After more than a year of contentious talk, Kingston’s Board of Health has received the first objective data regarding an effect of its wind turbine referred to as visual flicker. It runs more than 1,200 pages of data. At first glance, the study indicates a greater flicker problem than pre-construction projections.
The town leases space on its closed landfill to the Kingston Wind Independence private partnership (KWI). KWI sells electricity according to a 20-year contract with the town, making the town a partner with KWI.
That poses a challenge for the health board. If it rules the turbine presents a public health nuisance, the town would have to enforce the ruling against itself. Town counsel has advised health board members to collect plenty of data before taking action.
The board will conduct a summit meeting Monday, July 1, with representatives of the green energy committee, the town planner, town counsel and representation from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to discuss the new flicker data.
The assessment can be found here:
