Neighbors say environmentally-friendly solar company making too much noise

They are building the future, one panel at a time.

Good for Massachusetts tax payers, good for The USA.

They will fix the problem.

The land of Ted Kennedy, I am not surprised!

"About the green blog Helping Boston live a greener, more environmentally friendly life."

Why isn't anyone vociferously defending this hi-tech company from those gold diggers bird listeners? Where are all the greens on this one?

please stop complaining about this..it is a small sacrifice to help save mother earth..plus every time u complain, my stock drops a couple cents..so please stop.

Ah, the idyllic woodland life is in turmoil. Energy independence, jobs, and a cleaner environment be damned. We want to hear the birds twitting and cows mooing. Bring on the coal and nuclear as long as we're not disturbed all ten of us.
The nation is of no concern.

Reading the website it's pretty obvious that the company is working hard to reduce their noise levels. People also have unrealistic expectations with respect to procurement and installation of industrial equipment. Not only is there the cost of such equipment, but also likely permitting for installation, inspection of installation, fabrication time, shipping time and so on. You can't go down to Home Depot and pick this stuff up and install it in an afternoon.

And in this economy, my hat is off to anyone who is running 24 hours a day.

This type of thing (industrial next to residential) is what led to the design of pretty much any "new" development in the United States. Nobody wants to live next to a noisy factory, so you end up with "residential" zones and "industrial" zones, and everybody ends up driving everywhere. You might also call this "urban sprawl". Here in New England, stuff has existed for so long together that it's hard to separate the two. If I lived there I would purchase some earplugs while they get their equipment in place. Other companies would be looking to relocate their operations (and jobs) to somewhere else that would give them a nice tax break and has a pool of workers ready to go to work (likely at lower wages). With the downsizing of the American auto industry, there is no shortage of factory space in the US, and no shortage of people who want to put food on their table for their families -- and state and local officials who will court this company aggressively, since it's part of the "green economy" being promoted by the Obama administration.

Earplugs 25cents. Crybabies that can't find that short term solution...priceless.
I wander if i should shut down the road in front of my house. After all i can hear the cars go by all night. and the train 1/4mile away... yeah that needs to go too.

This is a non issue, 10 people complain, get real! maybe they prefer the military start test firing mortar shells again.

If they are causing noise pollution that affects the quality of life of the neighbors, then they aren't as 'green' as they claim to be. They should be shut down at night. I bet the people who own the company dont' live anywhere near it and don't have to deal w the noise....

I'm sure the noise won't be an issue for long. Deval will tax them into leaving for NH.

@Katherine -- read the website linked in the article. The company is responding to the neighbors complaints and has invested $1m in efforts to fix the problem. Not small potatoes in a horrible economy. People too often forget that in today's instant gratification world that real, physical things don't happen overnight.

If they were doing absolutely nothing about the problem, that would be one thing, but they aren't. They are providing regular updates and working to a plan that they are sharing with everyone. Sounds pretty darn responsible to me.

Last year my town had to replace some water tanks. It was noisy and the work took two or three months to complete. My idyllic backyard was regularly disturbed by the sounds of heavy equipment and the occasional whiff of diesel. Work started at first light and would typically go till 4PM.

This year they have to replace some aging sewer equipment and that's going to take a couple months, during which time a major road is closed through town. I'm sure the people living along that road don't like it, but there's not a thing anyone can do about it, you can only work so many hours in the day, and it's going to inconvenience someone -- and the work is so big that you can't get it done in a few days. Letting the thing sit there and rot isn't much of an option, either -- eventually it would fail, and something far worse would likely happen.

Same thing with this company. They have a plan, let them execute to it. Cutting out the nighttime shift would likely have a severe impact on profitability on top of what they are already spending to try to mitigate the complaints.

It's exactly this attitude that makes business run away from New England to other places in the country (or world) that are more accepting of job development. I'm not advocating that business be allowed to run amok, but people need to be realistic about how quickly things can really happen.

This isn't news anymore. Evergreen hasn't violated noise thresholds, so they aren't required to do anything. But they are, for the sake of the community. If they fail to make good on their promise by September, then it's news.

Shutting down the plant is a ridiculous request. Instead of earplugs, consider a white noise machine so you can hear smoke alarms at night.

They can switch houses with me if they want. I live between a city firehouse and a major bus stop.

Or do they want us not to have fire protection or public transportation because it is noisy?

Hey Clueless,
It is called quiet enjoyment. If I can hear your noise at my house then it is too loud. The company needs to shut down UNTIL the noise is stopped! What world do you people live in? If it were a tire factory would you let them keep making noise?

I understand the annoyance, but anyplace that is running 24/7 is also employing people 24/7. Shutting down overnight would eliminate quite a few jobs, and put people working the night shift on unemployment. That is a GREAT idea in this economy!

Hey Shipswake,
I'm glad you feel that way. You think you and your wife could knock down the racket a bit? I don't mind your headboard slamming against my wall, but the whips and screams are scaring the kids.

The neighbors are being pretty childish about this noise issue.

I live in the woods off of 495, and we can hear the highway construction going on at night, which IS awful, but WHEN else are they going to do it? At least it will get done.

Evergreen WILL make things quiter, and if the neighbors cannot wait thenmaybe they should adjust their priorities, find NEW ways to handle situation, maybe Evergreen gives them solar panels....free or discounted....for their troubles.....

