Congratulations on a job well done, Sumner. You've drafted and voted in an ordinance that protects the town's residents rather than favors the developers. All Maine towns should do the same. DEP guidelines regulating industrial wind development are an injurious insult to Maine residents.
The wind industry has quite effectively brainwashed ("greenwashed") the average American, but more and more are waking up to the lack of science based proof that industrial wind will save this planet. Wake up faster, people. This industry doesn't pack much real power, except the power to bankrupt Maine. Protect yourselves, protect your neighbors, protect your quality of life. Just say "NO!" to this farce.
There's a big difference between a property line and a dwelling when it comes to set backs in wind ordinances.
Get it right, selectmen. You won't get a second chance, but you will get lawsuits if you mess this up. You are doubling the noise rural residents will hear at night and you are messing big time with their property values. Residents, you must protect yourselves. The wind developers certainly aren't going to.
Kibby's turbines are brand new and already broken down. Get the decommissioning money up front, paid in full, before the project starts and the wind developer declares bankruptcy.
Hello Steve in Hawaii, Geothermal is great, we are looking into installing a system at our business. I can't find any reference to dirty bombs and thorium. http://thorium1.com/thorium101/fuel-characteristics.html
but I am definitely not an expert on the matter. I live off grid, heat with wood and power by a small 500 watt solar array.
Build a small thorium reactor there and let's lead the nation installing REAL green energy for a change! Much more powerful, very small footprint, far more environmentally friendly than wind turbines.
Great letter, Alice. For Patriot Renewables to say that surrounding Mt Blue State Park with industrial wind turbines would cause no scenic impact, they are basically stating that Mt Blue State Park is not valued for its scenic character, which of course is not true. Much of Maine is highly valued for its scenic viewsheds. I saw the photo simulations produced by Patriot Renewables. There are manuals that teach wind developers how to create these visuals so that the turbines are nearly invisible along the ridgelines. To see how they really look, take a trip to Kibby, Roxbury, Lincoln, Mars Hill. They dominate the landscape and at the night it's like being in the middle of a giant airport. Baldacci's expedited wind law is unconstitional. A moratorium should be placed on all industrial wind projects until all these questions are answered to the benefit of Maine residents and not special interest groups.
After reading the below exerpt, I wonder when landowners will be paid carbon credit $$$ for nurturing the forests that keep us alive?
Carbon Sequestration:
Heat from Earth is trapped in the atmosphere due to high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat-trapping gases that prohibit it from releasing heat into space -- creating a phenomenon known as the "greenhouse effect." Trees remove (sequester) CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis to form carbohydrates that are used in plant structure/function and return oxygen back to the atmosphere as a byproduct. About half of the greenhouse effect is caused by CO2. Trees therefore act as a carbon sink by removing the carbon and storing it as cellulose in their trunk, branches, leaves and roots while releasing oxygen back into the air.
Trees also reduce the greenhouse effect by shading our homes and office buildings. This reduces air conditioning needs up to 30%, thereby reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned to produce electricity. This combination of CO2 removal from the atmosphere, carbon storage in wood, and the cooling effect makes trees a very efficient tool in fighting the greenhouse effect. (11)
One tree that shades your home will also save fossil fuel, cutting CO2 buildup as much as 15 forest trees. (16)
In one urban park (212 ha), tree cover was found to remove daily 48 lbs particulates, 9 lbs nitrogen dioxide, 6 lbs sulfur dioxide, and 1/2 lbs carbon monoxide. ($136 per day value based upon pollution control technology)
Planting trees remains one of the cheapest, most effective means of drawing excess CO2 from the atmosphere. (15)
A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings. (10)
Each person in the U.S. generates approximately 2.3 tons of CO2 each year. A healthy tree stores about 13 pounds of carbon annually -- or 2.6 tons per acre each year. An acre of trees absorbs enough CO2 over one year to equal the amount produced by driving a car 26,000 miles. An estimate of carbon emitted per vehicle mile is between 0.88 lb. CO2/mi. – 1.06 lb. CO2/mi. (Nowak, 1993). Thus, a car driven 26,000 miles will emit between 22,880 lbs CO2 and 27,647 lbs. CO2. Thus, one acre of tree cover in can compensate for automobile fuel use equivalent to driving a car between 7,200 and 8,700 miles. (8)
If every American family planted just one tree, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would be reduced by one billion lbs annually. This is almost 5% of the amount that human activity pumps into the atmosphere each year. (17)
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that all the forests in the United States combined sequestered a net of approximately 309 million tons of carbon per year from 1952 to 1992, offsetting approximately 25% of U.S. human-caused emissions of carbon during that period.
Over a 50-year lifetime, a tree generates $31,250 worth of oxygen, provides $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycles $37,500 worth of water, and controls $31,250 worth of soil erosion. (2)
The industrial wind lobby's argument that this bill would open the door to possibly purchasing cheaper hydro power from Quebec and hurting our own local power sources is a hypocritical one, given the fact that the biggest wind developer in this country AND in Maine is merging with three Canadian companies to save itself from bankruptcy. We're sending our dollars out of state with any industrial wind company and out of the nation with First Wind (Massachusetts/Canada) and Iberdrola (CMP/Spain). Hydro-Quebec is going to be duking it out with Nalcor as soon as the second dam on the Churchill River at Muskrat Falls is built. This is going to create very competitive energy prices and could substantially lower the rates for Maine businesses and residents ONLY if we classify hydro power as a renewable. Hydro power IS a renewable energy source, much more powerful and much cheaper than industrial wind. We need Governor LePage's bill to be passed. The legislature should be looking out for Maine citizens and business owners, not pandering to lobbying from special interest groups.
Wow, this is just awesome. Thank you, Hope Douglas, for bringing a close-up of these marvelous birds into people's lives, and thank you Terry Karkos for covering this story. Wish the video had been LONGER! All children should see this presentation.
Wow, the AWEA must really feel threatened by Mainers who are doing their homework regarding industrial wind. At least the author didn't wave the global warming banner (the CO2 myth was debunked a while ago by the Bentek study) or the "weaning us off foreign oil" mantra (few of us in Maine drive electric cars or heat with electricity). The wind industry certainly does set itself apart from many other industries by making large monetary donations to environmental groups (and other groups and politicians as needed) in order to convince them that industrial wind is environmentally friendly. The truth is, it's anything but. And as for the jobs mantra, those federal subsidies being channeled into industrial wind projects (our tax dollars) could create thousands of jobs repairing our roads and bridges, which would be far more beneficial to all Mainers and to our biggest economic engine, the tourism industry. Keep Maine beautiful!
"The more wind runs, the less natural gas gets burned to generate electricity,” said Ward, an energy expert who represented the state’s utility consumers as the state’s public advocate for 20 years. “We really have no doubt that there is a beneficial effect of wind development in terms of greenhouse gases.”
Seriously? The Bentek study debunked that CO2 myth a long time ago. There are no proven environmental benefits to industrial wind. In fact, it's just the opposite. How about giving us stakeholders (taxpayers) some real data on these existing projects? How much energy have they REALLY produced? Stating the nameplate capacity of a turbine is false advertising and deliberately deceptive. Show us the real figures. Show us how much is being produced and how much is being drawn OFF the grid to power the heating units and lights in the turbines. How is TransCanada's Kibby project faring? Rumor has it the turbines are off-line due to problems dealing with the "fickle mountain wind gusts". How many local residents are employed by these existing projects once construction is complete?
A moratorium on all industrial wind projects should be declared until a science-based cost/benefit analysis is completed. Maine's economy is tourism based. A friend who just drove across country told me that if we could keep those monstrous machines off of Maine's scenic landscapes, we'd have the biggest marketing tool in the nation. We need to give these multi-national carpet baggers the boot.
