CARTHAGE — Residents will have a chance Monday to decide whether to approve a six-month moratorium on the development of industrial wind farms.
The special town meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Community Building at the intersection with Route 142.
The town meeting was prompted by a citizens' petition with more than 150 signatures calling for a moratorium.
Patriot Renewables LLC of Quincy, Mass., wants to build 13 turbines along a ridge that includes Saddleback Mountain, and another four turbines if the town succeeds in getting clear title to about 320 acres along the same ridge.
Patriot Renewables Chief Executive Officer Todd Presson and project developer Andy Novey made a presentation on the project last week. About 70 people from Carthage and several nearby towns attended.
On Thursday, Mathew Eddy of Eaton Peabody Consulting Group presented some possibilities for a tax-increment-financing package that could affect the town if the project goes forward.
First Selectman Steve Brown said Friday that Michael Rogers of Maine Revenue Services had been scheduled to make a presentation as well, but was unable to attend. Brown said Rogers will provide MRS information at a later time.
The moratorium would allow selectmen to determine the most appropriate methods to regulate industrial wind turbine projects.
The proposed moratorium states that because the town has no local land use regulations, except for shoreland zoning, “there exists the potential for serious public harm and adverse financial impact.”
The developers must undergo a lengthy permitting process through the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
Brown said that because the town has no comprehensive plan or ordinances, the state DEP may take on the responsibility and liability for the planned project.
“If the moratorium passes, we'll go on from there,” he said.
If a credit enhancement-agreement is worked out with Patriot Renewables, Brown said the town could gain a number of financial benefits, as well as conservation easements for public recreation.
Those who have questioned or opposed such a plan have said that noise could have health implications. Others are concerned with the potential visual or wildlife impacts.
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Ask them this too -
When wind developers compare all the energy they claim they'll make to so many thousand cars being taken off the road.
Ask them if they will be some of those turning in their cars.
If anyone thinks it's worth a few crumbs from these lying thieves to industrial and forever divide your community you are either delusional or getting bribed.
Industrial scale turbines will soon be oil leaking, rusting hulks, with broken blades, that aren't worth fixing - monuments to stupidity, gullibility and greed that the town will have to pay to remove. Once these mountain ridges are industrialized they will forever be subject to the next developement fad.
Evidence of communities ruined by big wind are endless. There is also ample evidence of families abandoning unsalable properties.
THIS IS AN ENRON SCAM ON STIMULOUS, AND WE ARE PAYING FOR IT.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!
Use Less
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ASK THEM THIS.
— Please show me the independent, objective studies (using real-world data, not models) that show that wind energy actually is technically, economically and environmentally beneficial?
— What about the economics? The average residential US customer pays 10¢/KWH for electricity. In Denmark (where they have installed many more wind turbines) the average residential customer pays 35¢/KWH. How will paying this huge 350% increase be beneficial to citizens? How is this consistent with the marketing PR that says wind energy is inexpensive?
—How many conventional fossil-fuel electric plants will this wind project actually replace? If we do a granular real-world analysis of wind energy (not giving credit to useless power that is produced in the middle of the night, when nobody wants it, for example), what is the actual reduction in GHG(green house gas) emissions that we can hope to achieve?
Your electric rates wil go up a lot if you allow this..Is this your goal? (to heck with your environment for a moment, do you like doubling your electric bill for nothing?
They will lie, offer you free power , you will never see the reduction!
THEY LIE, it is how they function, and good folks get screwed, all the time!
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The central argument against wind turbines in this debate is simple and devastating: they don’t work!
REMEMBER THIS: MORATORIUM NOW, ORDINANCE NOW!
THEY SIMPLY DON'T WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
— They will not solve our energy issues (e.g. they most certainly do not reduce our dependence on imported oil).
— They are not, and never can be, a viable substitute for conventional energy sources (e.g. because they are not reliable, have no Capacity Value, are much more expensive, etc.).
— They will not solve our environmental problems (e.g. contrary to popular perception, they do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions in any meaningful way, due to their inherent limitations as an energy source).
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There are many reasons why people live in hamlets like Carthage. Its usually for the appreciation of quiet country life, living away from industrial and commercial hubub. It includes enjoying wildlife and things you do in the country, like hunting, fishing, picking berries, being close at hand. Beautiful vista are important, too.
