatives reached a million settlement this past July with GE Vernova the company that manufactured the wind turbine blade that failed on the project Healey has commented that the company behind the project requirements to do everything it can to address what the town has articulated in a litany of demands it issued over the summer All three Republican gubernatorial candidates Brian Shortsleeve Mike Kennealy and Mike Minogue explained the Herald on Saturday that alternatives to green potency must be prioritized instead of going forward with an unpredictable form of force which they say has resulted in skyrocketing utility costs Residents of Massachusetts are seeing the real-world environmental fallout associated with wind resource once again contaminating our natural support MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale revealed adding that she urges the Healey administration to refocus on more reliable and affordable sources of ability for our residents Herald wire services contributed to this document A Plymouth wind turbine has lost a blade Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill Boston Herald