Bear in mind that Steve Pelletier works for the wind industry and he's going to tell you that those industrial turbines are harmless to birds, bats and so forth. Only four bald eagles have been killed by wind turbines in the United States??? The American Bird Conservancy would gladly challenge Pelletier's figures. The numbers for bird and bat kills by industrial wind turbines world wide are sky rocketing as projects get built out, but these figures are also swept under the rug. When was the last time your cat dragged an eagle through the door? Raptors use the updrafts along ridgelines to soar on as they hunt. Migratory birds and bats use the ridgelines to navigate by, day and night, through fog and snow. Filling their airspace with churning blades will have a definite and negative impact. The cumulative impact of all these proposed projects in the western mountains area will take a big toll on our wildlife, not to mention our scenic viewsheds. The Sierra Club and certain chapters of the Audubon Society are filing lawsuits against wind developers. All current projects are in violation of federal endangered species and migratory bird act laws. Do your homework. Once these monstrous turbines go up, they aren't coming down again any time soon.
Just wondering why some of TransCanada's TIF monies aren't being directed toward this cause. Alison Hagerstrom should make sure this happens. The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce is all about promoting area businesses and strengthening the economy. If Franklin County is losing large portions of its scenic viewsheds and tourism based ecnomy to industrial wind development, some of TransCanada's TIF should be channeled into the chamber. This beautiful mountain region deserves generous compensation from the industrial wind developers.
Canton, don't follow in Carthage's footsteps and throw your residents under the bus for the promise of a new playground or some snowmobile club money. Many Maine towns have enacted good wind ordinances to protect their residents. Get a protective ordinance in place with livable set-backs and sound limits. Have the wind developer sign a "Good Neighbor" agreement whereby they must buy out a resident at fair market value of their property PRIOR to the project being built should their monstrous machines cause loss of health, property value and quality of life. Better yet, show Patriot Renewables the door. These clever modern day carpet baggers prey on small rural towns. Notice that they aren't going after Portland?
"Bird smart" industrial wind turbines? You have got to be kidding me. Another feel good warm and fuzzy term to legalize the ongoing slaughter of migratory birds, bats and raptors. It didn't take long for the passenger pigeon to become extinct and at the rate things are going, many more species will follow suit, all in the name of "clean air", but really, sadly, tragically...it's all about greed.
Wind developers often ask land owners who have leased land to them to sign "good neighbor" agreements, to keep them from speaking against the project after it's up and running. Towns should enact the same thing for the wind developers, have them sign a "good neighbor" agreement which stipulates that if their project is proven to cause loss of property value, loss of quality of life or harm to the residents' health, they must buy the property at fair market value, which would be the value PRIOR to the project being built. Wind developers should sign such an agreement readily if what they say is true about their projects, and landowners and residents would be protected. A protective town ordinance is critically important to all residents, because no wind developer is ever going to sign a "good neighbor" agreement.
Fair is fair. If industrial wind facilities are being classified as "green renewables" when they are anything but green, then certainly hydro power must also be classified as a green renewable. Both are environmentally destructive, (and are in violation of federal laws, in the case of industrial wind's high impact on raptors, migratory birds and bats) but at least hydro provides real base load power to the grid. Maine doesn't need this power, but southern New England does, and if Hydro Quebec and Nalcor start duking it out to sign up new customers to their south, which is bound to happen with the second dam being constructed on the Churchill River in Labrador, this will only make for a more competitive electron flowing through the grid.
“There are only 150 National Scenic Byways in the country, and the second most popular reason people come to Maine is for scenic drives."
That is very very true, and we must pay very close attention to what is happening to our viewsheds. The dollar value is priceless considering this is a resource that will go on forever, as long as we protect it. The threat of industrial wind development on Rangely area's ridgelines and mountain tops must be examined and that discussion needs to be brought to the table. Tourism brings ten billion dollars into this state annually. It is our biggest economic engine, and we have to protect the natural scenic viewsheds these folks come here to see. They don't come here to see forty story tall structures with flashing lights, industrial roads and transmission lines strung like tall picket fence along the skyline.
Hydro power is a renewable and competition is a great thing in the energy arena. The more competition, the lower the rates. As for Efficiency Maine not wanting to have any oversight or accountability...what are they hiding?
I attended a showing of the documentary WINDFALL in Fort Kent at the University of Maine put on by the Student Ecology Committee. I thought the documentary was very thought provoking and was encouraged by the dialog amongst the attendees afterward. The message I took away from that documentary was that if they join forces, the townspeople CAN protect their quality of life even if their representatives and selectmen want to throw them under the bus for a fistful of dollars. The tragic thing was how the town was torn apart over the issue, but that same thing has happened in every rural town these wind developers target. Sheryl Briggs really does seem to care. She is doing her homework and is to be commended for that.
The dam removal seems to hinge on restoring the Atlantic Salmon run, an admirable cause, which brings to mind the Damariscotta River fish ladder that was built in the early 1800's by two neighboring towns to allow the alewives free run up to the lake. Back then it seems we were more connected to our ecosystems. That beautiful stone fishway is still functional after all these years and folks flock to it when the alewives are running. Fishways could have been built at all the dams but it was deemed too expensive and by that time we didn't care about the fish as much. Now we're starting to care again. The second dam on the Churchill at Muskrat Falls was very contentious, both for its cost to the tax payers and the fact that it's a very wild and beautiful area. This dam would be controlled by Newfoundland, not Quebec, which controls the dam at Churchill Falls, a very contentious arrangement. The dam at Churchill flooded an area the size of Rhode Island, destroying vast tracts of wild lands important to the wildlife and native peoples. Nobody cared. The east coast needed the electricity. There was money to be made. Fish passage? That's a joke. Nobody cared. A beaver dam is an engineering marvel, a thing of beauty that creates vibrant ecosystems and controls flood waters. A man made dam might be an engineering marvel but I think Ed Abbey was right about more than a few things and man made dams was one of them. When I was in Labrador for the tour of Churchill back in the winter of '91, the folks in Lab City paid an average of $100./month to light and heat their homes and the average winter temp was between minus 20 and 30 F. Very long cold winters.
You definitely need to take a field trip to Churchill Falls in Labrador. Take a tour of the hydro facility there. Everyone heats with electricity and it's very, very cheap. The power produced there lights up New York City. They're building a second dam on the Churchill to double their power output and are looking for buyers. Vermont signed an excellent long term deal with them. Maine can do the same. Maine was built on hydropower. It's very real and very powerful. We've had industrial wind technology since the 70's and look how far it's gotten us. There's a reason why these turbine parts from China are coming across the ocean on fossil fueled ships, not sail boats.
How appropriate that those industrial turbines look like barbed wire. These things are fencing off the airspace our raptors and migratory birds depend upon. Good-bye Virgil Cain, Maine's only documented golden eagle.
As for the slowly spinning blades, how much of a breeze does it take to move each seven ton turbine blade? Are those slowly spinning turbines drawing power off the grid to make them go round and round? Would it be possible to put solar panels on each of the blades to help turn them? Oh yeah, there's the renewables hitch with wind and solar. When the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow 28 miles per hour steady, no power gets produced.
Hydro power is the only workable renewable as far as base load grid supply goes. Small thorium reactors are the new green grid-scale energy producers, far less destructive than industrial wind, far less expensive and far, far more powerful.
Peru, be sure and get a "Good Neighbor" agreement worked into any ordinance you draw up, requiring any wind developer to sign on the dotted line that if they exceed or violate your ordinance conditions, especially reagarding sound or shadow flicker, or cause harm to existing residents through property devaluations, they buy the injured party's property at fair market value. If they have an ounce of integrity they'll sign without a quibble. If they don't, send them packing.
