10/10/09 - At the transfer station rezoning hearing Monday we heard questions and concerns about the noise and look of a wind power turbine, the impact on neighbors, the effect on bird life, the economic benefits to the town. All were good points, desperately in search of facts.

We certainly need to debate the pros and cons of a windmill on that site, but the arguments ought to come later, after we understand the details. That’s what a feasibility study would give us.

For example, the concerns of ornithologists about impacts on migratory bird flight and on bird habitat near the transfer station, including that of several protected species, must be taken very seriously. Block Island has a long history of interest and concern for birds, sitting as it does in bird migration flyways and providing an isolated habitat for threatened species. It’s appropriate to worry about birds that might become entangled with the windmill blades, birds that might flee the repetitive sound of the turbine.

But these worries are not new. They have been raised all across the country as large windmills have been planted in a variety of landscapes and habitats. There have been many studies of the effect on birds, and by now a great deal of science and a good bit of experience has been accumulated. Rather than raising general concerns, let’s marshal some facts.

The transfer station abuts a U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge; can wind turbines and wildlife refuges co-exist? There are places where they do; let’s explore the consequences.

The neighborhood of the site, as it happens, was traumatized several years ago by a more modest but very noisy wind turbine that, after causing much civic distress, collapsed. So the neighbors are right to be leery of a bigger windmill. But the technology is much different; in particular, turbines are much quieter now. True, they still loom in the sky, and the flicker effect of the blades turning in the sunshine can be annoying. What exactly would that be like? Can it be simulated so we know?

The effect of a windmill on property values is endlessly debated, usually without much substance. Can the effect be reduced to dollars and cents, based on actual installations in actual neighborhoods?

Sadly, the windmill issue divides environmental friends into foes: the green power fans vs. the untrammeled landscape devotees and the bird lovers. The opponents of putting a turbine at the transfer station like to say, “We support renewable energy, but not here.” Under the circumstances, that’s simply a dodge. If not there, where?

Would a consultant be able to do what the town’s Planning Board could not do: find another site that is owned by the town, wouldn’t interfere with airport traffic and gets a lot of wind? If not, then is “not here” simply a death knell for any large wind power installation on Block Island?

Finally, a study should spell out more concretely than current estimates the economics: the future of our sky-high electricity costs, the economic benefits of a town-owned wind turbine to the taxpayers of Block Island and the alternatives if any. With that in hand, we can think more clearly about the balance we must strike.

But first, there are Jack Gray’s instructions when he gave the land for what was then the town dump — that it must eventually revert to a “natural state” with no structures. Can those directions be legally overridden? Does the community want to override them, or do we believe Mr. Gray would understand today’s circumstances and acquiesce? It will be a question of conscience for all of us.