All of that will be lost when hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of Saddleback Mt. get blasted away to erect turbines, shattering the mountain, forever changing it's profile. Wildlife habitat gets fragmented, as hundreds of acres are permanently clearcut. What isn't gravelled over gets treated with herbicides and the silt and herbicide residues wash into the streams and ponds.
Towering over town will be huge industrial machines with the dull roar of a low flying jet overhead that never goes away as long as the blades turn. Worse, is the effects on humans and animals of low frequency infrasound that has negative effects on health. Just ask people in Mars Hill and Freedom. Wind turbines are notorious killers of birds and bats. Topping it all off will be a dozen or so aviation lights blinking 24/7 in place of the brilliance of the milky way against a black night sky.
Not only does this impact Carthage directly, but the sweeping vistas from Mt. Blue State Park and the Tumbledown Mt. Public Reserve will be marred by the scalping of Saddleback and the hideous cluster of 400 foot tall trubines.
Is this what we want for a peaceful, beautiful part of Maine? For a company whose sole purpose is to gather government subsidies and sell credits, rather than actually sell electricity? Industrial Wind sites in Maine produce only 25% of nameplate capacity and it is an unpredictable, unreliable, ineffective, and costly source of electricty. Carthage, save your town and do not get caught up in this scam!
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What he did was enter into an agreement for which he was paid for the use of his land and did not bother to understand. ai do not have the least sympathy for people who enter into contracts without bothering to reas them, understand them and hire proper representation. He got exactly what he bargained for he just didn't bother to find out what he was bargaining for. He got paid handsomly guaranteed money no concern for crop failures and no expenses with a built in increase every year.
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When you sign a 20 to 30 year contract to host a wind turbine on your property you may be signing away many rights you're unaware of. A confidentiality agreement in the contract may mean legal action can be taken against you if you complain publicly about the project. A Fond Du Lac farmer signed away his rights. He was interviewed by Don Bangart who wrote the following on behalf of the farmer, whose contract with the wind company prevents him from speaking openly about any problems.
This was printed as a full page ad in the Chilton, Wisc., Times-Journal, October 25, 2007.
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
Now each morning when I awake, I pray and then ask myself, “What have I done?”
I am involved with the BlueSky/Greenfield wind turbine project in N.E. Fond du Lac County. I am also a successful farmer who cherishes his land. My father taught me how to farm, to be a steward of my fields, and by doing so, produce far better crop production. As I view this year’s crops, my eyes feast on a most bountiful supply of corn and soybeans. And then my eyes focus again on the trenches and road scars leading to the turbine foundations. What have I done?
In 2003, the wind energy company made their first contacts with us. A $2,000 “incentive” started the process of winning us over, a few of us at a time. The city salesmen would throw out their nets, like fishermen trawling for fish. Their incentive “gift” first lured some of us in. Then the salesmen would leave and let us talk with other farmers. When the corporate salesmen returned, there would be more of us ready to sign up; farmers had heard about the money to be made. Perhaps because we were successful farmers, we were the leaders and their best salesmen.
Sometime in 2004 or 2005, we signed $4,000 turbine contracts allowing them to “lease” our land for their needs. Our leases favored the company, but what did we know back then? Nobody knew what we were doing. Nobody realized all the changes that would occur, over which we would have no control. How often my friends and I have made that statement: What have I done?!
I watched stakes being driven in the fields and men using GPS monitors to place markers here and there. When the cats and graders started tearing 22-foot-wide roads into my fields, the physical changes started to impact not only me and my family, but, unfortunately, also my dear friends and neighbors. Later, a 4-foot-deep by 2-foot-wide trench was started diagonally across my field. A field already divided by their road was now being divided again by the cables running to a substation. It was now making one large field into 4 smaller irregularly shaped plots. Other turbine hosts also complained about their fields being subdivided or multiple cable trenches requiring more of their land. Roads were cut in using anywhere from 1,000 feet to over half a mile of land to connect the locations. We soon realized that the company places roads and trenches where they will benefit the company most, not the landowner. One neighbor’s access road is right next to some of his outbuildings. Another’s is right next to his fence line.