At seven billion and climbing, the human population on this planet will require REAL energy sources. Industrial wind turbines will never cut the mustard. Intermittent wind can never be a base load energy source on the grid, and it is very expensive. Thorium energy is green, cheap and powerful. Thank you for bringing up the subject, Mr. Corrigan. Here is link to those who might not have heard of this energy source. http://energyfromthorium.com/2011/10/29/nuclear-ammonia/#more-2691
Isn't Reed and Reed making a small fortune constructing these wind installations? Jobs jobs jobs for them but nothing for the locals. The businesses that support the wind industry are making a profit from it. Of course they're going to trumpet high praises. By the way, tourism in Maine generates ten billion dollars a year and produces 170,000 full time jobs. The wind industry can't hold a flickering candle to that. All they have the power to do is jeopardize Maine's most powerful economic engine by industrializing the scenic viewsheds people come from all over the world to see. Meanwhile, the rest of us rate payers will pay through the nose for the multi billion dollar transmission line upgrades. Wind might be free but the infrastructure to harness the energy is both fiscally and environmentally unsound. Interesting that FINALLY the CO2/global warming argument has faded from the picture. The Bentek study debunked the myth that industrial wind reduces CO2. Spain just pulled all its subsidies from renewables because they were bankrupting the country, raising electricity rates and driving out jobs. The same thing will happen here. No proof has ever been provided that shows industrial wind power to lower electricity rates, lower property taxes, or even produce more energy than it draws off the grid. The wind blows sporadically here. Inland Maine does not have good wind resources. When the wind doesn't blow, NO ENERGY IS PRODUCED, yet the three blades on each turbine, which weigh seven tons each, are kept turning slowly by the motor inside the nacelle. The lights flash 24/7. Some turbines have heaters to keep the hydraulic oil warm. How much of a parasitic draw does this put on our grid? Industrial wind will never make up any of our base load power. The sacrifices we're making aren't worth what we're getting. As for those studies that show most Mainers support IWP, interesting that eight of the last eight towns voted in strict wind ordinances. That "vocal minority" that you scorn, Sun journal, are the residents of these small towns who realize that they will have to live underneath these forty story tall monsters if they don't protect themselves. Reed and Reed is a great construction firm. Let's put them to work fixing our roads and bridges. Keep them off our mountain tops. We need to focus on real energy solutions if we're talking about heating our homes and powering our vehicles. Thorium Flouride reactors would be my choice.
Peru, get your wind ordinance drafted and make it a good one. The World Health Orgnanization is recommending two mile set backs from industrial wind projects. If they want to put 25 or 30 massive machines in your community, kill this project. Protect your residents, your property values and your quality of life.
Can this coalition of "environmentalists" kindly explain why hydro power is not considered a part of our renewable portfolio standard? We'd all be dead if it water didn't renew itself. We need to move in a forward direction with our power sources. Energy sources must be reliable and have a high capacity factor. Having lived off grid for twenty seven years, I can attest to the fact that when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow, zero energy is being produced. Both sources have a very low capacity factor. That can be a big problem when we're talking about grid supply for seven billion humans and counting. Thorium flouride reactors would be far greener and much more powerful than industrial wind, with a tiny footprint in comparison to the industrial sprawl of the wind machines. That's the sort of power we should be pursuing if we want to heat our homes and power our vehicles using electricity. Or lock in an excellent rate with Canadian hydro power the way Vermont did. In Labrador they heat with electricity, and it's very cheap.
Thank you, Mr. O'Neil, for questioning the obvious bias of the state's newpapers. Fortunately Mainers are catching on to the problems of industrial wind, namely that none of the developer's sweeping claims have ever been proven. If my tax dollars are going to be put toward any energy project, I would want the scientific facts laid on the table. I'll take hydro power over wind power any day, ditto for natural gas, and with seven billioin humans and multiplying on this tiny planet, we better be looking at things like thorium flouride reaactors. Keep our mountains and our scenic viewsheds pristine and they'll keep pumping billions of dollars into our tourism based economy. Destroy them, and we've killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Maine Drilling and Blasting is about to start transfiguring Saddleback Mountain in Carthage, Mr. Hall. My father's ashes are on that mountain. It is sacred to me and to many others as well, tho I would hazard to guess that you really don't care much about Maine's mountains or her rural residents. If Maine is going to "trade off" its secenic viewsheds, which also happen to be a huge ecnomic treasure for our tourism based economy, all for the sake of a few sporadic electrons, I call that a very poor trade. If you could back up your claims as to industrial wind reducing our fossil fuel usage, that would be most interesting. I don't know of any existing power plants that have been shut down because of wind turbine installations. Nor do I know of one single Maine household being powered by industrial wind projects here in Maine. Another thing,given that wind quality is fair to poor and by its nature very sporadic in Maine, and given that these turbine blades weigh over seven tons a piece, explain why they're turning when there's no wind blowing? How hard does the wind have to be blowing to get these massive blades turning? How much of a parasitic draw are these industrial turbines on our existing grid? Lots of questions, not many answers. I call industrial wind a damned poor trade no matter how you cut it. I'll take natural gas and hydro any day.
Rate payers should not be forced to back special interest groups. This agenda is clearly driven by the wind industry. Let the rate payer choose on their own by giving them the option to pay a higher rate for "green" generated power. Frankly, a special interest group that doesn't recognize hydro power as a renewable energy source is not to be believed.
Thank you, Sun Journal, for running this story, and thanks to both Naomi Schalit and John Christie for their excellent investigative journalism. Mainers need to be privvy to what's going on behind closed doors in the wind industry here in Maine. Thank you, PUC, for protecting Maine's business and residential rate payers.
Patriot Renewables is planning to build another series of industrial power plants on Saddleback Mountain in Carthage. I live in Carthage. The first inkling I had that this was going to be happening was while driving to work one morning. I heard on the radio that Carthage was going to be the site of the largest "wind farm" in the state of Maine. Everything had been done on the sly years before we were aware. Most of the residents, excluding the landowners and seletmen, hadn't a clue what was happening, and when we found out we were told there was nothing we could do about it. Of course we didn't stick our heads in the sand, we fought like heck. We got town meetings and even brought the moratorium issue to a vote. This turned out to be an illegal vote, held in a place without handicap access and when the building dropped from the weight of all the people in the room, several people exited the building immediately before the vote was taken. I've never been quite so educated and quite so disgusted as I have been by these wind developers and by some of these small town selectmen. Public HEARINGS must be mandated for every wind project to keep the process legal. Testimony means nothing unless it's under oath. A moratorium on all wind projects in Maine should be enacted until these developers can PROVE their claims, something they have never been required to do. It's time we demanded facts. With all due respect, two, three, four or a hundred "wrongs" taken from our past do not make industrial wind "right" for Maine's future.
Thank you for a rational letter, Mr. Michka. Governor LePage is on the right track for helping both businesses and residents reduce their energy costs. Competition is a wonderful thing and we need more of it in the energy arena. Hydro and natural gas are the heavy hitters and we SHOULD be inviting them into the game. As far as the wind industry goes, in my opinion we should show them the door. Our mountains are a huge economic asset and tourism is this state's most powerful economic engine. Maine can't afford to lose its viewsheds to industrial wind.
Frankly I'd rather see this money and these jobs go toward natural gas lines and burying existing power lines. Oh yeah, and fixing our roads and bridges. Jobs jobs jobs that actually benefit the state and the ecnomy!
Thank you for an excellent letter, Ms. Barnett. It may take a bit longer for the legistlature to admit that the expedited wind law pushed through by Baldacci without any discussion was wrong, but the residents of rural towns aren't wasting any time in protecting themselves from this scam. Good for them. The information is out there and we're educating ourselves. The media hasn't helped, but they could if they chose to. Where there's smoke, there's fire. Lately there's been a whole lot of smoke and it's getting thicker by the moment.
