Franklin
Jonathan Carter joins effort to curb wind farm siting atop peaks
HIGHLAND PLANTATION — Longtime environmental activist and wind-power supporter Jonathan Carter of Lexington Township joined forces this month with a grassroots coalition trying to stop sprawling industrial wind farms atop Maine's mountains.
Carter, a former Green Party gubernatorial candidate, is the director of the Forest Ecology Network, which was created to protect, preserve and defend Maine's native forest environment through public awareness, grassroots citizen activism and education, according to its Web site.
"We have a common goal," Carter said Thursday of FEN and The Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power, "and that's to make sure that Maine's energy policy will be executed in a way that will examine the issues from a science-based, and environmental and economical perspective."
Early Thursday night, Carter and task force members were to attend a meeting hosted by former Maine Gov. Angus King and former Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. Director Robert Gardiner at the Highland Plantation schoolhouse.
King and Gardiner, principals of wind power company Independence Wind of Brunswick, held the meeting with residents to discuss their proposed $250 million Highland Plantation Wind Power project permit application to put 48 wind turbines atop Burnt Hill, Briggs Hill, and Stewart and Bald mountains in Somerset County.
The turbines would be visible from Carter's farm and for miles around, he said.
"People come up here because they want to get away from their hectic urban environment," he said. "Seeing flashing strobe lights denoting wind turbines isn't Highland Plantation."
He said hikers on the Appalachian Trail through the Bigelow Mountain range would be able to see the turbines. "They will be right in your face. I'm not against wind farms, but they've got to be placed right."
Carter, who has supported wind energy for more than 25 years, said he believes such farms belong offshore, or in a residential or community setting.
"That makes more sense, not these industrial wind farms that destroy the quality of place that Angus always talks about," he said of King.
"This isn't simply (not in my backyard)," Carter said. "These mountaintops are unique. They're rare. To destroy them is, in my thinking, extremely inappropriate and shortsighted."
That is also the opinion of task force co-chairs Monique Aniel of Mexico and Steve Thurston, a Roxbury Pond landowner affected by Independent Wind's Record Hill wind power project in that town. The task force has appealed the Maine Department of Environmental Protection's permitting in September of the project.
Aniel said the Highland project is the first in Land Use Regulation Commission jurisdiction being considered under Maine's Expedited Permit law, which allows projects to move forward with little oversight and reduced public comment.
"This law was passed behind closed doors without serious public input," Aniel said. "Wind developers — the very corporations who will reap huge profits from despoiling Maine's ridgelines and mountaintops — facilitated it."
She said the law needs to be repealed and replaced with an open and fair process that includes citizen participation.
"If the goals of the new wind law are realized, we will be confronted with 360 miles of ridgeline turbines and hundreds of miles of new roads and power lines," Thurston said.
Thurston and Carter claim that such work would involve clear-cutting 50,000 or more acres of forestland.
"It would completely alter Maine's quality of place," Carter said. "I don't think it makes sense to damage something environmentally for environmental good."
He said the wind projects were driven by money, not ecological sense.
"If this country can shut down some of its coal-fired and oil-fired plants because of wind power, I might be able to swallow this," he said.
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Former Connecticut resident
Former Connecticut resident Jonathan Carter is just your run-of-the-mill liberal hypocrite. He says he's not, but his actions speak louder than his laughable protestations. Typical trust fund hippie. Not an ounce of sincerity -- or shame. Wonder if Mr. Green chums around with the environmentally-conscious Kennedys and Kerrys in Massachusetts who have tirelessly lawyer-ed up to block offshore wind farms off Cape Cod because it'll spoil their swell views? "Lovey, make that darned windmill stop spinning and bring me another Brandy Alexander!"
verified This should not surprise
This should not surprise anyone. Typical liberal who wants what he wants, unless of course it affects him personally. It's alright to push his views onto us, but just like Congress, exempt himself from his own causes (re: govt healthcare).