At a wind company dinner presented for the farmers hosting the turbines, we were repeatedly told — nicely and indirectly — to stay away from the company work sites once they start. I watched as my friends faces showed the same concern I had, but none of us spoke out. Months later, when I approached a crew putting in lines where they promised me they definitely would not go, a representative told me I could not be there. He insisted that I leave. The line went in. The company had the right. I had signed the lease.
Grumbling started almost immediately after we agreed to 2% yearly increases on our 30-year lease contracts. Some felt we should have held out for 10%. What farmer would lock in the price of corn over the next 5 years, yet alone lock one in at 2% yearly for 30 years? Then rumors emerged that other farmers had received higher yearly rates, so now contracts varied. The fast-talking city sales folk had successfully delivered their plan. Without regard for our land, we were allowing them to come in and spoil it. All of the rocks we labored so hard to pick in our youth were replaced in a few hours by miles of roads packed hard with 10 inches of large breaker rock. Costly tiling that we installed to improve drainage had now been cut into pieces by company trenching machines.
Each night, a security team rides down our roads checking the foundation sites. They are checking for vandals and thieves. Once, when I had ventured with guests to show them foundation work, security stopped us and asked me, standing on my own property, what I was doing there. What have I done?
Now, at social functions, we can clearly see the huge division this has created among community members. Suddenly, there are strong-sided discussions and heated words between friends and, yes, between relatives about wind turbines. Perhaps this is a greater consequence than the harm caused to my land — life is short, and friendships are precious.
I tried, as did some of the other farmers, to get out of our contracts, but we had signed a binding contract. If you are considering placing wind turbines on your property, I strongly recommend that you please reconsider. Study the issues. Think of all the harm to your land, and, in the future, to your children’s land, versus the benefits from allowing companies to lease your land for turbines.
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
PLEASE DO NOT DO WHAT I HAVE DONE!
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/wisconsin-farmer-has-regrets
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Please watch the Jackson Video, made by your fellow citizens in Jackson:
Parts 1 & 2 --
http://www.windtaskforce.org/video/the-jackson-video-part-1-of-2
http://www.windtaskforce.org/video/the-jackson-video-part-2-of-2
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Let’s get real now. Wind turbines of the scale proposed for the destruction of the Western Maine mountaintops and environmental repercussions downhill and downwind do not last 20 years as everyone seems to take for granted. These machines have many parts to them : gears meshing with each other, blade tips whipping at 180 miles per hour, hydraulic systems straining against tremendous resistance to keep the machines facing the wind. Evidence is showing these machines wear out in 10 to 15 years, as part replacement and downtime for repairs becomes too expensive and stand to put the wind project in the red as costs exceed sales of electricity. I smell bailout.
If as a country, we are hell-bent to have these wind machines as a way off foreign energy dependence, be prepared to pay and pay dearly. Imagine how many wind turbines it will take to produce the energy requirements to adapt to electric vehicles and electrically heating our homes and businesses. There simply is not enough space and real money available to achieve this .
The money to keep this going has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is from the pockets of the taxpayers and electricity users. Money spent to sustain an unsustainable dream. This is no different than the dream scheme of giving every American the opportunity of buying a house whether they could afford it or not. That didn’t work out too well, except for a few, behind the scenes, wall street manipulators.
This is the next bubble to burst in our faces. Business models based on 20 years which expire in 10 to 15 years create bankruptcy . Will we be paying for their bailout with our government exclaiming they are too big and too important for our future to fail ?
The path to failure is already under way. The behind the scenes manipulation by greedy profiteers is occurring now. The government, as the main proponent for this scheme, prepares to protect it’s arrogance , never admitting to producing a failed policy. They will do this at all costs and we will pay the price.
Consider these facts :
1. Most of the billions of taxpayer money devoted to the creation of this scheme goes overseas to foreign turbine manufacturers.
2. Billions and billions are being spent to upgrade power lines to bring wind generated electricity from places far from the cities and industries which create the overwhelming demand . Billions to be paid by all electricity users.
3. Because of the unreliability of wind and the intermittent production of electricity from them, many more conventional generators are placed in stand-by mode. When the wind isn’t within the range of speed to produce, these stand-by generators are required to start. An emergency situation with emergency pricing taking effect.