Electricity rates in Europe have tripled due to industrial wind power. When the tax payer subsidies run out, they'll triple here, too. Vermont got a good rate from Hydro-Quebec. My guess is, LePage can do the same or better. Canadians are building another dam on the Churchill River and will be looking to sell even more of their hydro power. If we can spend all that money buying Chinese junk to put on our mountains to produce negligbie amounts of high priced power, we can surely buy hydro power from our northern neighbors. I'd rather support Canada's ecnomomy than China's.
Meanwhile, let's get those thorium flouride reactors on line!!!
If Governor LePage is hesitant to promote jobs that will destroy Maine's natural heritage and will raise electricity rates for Mainers, can he truly be faulted for that? Tourism is Maine's most powerful economic engine and has propped up this state for well over a century. This will continue only as long as we remain responsible stewards of our state's natural scenic treasures. Maine is a beautiful place and people come here from all over the world to see it. We need to protect our viewsheds, not destroy them. They are worth billions of dollars. Ten billion per year, as a matter of fact, and the jobs created by tourism number over 170,000 full time positions. Let's put the contractors to work repairing our bridges, repairing our roads, weatherizing our older housing stock. Keep the bulldozers, Chinese towers and dynamite off our mountain tops. Restore the environmental protection that Baldacci stripped away from our mountains. Reestablish hydro power as a renewable energy source. Get back on track to a sustainable and healthy Maine economy.
Governor LePage needs to reclassify hydro as a renewable and broker a good deal with Hydro-Quebec. Maine doesn't need more electricity right now, BUT if the electric rates were cheap enough, the possibility of heating our homes with electricity becomes very real. This will never happen with wind power, but hydro power really packs some smash. If you ever get to Labrador, take a tour of the Churchill Falls hydropower station. This power plant lights up New York City and the eastern seaboard. In Labrador, which has winters much longer and colder than we do here in Maine, they heat with electricity and it is cheap, cheap, cheap.
"In a letter to Brown, James Brooks, acting commissioner for the DEP, wrote, "Your request has been considered carefully; however, much of the information you have submitted has been considered by the department in previous applications and to the extent you have submitted new information I find that it is not sufficient to warrant a public hearing.""
Translation: The citizens of Maine no longer have any voice in protecting their environment. This "screw you" attitude is not only unconstitutional, but it casts a very poor light on the DEP. If LURC is under such scrutiny, it won't be long before every rug in Augusta gets lifted up and looked under. When did bribery become legal in the political process?
The idea that industrial wind turbines are going to wean us off of fossil fuels or reduce CO2 are a false promises that need to be exposed. Many of the "facts" that the wind industry spouts have never been proven by scientific methodology, and yet they are taken for gospel by the unsuspecting. Why is this? Every other form of power plant has to jump through those capacity factor, environmental footprint and economical cost/benefit hoops. Wind has never been required to prove that it can provide reliable and cost effective power to the grid. The currently operating industrial wind projects right here in Maine won't even divulge their power production figures, stating that this is "proprietary" information. Given the fact that we tax payers are funding up to 75% of these projects, that makes us stakeholders in every project.
Show us the figures. Show us the proof. We deserve to know what we are being asked to sacrifice our mountains and our quality of life for. Proove to us that industrial wind will heat our homes. Fill our gas tanks. Lower electricity costs. Prove it.
The wind ordinance vote was by democratic process. The land use issue is a thorny one. If an industrial pig farmer targeted Rumford because it was a "stinky mill town", I'd like to think the townspeople would put up an equal stink to protect their own property values and quality of life. Extra tax dollars for the town are always nice to get, but if those tax dollars place undue burden on the town's residents, that has to be taken into consideration. I think the town of Rumford is a very beautiful place, and I'm glad the residents voted to keep it that way.
Now that these industrial wind projects are spinning in a number of rural towns and townships, let's see the figures on how much energy they are producing, how many residents are being employed full time as a result of the project and how much the local property taxes have plummeted. So far, industrial wind has never had to prove that it can generate any usuable amount of power. They state nameplate capacity figures and forget to mention that when the wind doesn't blow, NO power is being produced, which is probably why they classify actual KWH being produced at these industrial sites as "proprietary information". In other words, they don't really want anyone to know the poor capacity factor of these giant towers. In Carthage, the landowner being courted by Patriot Renewables threatened to close off all his land to recreational use if Patriot Renewables didn't get their permit. When Roxanne Quimby supposedly used the same tactics to promote a national park, she was called all sorts of bad names. Frankly, those wind turbines aren't working for me or for many other Mainers, but we'll be paying for them for a very long time.
That's an excellent suggestion, Alice. At least one selectman, preferably all of them, should attend this forum and ask questions of the board. Interested residents should also attend. Hopefully Peru residents will vote for the moratorium proposal to give the board more time to draft a comprehensive wind ordinance that protects all residents.
That's an excellent suggestion, Alice. At least one selectman, preferably all of them, should attend this forum and ask questions of the board. Interested residents should also attend. Hopefully Peru residents will vote for the moratorium proposal to give the board more time to draft a comprehensive wind ordinance that protects all residents.
Two nights ago I saw the northern lights. I watched them for a long time in a sky so full of stars and darkness it was like looking back in time a thousand years, a million years. We take so many things for granted here in Maine. We are so blessed with our natural environment. With these dark night skies. With these mountains that we love. Let's not forsake our quality of place for the promise of a few quick bucks.
When and if these forty story tall towers go up, there will be no recourse for residents who might be negatively impacted. The wind developers won't take them down. Vote yes on the local ordinance. Protect yourselves and your neighbors. State regulations for industrial wind towers are a joke. They allow them to be placed as near as 1200 feet from inland residents, yet off shore wind developers are promising a 20 mile set back for the coastal residents. That smacks of discrimination.
Thank you, Sally, for helping people to understand the real impact of these turbines on our avian species. House cats can and do kill song birds, but I've never heard of a house cat killing a raptor and they seldom manage to nab a bat, either. The American Bird Conservancy is currently seeking information on bird kills at industrial wind turbine sites and on references to what is defined as "acceptable mortality" in wind permit application, especially as these parameters apply to endangered species. Relying on wind developers and their employees to provide this information is like relying on a fox to guard the hen house at night.
Wow! Pretty soon area Smart Meters will be spinning backwards and electricity rates will plummet!!! And if you believe that, I'll sell you a rare earth mine in China. Industrial wind has close to zero capacity factor. It's a travesty that these monsters are being erected on our mountains. I only hope Patriot Renewables is fully funded in their decomissioning plans or there will be a very big mess for Woodstock to clean up a few years down the road. This is the same company that did Boston's Big Dig. They've gone from tunnels to turbines. Hang onto your wallets.
Governor LePage needs to undo the Baldacci administration's reclassification of hydropower as a non-renewable energy source, list it once again as a renewable, then negotiate with Canada hydropower for a 20 year cheap fixed rate per KWH, same as Vermont did. We need to get out of RGGI, nix CMP's (Iberdrola's) mulitbillion dollar plans for an uneeded transmission line upgrade, continue to sell our excess electricity to southern New England for a bit of a profit and use the profit to weatherize all of Maine's older housing stock. Natural gas has the potential to help lower heating costs in Maine and promote a healthier business environment. Energy efficiency projects will provide local jobs and help all Mainers keep money in their pockets...or at least channel some of those heating oil costs toward the high cost of food.
Meanwhile, hopefully, our best nuclear physists are working on those Thorium Flouride reactors...
When was the last time your cat dragged a golden eagle through the door? American Bird Conservancy is currently compiling statistics on bird kills at turbine sites, no easy task when the wind developers are the ones charged with documenting these kills.
Iberdrola, the huge Spanish company that now owns CMP, is tickled pink with our governments renewable energy mandates and rich subsidies. Iberdrola's push for industrial wind in Spain raised energy costs by 300% and drove businesses and jobs out, bankrupting the country. When Spain's renewable subsidies ran out, Iberdrola looked to the United States, a country that willingly subsidizes foreign companies getting in on the "renewables" rush. Beware the promises of cheap power from renewables. Wind might blow free, but the infrastructure required to turn that wind into grid scale electricity is staggeringly expensive, and wind has zero capacity factor. It cannot provide base load electrical power and certainly can't heat our homes and businesses.