Arse bob candice ernest I
Arse bob candice ernest I would like to know if you are from a city or a small town that may have a wind farm someday. I come from a town where a wind farm is going to be built and I hate the idea of it. Instead of looking out my window and seeing a gorgous mountian ridge I will see those ugly wind turbines. It is easy to say wind farms are a great idea until you will have to deal with them everyday. Also about the jobs and money these wind farms are going to bring in. JOBS: dont you think the company will bring there own employees instead of hiring locals. ROADS: the roads that will be improved will only be the roads that led to the wind farm. For example, if the wind farm has a state paved road near it. The company only has to maintain the road that leds from the state road to the wind farm. POWER: The power the turbines make isnt staying in maine its going to the power grid from the area the company is from. NO FREE POWER. MONEY: the only money the state will make is if the wind farm is on town, county , or state owned land. On private land the state will get sh@t. So to recap people that live in the country are going to get F&CK#D up the @SS because people in the cities (who the wind farms dont effect what so ever) want them.
I am 7th grneration in a
I am 7th grneration in a small town slated for wind turbines. My children are 8th generation here, my grandson 9th. I have been where there are wind farms that dwarf anything proposed for Maine and find them stunningly beautiful. I am looking forward to seeing these majextic white birds at work on the Western Moiuntains of Maine.
As for jobs, the company may well bring in skilled, trained people to operate the facilities. They may bring in large contractor organiations to do the construction proper. What they will do whether it is with specialists brought in or locals is write paychecks and buy materials. The people building and operating will need places to live, food to eat, vehicle maintenance and everything else that goes with daily life. They will be doing businness, buying goods and services from my neighbors and for that I am grateful. They will also be payiong income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes on their accomodations and all the rest, supporting the State of Maine and I am grateful for that as well. Because they are here more Maine people will work.
It does not matter to me that the power generated is being sold out of state. It is a product of the State of Maine just like paper and wood products. It will generate revenue for the company operating the farm and they will pay income taxes on that revenue. They will also pay property taxes on the equipment and on the lnd either directly as owner or as part of their lease agreement, either way more taxes. They will also purchase goods and services paying taxes, supporting other businesses and in the process more jobs for Maine people.
I am excited about and looking forward to wind power coming to Rumford and Roxbury. I am also excited about the new and improved roads providing better access to the ridgeline and surrounding areas.
candice thank you for
candice thank you for responding it is nice to know some people from these small towns are excited about the wind farms (as you probably noticed I am not) and it is not just the city fock who want them. Almost all the people I have spoking to about the wind farms dont like the idea but there again I hang out with people that have similar views of my own. I noticed you wrote about the wind farms going in Rumford and Roxbury. I wonder have you heard about the one in Carthage and the sh@t the selectmen are doing.
Jonathan Carter should go
Jonathan Carter should go get a real job.
verified Guess the best place to
Guess the best place to build wind farms is underground.
Jonathan Carter has been a
Jonathan Carter has been a supporter of wind power for many years for good reasons he has always been eager to explain. Now we get NOT IN MY BACKYARD from Mr. Carter. He said,K People come up here because they want to get away from their hectic urban environment." He says,K Hikers on the Appalchian Trail will ne able to see the turbines." He further says "It would completely alter Maine's quality place."
Wll, Mr. Carter my family has been here 7 generations not to get away from their urban environment. We have been trying to survive,. watching all the jobs disappear in the name of protecting your quality place so you can visit but not spend any money here hiking camping, canoeing and all that other free woodsy stuff without seeing a single tree stump from our making a living, without seeing a cell tower so we can communicate outside the bubble over Maine, and without a sound or a stack from any roads or industry. Our young can not get a desent education here and most leave and never come back. Those that stay are stuck on welfare with no hope for the future. Our seniors can no longer afford the taxes on their home and have no prospect of selling them. Their homes is all most of them have and they are no longer a castle but a prison they are trapped in.
NOT IN MY BACKYARD, Mr. Carter? Yes, in yours and mine, anything to bring development to Maine. I will also be grateful for the new roads that will make it possible for EVERYONE, not just the few who "want to get away from their hectic urban environment" to access the mountain tops, the scenic views and recreation you have been enjoing at our expense for all these years. I want my friends, family and neighbors to enjoy the direct and indirect jobs that will come from this development. I want the people of Maine to benefit from the tax revenue in the forms of property, income and sales taxes. My family is over funding your vacation and that of the rest of those who Kwant to get away from their hectic urban environments" while we can not afford to rent a movie. TRY ALASKA!
verified Oh so now Mr Green is
Oh so now Mr Green is turning into Mr Red because it's in his back yard.
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