Nantucket group slams island for reaching $10.5M ‘sweetheart deal’ in wind farm crisis

Nantucket has reached a million settlement with a company responsible for the predicament that plagued the district last summer after one of its wind turbine blades tore apart leaving the island a debris-ridden mess Island personnel have settled on the agreement with GE Vernova the designer manufacturer and installer of the turbines with the Select Board calling it a good deal to compensate the town and local businesses for losses sustained from the clutter One concerned locality group though argues the settlement does nothing to protect the interests of residents businesses and taxpayers calling the agreement a sweetheart deal that lets Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova walk away scott-free Under the agreement Nantucket is set to establish a population maintains fund to provide compensation for economic harm The island will then engage a professional independent third-party administrator to evaluate maintains from local businesses and issue payments The announcement of the settlement came two days short of a year after the blade failure sparked on July causing foam fiberglass and other debris to fall into the ocean and wash ashore devastating businesses during the height of the summer tourist season Offshore wind may bring benefits Select Board member and former chair Brooke Mohr declared in a comment on Friday but it also carries risks to ocean wellbeing to historic landscapes and to the economies of coastal communities like Nantucket known worldwide as an environmental and cultural treasure GE Vernova blamed a manufacturing deviation determined as insufficient bonding for causing the blade to shred apart Functionaries had reported in an initial environmental analysis last summer that the debris was inert non-soluble stable and non-toxic The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement ordered Vineyard Wind to suspend further wind farm construction in the aftermath of the mishap GE Vernova agreed to remove and replace all blades already installed at the project that were manufactured at the same factory in Canada Roughly turbines are operating in the anticipated -turbine -megawatt wind farm which agents have disclosed will carry enough maximum to power homes across the Bay State Vineyard Wind a joint venture of Connecticut-based Avangrid and Denmark-based Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners which oversees the turbines did not sign onto the settlement The Town of Nantucket commends GEV for its leadership in reaching this agreement administrators stated in a memo By contrast the Town has exposed Vineyard Wind wanting in terms of its leadership accountability transparency and stewardship in the aftermath of the blade failure and determined that it would not accept Vineyard Wind as a signatory to the settlement Executives highlighted that the town remains intensely focused on securing greater protection from harms from Vineyard Wind if not through Vineyard Wind s own actions then through the actions of others who can order changes to Vineyard Wind s behavior The Select Board will have more to say on this topic over the following weeks They added that the locality declares fund will consider clean-up costs and typical business losses including for instance lost rental profits less tax liability that are reasonably attributable to the turbine blade failure A section of the settlement states that island administrators will need approval from GE Vernova before releasing residents statements Nantucket will not make any populace comment concerning the situation that disparages the GEV circulated parties in any manner it reads Statements made in violation will constitute a material breach of the agreement ACK for Whales a group of Nantucket residents concerned about the impacts of offshore wind growth is slamming the agreement We are shocked that the Town has once again opted to muzzle itself for money group member and resident Amy DiSibio narrated the Herald Friday afternoon In fact this Agreement requires the Town to defend Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova should any of us opt to sue those parties ourselves