Saving 300% on heating costs would be a big boon to most Mainers. Natural gas is a viable resource that should be used to help reduce our energy costs. Iberdrola, the huge Spanish company that now owns CMP, is tickled pink with our governments renewable mandates. Iberdrola's push for industrial wind in Spain raised energy costs by 300% and drove businesses and jobs out, bankrupting the country. When Spain's renewable subsidies ran out, Iberdrola looked to the United States, a country that willingly subsidizes foreign companies getting in on the "renewables" rush. Beware the promises of cheap power from renewables. Wind might blow free, but the infrastructure required to turn that wind into grid scale electricity is staggeringly expensive, and wind has zero capacity factor. It cannot provide base load electrical power and certainly can't heat our homes and businesses.
No jobs, no TIF. That's what TIF's are all about, the LOCAL jobs a company will bring into town. Wind brings no local jobs. If you're going to lose your mountains to industrial development with no JOB development, tax the developers for the fair value of their development.
NO TIF.
Show me the science. How much will this save you? Show me the science when Denmark's CO2 levels and energy costs are the highest in Europe, and they have them most wind energy. Show me the science to make me believe what you say is true.
Considering that the Bentek study shattered the theory that industrial wind cuts down on atmospheric CO2 and considering that industrial wind has ZERO capacity factor, which makes it useless in terms of the grid, and considering that so much was destroyed to create these monsters, including human life if Chinese lives are important (that's where the rare earth elements for the magnets are mined) and considering that Denmark has banned onshore wind turbines, and that Denmark has the highest percentage of industrial wind energy being produced, and the highest amount of CO2, and the highest electricity rates, and considering the fact that Angus had to transport all his whirlygig components using, dare I say it, FOSSIL FUELS, millions of gallons counting the transAtlantic portion of the journey...and considering that Maine's onshore wind resource is rated poor to fair, and considering that Maine is forfeiting the one industry that has always come through for it, good times and bad (tourism)...I'd say we're getting a really really bum deal.
Wind has zero capacity factor.
Zero.
Which makes it absolutely useless.
If you don't know what capacity factor is, look it up.
If you don't know what capacity factor is, you shouldn't be stumping for industrial wind.
“Governor King’s presentation is called ‘Wind Power in Maine: A Progress Report,’ a timely and important topic for all of Maine to consider,” Zinchuk said.
Progress Report? That's an interesting name for it, and it certainly is something for all Mainers to consider before it's too late.
There is absolutely no scientific evidence proving that wind power does anything beneficial for the environment, for the power grid, for CO2 reduction, for people's pocket books or for local jobs. None. Nada. Zip.
Science and politics have never mixed. Angus King's industrial wind project in Roxbury is proof of that.
Gates and Guardhouses! Patriot Renewables assured the Carthage folks there would be no Gates and Guardhouses. Everyone would be free to play and recreate around their turbines. Suddenly these turbines are dangerous high voltage towers with gates and guard houses.
So it begins. One can only hope the guards, at least, are local hires. That would be one or two employees, right?
Virgil Cain, one Maine's extremely rare, endangered and federally protected golden eagles, will have quite a deadly welcoming committee waiting for her along her mountain ridges when she comes back from her trip to Labrador. Her air space now belongs to Angus King.
A recent poll in the BDN indicated that over 80% of Maine residents would not want an industrial wind installation in their town. Although the media and corportate politicians have mostly promoted the wind developers agenda, Mainers are doing their homework. The information is out there. Industrial wind is not green, it doesn't provide the promised hundreds of local jobs, nor does it lower CO2, shut down existing power plants or provide enough power to offset the environmental sacrifices we're being asked (ordered) to make. Maine is one of the most beautiful states in the nation and tourism it its biggest economic engine. Industrial wind doesn't belong here. Period.
A twenty mile set back should be granted to inland residents. That's the set back that has been promised to coastal residents. Mainers should be treated equally. Not to do so is discrimination.
Thank you, Mike Rogers, for providing this information. "Crumbs from the wind developer's table" certainly describes the mere pittance given to the town's taxpayers in exchange for such a big impact on their property values, health and scenic viewsheds. I still don't understand why wind developers are granted TIFS. I thought TIFS were meant to lure development that provided a large number of local jobs.
Protect yourselves with a strong wind ordinance. Carthage residents were overwhelmed by the wind developers and our selectmen sold us out for a fistful of dollars and promised benefits.
I applaud the residents and wind ordinance committee members of Sumner. I wish Carthage had gone down the same path. Protect the residents of the town. Do a very careful cost/benefit analysis. Once those turbines are up, they'll be there for a very long time.
"Annoyance" is an actual classification of a degree of noise that is guaranteed to cause law suits and big head aches for these wind developers. I believe inland residents should be granted the same set backs from these industrial turbines as the coastal residents. Twenty miles has been granted to the wealthier Mainers in order to preserve their "quality of life" and scenic viewsheds.
"Annoyance" is an actual classification of a degree of noise that is guaranteed to cause law suits and big head aches for these wind developers. I believe inland residents should be granted the same set backs from these industrial turbines as the coastal residents. Twenty miles has been granted to the wealthier Mainers in order to preserve their "quality of life" and scenic viewsheds.
Wow, the wind developer is granting residents a 1,500' set back from their forty story tall industrial machines! How generous! I wonder why these machines must be placed twenty miles off shore to protect coastal residents' quality of life and scenic viewshed? Could it be that rural Mainers don't have the same rights?
The following link provides some interesting perspective on industrial wind power from a raptors point of view. Nobody thought to ask them how they feel about these giant spinning contraptions being erected in their airspace. There's a video that shows what Maine will look like if King and Gardiner and the gaggle of other wind developers get their way.
Is Weld being targeted, too? Of course. Enact a strict wind ordinance. You have been given the stewardship of one of the most beautiful areas of the state. Protect it. Protect the raptors and migratory birds and bats. Protect your neighbors. Protect your children and your property values. Show industrial wind the door, and give them the boot. Don't believe a word they say. I use to. I've learned my lesson.
The residents of rural Maine towns should be grandfathered. Constitutional rights should be upheld. Protect your neighbors as you would have them protect you. Enact an ordinance that preserves the quality of life and health and property values of rural inland residents. Don't lose site of the fact (no pun intended) that coastal residents are being granted ten to twenty mile setbacks from any off shore wind development in order to protect their "quality of life". This is the very worst kind of discrimination. Shameful. We pay taxes, too. We may not drive Audis and BMWs, but we matter. We love our homes. We love our mountains. We deserve the same ten to twenty mile set backs as our well heeled coastal residents do. Protect us.
This is so sad. The industrial wind developers divide every town they try to conquer. They turn family members against each other, friend against friend. They tear apart the fabric of the small, tight knit Maine communities. And they don't care one bit. As long as they get their big piece of the pie and the juice is running down their chin, they're happy.
It's a tragedy that we're destroying the best parts of Maine for a mere dribble of intermittent electricity. The Bentek Energy study just released completely debunks AWEA's claim that wind turbines reduce our carbon footprint. So what's the point of a bunch of foreign made forty story towers with bird and bat killing blades leaving their footprint over three hundred miles of Maine's most scenic resources and natural, as well as national, treasures? Not very smart, considering that tourism is Maine's biggest economic engine. Hikers and environmentalists and ANYONE who cares about the industrialization of Maine's mountains should join together to fight this destruction. It's not too late.
