To the editor:

Why do environmentally friendly projects make our public officials color blind? When Mayor Moak signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with EyeOn Energy of Colorado for a solar panel array, it reminded me of "rent-a-center." Moak's deal would allow the city to buy back energy at a higher cost each year for 20 years. Does that sound like a good deal? Hey, did anyone even check to see if a solar panel array lasts 20 years? Now we learned from Friday's article in The Daily News that: EyeOn can't get funding for the project, they have few clients and the company's building is slated for foreclosure. What happened to fiscal responsibility and background checks of the company you plan to work with for 20 years??

Now we find that Elecon, the manufacturer of the city's first industrial wind turbine, doesn't have that many clients either. This will be their first U.S. installation. How do we know their manufacturing standards are up to snuff? The Center for Wind Energy Technology (CWET) reported that 60 percent of the wind turbines survived a cyclone in Gujrat, India, in 1998. However, 14 out of 14 Elecon turbines were destroyed. Didn't anybody notice this? Elecon pulled out of the wind turbine business for a while, and now they are back in. Did anyone find out why?

Our public officials passed a zoning amendment that doesn't require any manufacturing or construction standards for industrial wind turbines which weigh more than two fully loaded tractor trailers, balanced vertically (roughly 95 tons) on a hollow tower. The paid experts tell us (and the Newburyport Zoning Amendment allows) wind turbines are to be installed 300 feet from property lines, power lines, telephone lines and public roads. This is a high-voltage piece of equipment, yet no stray and ambient voltage test plan is required. No plan is required for calculating the maximum distance that ice, blades and blade fragments could be thrown. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Suzlon Energy, the fifth largest wind turbine manufacturer, is retrofitting 1,250 blades that have experienced cracking, and in some cases, have snapped off as recently as October. A county in Illinois is banning the installation of a particular model of wind turbine (Suzlon Energy SS-88), since a 61âÑ2-ton blade broke off. And the German Insurance Association now see wind turbines as risky, claiming that many turbines are being produced with faulty gearboxes and blades that are being replaced "with alarming frequency." Wind turbines that are supposed to last 20 years are collapsing in 10.

Like Kermit the frog, we're all learning that "it's not easy being green." But in our rush to be green, let's not compromise public safety. Let's put a moratorium on wind turbine installations, and fix the zoning amendment to require standards-based manufacturing, site-analysis, including ice and blade throw studies, independent construction inspections, maintenance requirements and, most of all, community involvement.

Nan Cook

Newburyport