Plus by September all the windows will be shut and you won't be able to hear things over the leaf blowers, anyway.

To all..... I am an abutter to Evergreen Solar. They have been in violation of the Industrial Performance for sound for four months and do not have a date when they will be in compliance. They are working on the problem: however they haven't changed operations at all. I run a business that has had to alter operations due to this noise. The health of the people here has suffered due to the constant noise. OSHA/Mass DEP recognize the health hazard from long term noise exposure-hence the laws to protect the employees and the public. Evergreen has made NO EFFORT to curtail production over night to let us sleep.

Think about this:
How would you feel if someone buys the house next door and then you learn they are for some unknown reason, exempt from adhering to the laws of your town or even the state of MA? The crux of the issue is that ESLR is sited on Devens. which is not incorporated as a city or town, but rather is run by an enterprise commission that reports to no one at all-nobody.
As a result, none of the avenues to raise and resolve issues that residents of every city and town take for granted, like being to seek help from your mayor, town council, etc...for problems like noise, speeding traffic on your street, the restaurant next door staying open late and having loud parties..are available to residents of the towns abutting Devens.
ESLR has flouted the laws and regulations that had committed to in order to receive approval to build the facility. Throughout the building and ramp up process, rather than meet the laws to which they had signed up for, ESLR have taken an approach of not fixing issues until if/ they are caught.
Today, the issue at Devens is noise at ESLR; tomorrow, who knows? Anything goes at Devens....

Hey, you live next to a former Military base, sure that was a DIFFERENT amount of noise, but you NIMBY people won't be happy until all those jobs go to CHINA.

Evergreen IS making an effort, your complaints ARE being acted on. The people that are complaining are really coming across as the most selfish sort of people that there are.

Even if Evergreen shuts down, no matter WHO is in that space, you would have a problem it seems.

Try some more patience. We do here and all along 495.

Frank D,
I won't be happy until you move to CHINA, you and your moronic assumptive attitude about my motivations and what I want in my backyard. I look forward to the day when Evergreen can operate in compliance with the law and stop assaulting my family with their illegal and systemically damaging noise.

Don't talk to me about patience, Evergreen has been operating like this since they opened a year ago. They had an obligation to bring the plant online according to the law, regulations and standards they agreed to when they got the $47 million in state assistance and the permits to locate on Devens. They only decided to work on this in earnest in the last month, so don't take this holier than thou condescending attitude about what an effort Evergreen is making. If they had really cared about the problem they would have solved the problem months ago, or better yet they never would have come on line with the problem to begin with.

Thanks for calling me names Jay Wallace owner of Dunroven Farms.

To me it seems that YOU are the problem. Don't get me wrong, I am a BIG fan of local farming and support out local farmers.

Think about your complaint though. "What I want in my backyard"??? That's NIMBY cry baby protesting, looking to blame a big bad company. How about when it was a military base? Did you like that noise?

Evergreen has even taken steps to improve, as you mention. HOW ABOUT THIS? They have spent a million dollars, how much of that has been on your property insulating your windows and walls? Would that be a happy short term solution?

And screw you pal, I love America and maybe it's YOU who belongs in Chiina on a rice farm.

Frank
Let me spell it out for you.
1. I did not call you names I said your attitude was moronic, that's different than calling you a moron.
2. I liked having a military base in our backyard. They were good neighbors.
3. I am happy to have Evergreen in my backyard. I just want them to obey the law.
4. They have not spent a million dollars to fix anything. They have only said it would cost a million dollars to fix it.
5. I have received 0$ from Evergreen.
6. I am not interested in their money, I am interested in them fixing the problem.
7. If you are a big supporter of local farming then you know that farming is a 24 hour operation. You may or may not know that due to their more sensitive hearing at certain frequencies horses are effected differently then humans. This means they require more care. This means more hours spent caring for them, raising costs and decreasing revenue.
8. The happy short term for solution is for Evergreen to figure out a way to quiet their plant for 8 hours a night so that we can sleep. This does not mean shutting it down. It means reconfiguring their build/assembly/maintenance schedule such that the operations that generate the least amount of heat, and the least amount of demand on the scrubber systems run at night.
9. You have a funny way of showing your support for local farming.

Wait, who's the REAL owner of Dunroven Farm here? Jay Wallace or Laura McGovern? It seems to me you have a couple of things to sort out before you post again, or you run the risk of losing credibility. Just sayin'.

A few miles down the road, there's a bigger worry than noise.

Pan Am Railways is building a 25-acre parking lot on the Ayer/Littleton line to unload Ford cars. The problem is that Pan Am consistently leaks diesel fuel where it works, doesn't report it, under reports it, protests the fines or doesn't pay them, and then starts again.

We're trusting our water supply to this company -- when another lot is available 1/4 mile away.

Noise seems the least of our worries when water is threatened. Oh, except the noise is in Harvard and effects 10 homes, while the water is in Ayer and Littleton and affects 15,000 people.

Susan Tordella

both of us, we're business partners

I have been to Old Mill Road and seen first hand that their complaints are based on noise that you not only hear, but you physically feel. These people are hard working down to earth individuals who deserve a good night's sleep in the comfort of their home. Some of the comments that have been posted here are outrageous. Many of you are basically saying that it's okay for corporations to put profits, and shareholders first and most especially if it only affects people who are better off than you. Just for the record, I would like to point out that the noise from Evergreen Solar can be heard elsewhere too - not just Old Mill Road.