Chewonki is a great educational organization and we will need their avian rehab expertise as Maine's raptors lose more and more of their air space to industrial wind sprawl along our ridges and mountain tops. All of these wind developers are in violation of the migratory bird act yet this doesn't seem important to Maine Audubon, the Natural Resources Council of Maine or the Sierra Club, all organizations that use to protect Maine's forests, mountains, waters and wildlife. Maine's raptors are on their own. Their survival may very well depend on the education of our young children. To see these marvelous birds up close and ALIVE is awe inspiring. Thank you, Chewonki.
How ironic that a town with such a rich renewable resource as hydro would be toying with such a weak renewable as wind. This issue is clearly tearing the town apart, but the invasion of industrial wind has done this in every single town in Maine that they've invaded and tried to conquer. This turns neighbor against neighbor. How tragic and sad. There's no doubt that some would throw their neighbors under a bus for a few bucks or one single job. Stand up for your quality of life, Rumford. That's all any of us can do. You have a beautiful town, a beautiful landscape. Defend it. Protect it. Respect your neighbors.
It seems unbelievable that when the stakes are so high, and the information is out there, these selectmen have not bothered to educate themselves. Let's hope they attend the supper on May 20th. Thank you.
I would have to say the FINANCIAL reason for wanting a stricter and more protective ordinance would be primarily the effect these industrial turbines are going to have on property value. If a resident wants to sell their home or a part of their property, they are going to be taking a substantial loss in value. Of course this doesn't matter if the land/homeowner is well to do.
The humane reason for wanting a stricter ordinance would be to protect the health and quality of life of the residents of Rumford. Weren't they here first? Don't they have rights?
Just my opinion, as a Carthage resident who has suffered from the same lack of humanity and common sense displayed by our own selectmen.
Money does strange things to people's ethics, integrity and morals. One quickly learns who the honest people are.
I don’t see how, in good conscience, King and Gardiner could have proceeded with this project, and I would think the IF&W report on the “unmitigatable” negative impacts to wildlife would be a big warning flag to all other projects planned in that area. How can you claim to be helping the environment whilst slaughtering endangered species, not to mention all the others, and fragmenting their habitat? If they have no conscience and this is really and truly all about money, they’ll be back. For the sake of Maine’s beautiful mountains and last undisturbed areas, and for the sake of all who live there or navigate over her ridgelines to the place they call home, let us hope they walk away. Our mountains, wildlife and wild places will not benefit from being studded with four hundred foot tall cuisinarts. As far as the jobs jobs jobs mantra chanted by the wind industry, no industry provides more year round full time jobs than the tourism industry, 170,000 jobs, to be exact, 535 million in tax revenues and ten BILLION in goods and services. Those are 2009 figures, and 2009 was a bad year.
The following are passages taken from the 2006 Brookings Institute Report: ‘Charting Maine's Future, An Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places’:
"In the long run, the slow degradation of Maine’s vivid and distinctive quality of place (and the reputation it supports) may be the greatest cost to Maine of all.Another problem, meanwhile, is the defacement of Maine’s scenic corridors.
"Maine’s stellar quality of place, its traditional towns and beautiful landscapes and seacoasts,constitutes a major, appreciating asset in an age when retaining and attracting workers and retirees matters intensely. The state should continue to invest urgently in protecting and enhancing its top-notch quality of place, for that is its ‘calling card,’ its brand, and its truest source of prosperity. As its world-famous brand declares, Maine has - in its vivid small towns and waterfronts, its lakes and fields, its mountains and rocky coastline - exactly the sort of authenticity and quality of place that can set a place apart. Maine is unforgettable and distinctive, and that matters."
The state paid a lot of money for that report. We should be following it, and promoting sustainable prosperity and our unforgettable quality of place. Bottom line, the economic cost/benefit analysis proves that industrial wind is fiscally unsound. There are no benefits for the majority of us Mainers, and even less for Maine’s mountains, waters and wildlife. Worse, industrial wind could very well destroy the tourism infrastructure its rural residents count on for their very survival.
I am writing to ask you to please support a moratorium on industrial wind, as well as the bills that were presented before the Energy and Utilities Commission in Augusta this past Monday and Tuesday.
This issue is about protecting Maine’s mountains, Maine’s people, Maine’s wildlife, protecting the Maine brand, and PROTECTING JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. No other industry provides more jobs than tourism. No other industry even comes close to employing over one hundred and seventy thousand people in full time positions, or generating five hundred and thirty five million dollars in tax revenues and TEN BILLION DOLLARS in sales and services, and this was in 2009, a bad year. These aren’t temporary jobs or temporary revenues. Tourism has been Maine's biggest economic engine for nearly one hundred and fifty years and will continue to employ MORE AND MORE Mainers, and generate billions of dollars annually, as long as we can keep Maine a special place to visit by preserving her natural resources and unspoiled landscapes.
Industrial wind will not wean us off foreign oil. Most of us don't drive electric cars or heat with electricity, and adding two percent of wind energy to the forty percent we already export out of state is a poor excuse for raising our electricity rates and destroying our quality of place.
It is equally inexcusable for Mainers to be divided into two classes; the coastal residents, who are granted a twenty to forty mile set back from off shore industrial wind installations in order to preserve their quality of place, and the inland residents who are being ordered to live within 1500 feet of these forty story monstrous machines. Mainers deserve equal treatment, regardless of their income bracket.
It's heartening to read that some small towns care enough about their citizens to put protective wind ordinances in place. More and more towns are taking action to ensure the health and well being of their people. If only Carthage had gone that route. We are still fighting to protect those residents who will be living very close to Patriot Renewable's industrial wind towers. Patriot Renewables has torn our town apart. They don't care. The residents of Avon are showing true Maine spirit and looking out for their neighbors welfare. Good for them!
Thank you, Andover, for voting to go on record as not supporting industrial wind in our beautiful mountains. Please think about getting a wind ordinance in place before having to face the same fight that we in Carthage are facing. We have no ordinance in place and no selectmen who are willing to stick up for the health and well being of our residents. It doesn't take much of a bribe from the wind industry to change the minds of key people in your town. Work on an ordinance to protect yourselves, and get it voted in ASAP.
Thank you, Andover, for voting to go on record as not supporting industrial wind in our beautiful mountains. Please think about getting a wind ordinance in place before having to face the same fight that we in Carthage are facing. We have no ordinance in place and no selectmen who are willing to stick up for the health and well being of our residents. It doesn't take much of a bribe from the wind industry to change the minds of key people in your town. Work on an ordinance to protect yourselves, and get it voted in ASAP.
Thank you, DEP, for acknowledging the voice of the citizens of Maine and extending the meeting one and a half hours beyond your deadline. Attending that emotionally charged meeting, where many of the speakers choked up and many eyes in the room filled with tears, was a heart wrenching experience. This project must not be permitted, nor should any of the others in the permitting process. A moratorium must be declared on industrial wind until the expedited wind law can be rescinded. The ends don't justify the means. Our mountains must not be destroyed. The creation of two to three full time non-resident positions per wind farm is hardly worth threatening the one hundred and seventy thousand jobs, $535. million in tax revenues, and 10 billion dollars in goods and services that tourism brings into this state. The cumulative effect of all the proposed industrial wind farms would impact over twelve thousand square miles of Maine's pristine view shed. Can we afford to jeopardize Maine's biggest economic engine for something as fiscally unsound and environmentally devastating as industrial wind? I think not. The people of Maine must join together to speak up for Maine's mountains and her economic future.
I have a question regarding these industrial turbine installations on Maine's mountain tops. Are they required to have insurance? And if so, what happens when the insurance company pulls the rug out from under them after multiple lightning strikes, which happened in Germany recently. These Maine installations will be the first in the world being placed on mountain tops, predominately composed of granite, which means grounding them will be virtually impossible. Lightning strikes will cause all sorts of damage to the nacelles and blades unless they can be effectively grounded. In Germany, when the insurance company backed out, all the industrial turbines had to be removed. What's the story in Maine? Does anyone know how Kibby's insurance is set up with TransCanada?