4. Spain, one of the biggest developers of this “ green energy “ has a hurting economy and can no longer subsidized the wind projects. An example of the disastrous results produced by this scheme.
5. All of wind developers will tell you, they would never venture into these projects if it wasn’t for the taxpayer handouts they receive. Handouts which are subject to the whim of the politicians. Government is notorious for it’s “ subject to change “ attitude.
The many details and nuances involved in this scheme are overwhelming for us, the average American citizen, to understand. Mostly, we are left in the dark as politicians bombard us with their double speak and the profiteers devise their strategy beyond our sight. This is no “ gift horse “ we are presenting to our future generations.
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Hi Candiceanne. I hear your pique, and I understand it. However, I believe if you think about what the Carthage vote is for, you'll give the townsfolk who are pushing for a moratorium some understanding. A moratorium is not a NO vote. It is simply a means of protecting the town and its people. Small towns often don't have planning boards, and their comprehensive plans might not be all that comprehensive. When the state mandated those 20 years ago, industrial wind developments didn't exist in Maine. So, now we are playing catch-up. There are many, many facets to IW, and most Mainers do not know the full scope of their impact, nor are they educated on the 'greeness' or the economics of these developments. It is simply a case of being proactive to institute a moratorium, so that all residents (and property tax payers in general) can have some input. Home rule is a GOOD thing, and the more people who stand up to make their voices heard, the more we participate in this free society which we are so proud to be a part of. Breathing room... it's a good thing! For more factual information on IW, please visit www.highlandmts.org. From there, you can find many helpful links. Respectfully submitted, Karen Pease, Lexington Twp. http://karenbesseypease.blogspot.com/
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Carthage , BEWARE!
LIES, More LIES, and Nothing but LIES is the modus operandi of Big Wind Liars!
The Tax Incremental Funding is also a LIE.THEY ARE ESTIMATES, likely to change or not exist in the future.They are designed to convince naive town officials (or the self-serving ones) to agree. The Town has had any costs of the process funded by Patriot Renewables. IT IS A SELF-SERVING DOCUMENT as well, for Patriot. THE TOWN MUST DO THEIR ESTIMATES IN A COMPETITIVE MANNER, with someone other than Peabody.
Favorable ESTIMATES for Patriot?...ASK THEM DIRECTLY, they ARE MORE LIES TO DECEIVE!
In addition, Patriot will be out of there in a few years, either belly up or spinning the project to someone else, and the town will be left holding the bag: rusting hulks on the mountains your reward.
This same old scam is being played out everywhere in Maine by BIG WIND LIARS.
REMEMBER, THE STUFF DOESN'T EVEN WORK. WHY DON'T YOU ASK THEM to show you real numbers on the project, they can't!
Moratorium, then Ordinance the Liars off YOUR LAND, or be DOOMED and to noise, viewshaed damage and environmental devastation as a participant of the BIG WIND LIE MAINE SCAM, ala Baldacci and his stooges!
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The residents of Carthage are propably not aware that the other towns in their school district (I assume they're in a district/union) could get together and vote to "not honor" Carthage's TIF with the wind company. As you are probably aware, a TIF cheats these other towns out of a share of the taxes Carthage would have paid the school district had the project not been TIF’d.
In Jackson, where I live, there was a movement in the other towns in our district (SAD 3) to do just that if we put in turbines and TIF'd the project. Even our selectmen, who were very pro wind, didn't want a TIF for that very reason. In the end, Jackson voted for a “thirteen times turbine height setback” (with mitigation waivers) and has seen no further action by CES (the developers of Freedom’s three turbine project) and who are somehow associated with Patriot Renewables.
If that happened to Carthage, they would be liable for the several hundred thousand dollars their town should have paid the school district each year. Do you suppose the wind company would let them out of their TIF contract? I doubt it. If Carthage couldn’t get out of the TIF, their millrate would skyrocket and stay there for the length of the TIF, normally twenty-two years or more.
TIF's are figured by multiplying the town's present mill rate by the total value of the project. The resulting figure is near what the wind company would have to pay under "regular" taxation. Of course, under “regular” taxation most of that money would be gobbled up by the county and the school system, but a little is left for tax relief in the town, but not much. Mike Rogers would probably be able to tell Carthage how much tax relief twelve turbines would mean to the tax payers in Carthage if they didn’t TIF the project.