The Sun Journal was way out of line when it chastised Mainers who disagreed with Baldacci's vision of industrializing Maine's mountains. As citizens of one of the most beautiful states in the nation, we should have a voice in how our natural treasures are treated. If Obama can help save mountain tops from being destroyed in coal country, we can only hope LePage can do the same for the last unspoiled mountain landscapes on the East coast. Dynamiting our mountains for twenty years worth of intermittent and unreliable energy is short sited, even if it will make a select handful of people very wealthy. Abundant and cheap natural gas, along with hydro from Quebec and Labrador, will provide southern New England with all the energy it needs. Maine doesn't need any. We already export forty percent of what we generate and our energy portfolio is one of the greenest in the nation. The Sun Journal should be ashamed of foisting their own ignorant bias on its readership. They should be investigating and reporting on industrial wind with professionalism and honesty.
Tourism is Maine’s biggest economic engine, providing many thousands of jobs, generating eight billion dollars in goods and services and 400 million in tax dollars annually, and it will continue to do so as long as Maine’s natural resources and scenic wonders remain a legendary and iconic draw to those living in crowded, highly developed and less scenic areas. Industrializing Maine’s ridge lines and mountain tops, which basically encompass the last of our unspoiled landscapes on the East Coast, to supply a projected 2 to 3% of our energy needs is fiscally unsound, extremely short sighted and will bankrupt the heart and soul of Maine’s mountains, along with her wildlife, waters and people. Why is this such a wonderful idea?
Tourism is Maine’s biggest economic engine, providing many thousands of jobs, generating eight billion dollars in goods and services and 400 million in tax dollars annually, and it will continue to do so only as long as Maine’s natural resources and scenic wonders remain a legendary and iconic draw to those living in crowded, highly developed and far less scenic areas. Industrializing Maine’s ridge lines and mountain tops, which basically encompass last of our unspoiled spaces on the East Coast, to supply a projected 2 to 3% of our energy needs is fiscally unsound, extremely short sighted and will bankrupt the heart and soul of Maine’s mountains, along with her wildlife, waters and people.
Do the math. Do your homework. We only have one chance to get this right.
I'm impressed by what a good job Rumford has done to try and craft a zoning ordinance that protects its citizens from the negative impacts of industrial wind. I wish the town of Carthage had been as respectful to its own citizens. A petition for a one mile set back was presented to the selectmen over fifty days ago but has not been acted upon. Once those industrial turbines go up, there's no going back. We've got to get this right the first time because we'll be living with these huge rusting metal towers for the rest of our lives.
By penny gray, unverified — Mon, 10/18/2010 - 08:11
The biggest landowner in Carthage used the same tactics to blackmail the citizens of our small town into defeating the moratorium vote. It takes real sand for small town selectmen to resist becoming corporate prostitutes. Money is what it's all about. The rape of the land and the people who live there matters not to industrial wind and those that benefit from the federal subsidies (our tax dollars).
Great essay, Karen. I guess I don't understand Mr. Wyman's comment that as a selectman he's listened to environmentalists preaching about clean energy at public hearings for twenty years. What projects is he talking about? I've lived off grid for twenty five years in a town not far from Eustice and I guess I'm in the dark, literally, except that I do understand the limitations of alternative power. Not sure if I qualify as an environmentalist because I don't know what happened to all the environmentalists who fought so hard for the past forty odd years to protect one of Maine's most valuable and ecologically sensitive habitats, her mountains. But what it comes down to, in my opinion, is this. Are our mountains and ridgelines worth more as industrial parks for the next twenty years, or as a tourist draw for the next two thousand? And if we taxpayers are funding these projects, don't we have a right to see the real facts and figures? Show us the electricity! There should be a state wide moratorium enacted until the machines currently operating are proven to be cost effective, efficient and useful. Which might mean a permanent moratorium...
If the best we can do to save the planet is blow up Maine's mountains, we need to get back to the drawing board ASAP. Tourism is Maine's biggest economic engine and will continue to be only as long as we protect Maine's natural beauty. Destroying Maine's iconic mountains and ridgelines is akin to killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Is the sacrifice worth it? We taxpayers should be getting quarterly statements from Mars Hill, Kibby, Stetson wind projects since these are all funded with our tax dollars. Methinks the reason they're being so secretive about the amount of power these turbines are producing is because they have nothing to brag about...
Recent Comments
Congratulations on a job well
Congratulations on a job well done, Sumner. You've drafted and voted in an ordinance that protects the town's residents rather than favors the developers. All Maine towns should do the same. DEP guidelines regulating industrial wind development are an injurious insult to Maine residents.
The wind industry has quite
The wind industry has quite effectively brainwashed ("greenwashed") the average American, but more and more are waking up to the lack of science based proof that industrial wind will save this planet. Wake up faster, people. This industry doesn't pack much real power, except the power to bankrupt Maine. Protect yourselves, protect your neighbors, protect your quality of life. Just say "NO!" to this farce.
What is a 'Heairng'?
There's a big difference between a property line and a dwelling when it comes to set backs in wind ordinances.
Get it right, selectmen. You won't get a second chance, but you will get lawsuits if you mess this up. You are doubling the noise rural residents will hear at night and you are messing big time with their property values. Residents, you must protect yourselves. The wind developers certainly aren't going to.
Kibby's turbines are brand new and already broken down. Get the decommissioning money up front, paid in full, before the project starts and the wind developer declares bankruptcy.
Nothing says spring quite
Nothing says spring quite like fiddleheads and brook trout. Thanks for a great column!
Hello Steve in Hawaii,
Hello Steve in Hawaii, Geothermal is great, we are looking into installing a system at our business. I can't find any reference to dirty bombs and thorium. http://thorium1.com/thorium101/fuel-characteristics.html
but I am definitely not an expert on the matter. I live off grid, heat with wood and power by a small 500 watt solar array.
Great story! May Game Warden
Great story! May Game Warden Chabot and his canine partner, Ruby, have a long and successful career.
Build a small thorium reactor
Build a small thorium reactor there and let's lead the nation installing REAL green energy for a change! Much more powerful, very small footprint, far more environmentally friendly than wind turbines.
Maybe they could use the
Maybe they could use the industrial wind turbines for target practice!
Wow, what a great article,
Wow, what a great article, informative and fun. Thank you, Maxwell Mogensen. More stories about Maine's colorful history, please!
Awesome! Thank you, LURC,
Awesome! Thank you, LURC, for doing something the DEP should be doing but doesn't have the nerve to do.
Great letter, Alice. For
Great letter, Alice. For Patriot Renewables to say that surrounding Mt Blue State Park with industrial wind turbines would cause no scenic impact, they are basically stating that Mt Blue State Park is not valued for its scenic character, which of course is not true. Much of Maine is highly valued for its scenic viewsheds. I saw the photo simulations produced by Patriot Renewables. There are manuals that teach wind developers how to create these visuals so that the turbines are nearly invisible along the ridgelines. To see how they really look, take a trip to Kibby, Roxbury, Lincoln, Mars Hill. They dominate the landscape and at the night it's like being in the middle of a giant airport. Baldacci's expedited wind law is unconstitional. A moratorium should be placed on all industrial wind projects until all these questions are answered to the benefit of Maine residents and not special interest groups.
After reading the below
After reading the below exerpt, I wonder when landowners will be paid carbon credit $$$ for nurturing the forests that keep us alive?
Carbon Sequestration:
Heat from Earth is trapped in the atmosphere due to high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat-trapping gases that prohibit it from releasing heat into space -- creating a phenomenon known as the "greenhouse effect." Trees remove (sequester) CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis to form carbohydrates that are used in plant structure/function and return oxygen back to the atmosphere as a byproduct. About half of the greenhouse effect is caused by CO2. Trees therefore act as a carbon sink by removing the carbon and storing it as cellulose in their trunk, branches, leaves and roots while releasing oxygen back into the air.