If Carthage decides to go for the TIF, then the negotiations begin with the wind company's lawyers. Eaton Peabody has done all of First Wind’s TIF’s and are very experienced. Most are negotiated so that the town gets 40% of the TIF money and the wind company keeps 60%. Lincoln and Burlington managed to negotiate a 50-50 split. Vinalhaven got 10% and the “for profit” part of Fox Islands Winds kept 90%. All of the wind projects so far in Maine have been TIF'd, except for Freedom's.
TIF's save the wind companies millions in tax dollars over the life of the project. I don’t know what the millrate is in Carthage, but if it was .0200 and project was worth $43,000,000, and the wind company got to put 60% of that figure back in their pocket, then the wind company would save $8,000,000+ in the twenty-two year life span of a traditional TIF. Of course the turbines are depreciated as personal property 2% per year, so the town’s share decreases a little every year. It’s no wonder wind companies love TIF’s!
Carthage’s share would have to be spent on “economic development” projects within the TIF district. They couldn’t spend it on a new community center, new town hall, swimming pool, or ball field. Most towns just reconstruct a few miles of road (within the TIF district, of course) at $250,000 per mile and leave it at that. If they can prove to the state that the addition of turbines have caused the need for a new dump truck, fire engine, etc., they might be able to get that purchase approved. A small portion of the TIF proceeds may be used for community wide projects and most towns use this money for granting some scholarships. Of course they always have to set aside a goodly sum to administer and pay the legal fees associated with the TIF. There is a lot more to TIF's than meets the eye.
Towns seem to jump on the TIF's every time, even though a TIF guarantees absolutely no reduction in their taxes. If I lived in Carthage, I’d be voting for a moratorium so people had a chance to slow things down and look at everything very, very carefully. And if I lived in one of the other towns in the school district, I’d be watching Carthage very, very carefully too.
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If the folks at Patriot Renewables can't give you the answers to the questions you've asked repeatedly within the last year, perhaps they will take you more seriously once you've voted for a moratorium. If this is such a wonderful, beneficial project with sound financial backing (that is undisclosed), then six months won't be a problem.
Your neighbors in Wilton just passed a wind ordinance covering both small and industrial sized projects. Towns like Dixfield, Weld, Rumford, Phillips, and Buckfield are working on theirs. Many other towns have ordinances in place. Why not Carthage?
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Wilton passed their ordinance because of what is happening in Carthage. A few years back Carthage did try to get a planning board in but was defeated. With any luck we will have a moratorium. Oh the reason why towns like Dixfield, Weld, Rumford, Phillips, and Buckfield have them and Carthage doesn't is because of dirty pool tatics. The first selectman wants the wind mills and is doing everything he can to get them. The annual town meeting which would have revealed the windmill project a year before it was revealed was canceled (because the guy who keeps the minutes was out of town). It was only after Patriot Renewable got all the permits from the State did they let the people of Carthage know and amasingly a town meeting was held shortly after that (Funny how that worked). I just hope the vote is done by a show of hands and not a ballot because I bet if it is done by ballot the moratorium will be defeated by a huge margin(probably by a margin slightly higher then the number of registered voters).
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Just to let people know what I have heard is that residents are going to be the only people allowed to vote on this. Property owners are SOL on this vote. Candice the only jobs this will create is 2 and that won't happen for 3-4 years. The tax credit is a bunch of bull. A vast majority of that money would go to the town to maintain roads leading to the wind mill which would only be the winter hill road. But because the town makes more money residents property taxes would go up.
PS I don't think you will find anyone in carthage against logging. Go to Bradley's store at noontime and tell everyone in there that loggers a stupid and see how long you stay in the store.
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Instead of Wind Turbine Moratoriums and individually fightinng every economic development oportunity that comes to Maine whay doesn't every Maine Towns Planning Board, Board of Selectmen or some other appropriate Board with in each town just sit down and draft a comprehensive plan prohibiting everything outright or spell out that it is prohitively expensive, difficult and a nusance to try to setup or do business in the town and then you wont have to deal with it anymore? You wont have to wory about wind turbines or casinos or the likes of plum creek in your back yard ever again.
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