Trees also reduce the greenhouse effect by shading our homes and office buildings. This reduces air conditioning needs up to 30%, thereby reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned to produce electricity. This combination of CO2 removal from the atmosphere, carbon storage in wood, and the cooling effect makes trees a very efficient tool in fighting the greenhouse effect. (11)
One tree that shades your home will also save fossil fuel, cutting CO2 buildup as much as 15 forest trees. (16)
In one urban park (212 ha), tree cover was found to remove daily 48 lbs particulates, 9 lbs nitrogen dioxide, 6 lbs sulfur dioxide, and 1/2 lbs carbon monoxide. ($136 per day value based upon pollution control technology)
Planting trees remains one of the cheapest, most effective means of drawing excess CO2 from the atmosphere. (15)
A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings. (10)
Each person in the U.S. generates approximately 2.3 tons of CO2 each year. A healthy tree stores about 13 pounds of carbon annually -- or 2.6 tons per acre each year. An acre of trees absorbs enough CO2 over one year to equal the amount produced by driving a car 26,000 miles. An estimate of carbon emitted per vehicle mile is between 0.88 lb. CO2/mi. – 1.06 lb. CO2/mi. (Nowak, 1993). Thus, a car driven 26,000 miles will emit between 22,880 lbs CO2 and 27,647 lbs. CO2. Thus, one acre of tree cover in can compensate for automobile fuel use equivalent to driving a car between 7,200 and 8,700 miles. (8)
If every American family planted just one tree, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would be reduced by one billion lbs annually. This is almost 5% of the amount that human activity pumps into the atmosphere each year. (17)
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that all the forests in the United States combined sequestered a net of approximately 309 million tons of carbon per year from 1952 to 1992, offsetting approximately 25% of U.S. human-caused emissions of carbon during that period.
Over a 50-year lifetime, a tree generates $31,250 worth of oxygen, provides $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycles $37,500 worth of water, and controls $31,250 worth of soil erosion. (2)
The industrial wind lobby's
The industrial wind lobby's argument that this bill would open the door to possibly purchasing cheaper hydro power from Quebec and hurting our own local power sources is a hypocritical one, given the fact that the biggest wind developer in this country AND in Maine is merging with three Canadian companies to save itself from bankruptcy. We're sending our dollars out of state with any industrial wind company and out of the nation with First Wind (Massachusetts/Canada) and Iberdrola (CMP/Spain). Hydro-Quebec is going to be duking it out with Nalcor as soon as the second dam on the Churchill River at Muskrat Falls is built. This is going to create very competitive energy prices and could substantially lower the rates for Maine businesses and residents ONLY if we classify hydro power as a renewable. Hydro power IS a renewable energy source, much more powerful and much cheaper than industrial wind. We need Governor LePage's bill to be passed. The legislature should be looking out for Maine citizens and business owners, not pandering to lobbying from special interest groups.
A picture paints a thousand
A picture paints a thousand words and those two pictures couldn't explain the entire situation any better. Poor Roxbury.
Wow, this is just awesome.
Wow, this is just awesome. Thank you, Hope Douglas, for bringing a close-up of these marvelous birds into people's lives, and thank you Terry Karkos for covering this story. Wish the video had been LONGER! All children should see this presentation.
"180 plus" might be as high
"180 plus" might be as high as they can count.
Wow, the AWEA must really
Wow, the AWEA must really feel threatened by Mainers who are doing their homework regarding industrial wind. At least the author didn't wave the global warming banner (the CO2 myth was debunked a while ago by the Bentek study) or the "weaning us off foreign oil" mantra (few of us in Maine drive electric cars or heat with electricity). The wind industry certainly does set itself apart from many other industries by making large monetary donations to environmental groups (and other groups and politicians as needed) in order to convince them that industrial wind is environmentally friendly. The truth is, it's anything but. And as for the jobs mantra, those federal subsidies being channeled into industrial wind projects (our tax dollars) could create thousands of jobs repairing our roads and bridges, which would be far more beneficial to all Mainers and to our biggest economic engine, the tourism industry. Keep Maine beautiful!
"The more wind runs, the less
"The more wind runs, the less natural gas gets burned to generate electricity,” said Ward, an energy expert who represented the state’s utility consumers as the state’s public advocate for 20 years. “We really have no doubt that there is a beneficial effect of wind development in terms of greenhouse gases.”
Seriously? The Bentek study debunked that CO2 myth a long time ago. There are no proven environmental benefits to industrial wind. In fact, it's just the opposite. How about giving us stakeholders (taxpayers) some real data on these existing projects? How much energy have they REALLY produced? Stating the nameplate capacity of a turbine is false advertising and deliberately deceptive. Show us the real figures. Show us how much is being produced and how much is being drawn OFF the grid to power the heating units and lights in the turbines. How is TransCanada's Kibby project faring? Rumor has it the turbines are off-line due to problems dealing with the "fickle mountain wind gusts". How many local residents are employed by these existing projects once construction is complete?
A moratorium on all industrial wind projects should be declared until a science-based cost/benefit analysis is completed. Maine's economy is tourism based. A friend who just drove across country told me that if we could keep those monstrous machines off of Maine's scenic landscapes, we'd have the biggest marketing tool in the nation. We need to give these multi-national carpet baggers the boot.
Seems like what's REALLY
Seems like what's REALLY going on here is the DOE isn't doing their job and the taxpayer is being scammed.
Nice! Water levels are
Nice! Water levels are usually highest during times of greatest demand as far as heating goes. Micro hydro is well worth looking into.
Bear in mind that Steve
Bear in mind that Steve Pelletier works for the wind industry and he's going to tell you that those industrial turbines are harmless to birds, bats and so forth. Only four bald eagles have been killed by wind turbines in the United States??? The American Bird Conservancy would gladly challenge Pelletier's figures. The numbers for bird and bat kills by industrial wind turbines world wide are sky rocketing as projects get built out, but these figures are also swept under the rug. When was the last time your cat dragged an eagle through the door? Raptors use the updrafts along ridgelines to soar on as they hunt. Migratory birds and bats use the ridgelines to navigate by, day and night, through fog and snow. Filling their airspace with churning blades will have a definite and negative impact. The cumulative impact of all these proposed projects in the western mountains area will take a big toll on our wildlife, not to mention our scenic viewsheds. The Sierra Club and certain chapters of the Audubon Society are filing lawsuits against wind developers. All current projects are in violation of federal endangered species and migratory bird act laws. Do your homework. Once these monstrous turbines go up, they aren't coming down again any time soon.
Just wondering why some of
Just wondering why some of TransCanada's TIF monies aren't being directed toward this cause. Alison Hagerstrom should make sure this happens. The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce is all about promoting area businesses and strengthening the economy. If Franklin County is losing large portions of its scenic viewsheds and tourism based ecnomy to industrial wind development, some of TransCanada's TIF should be channeled into the chamber. This beautiful mountain region deserves generous compensation from the industrial wind developers.
Canton, don't follow in
Canton, don't follow in Carthage's footsteps and throw your residents under the bus for the promise of a new playground or some snowmobile club money. Many Maine towns have enacted good wind ordinances to protect their residents. Get a protective ordinance in place with livable set-backs and sound limits. Have the wind developer sign a "Good Neighbor" agreement whereby they must buy out a resident at fair market value of their property PRIOR to the project being built should their monstrous machines cause loss of health, property value and quality of life. Better yet, show Patriot Renewables the door. These clever modern day carpet baggers prey on small rural towns. Notice that they aren't going after Portland?
"Bird smart" industrial wind
"Bird smart" industrial wind turbines? You have got to be kidding me. Another feel good warm and fuzzy term to legalize the ongoing slaughter of migratory birds, bats and raptors. It didn't take long for the passenger pigeon to become extinct and at the rate things are going, many more species will follow suit, all in the name of "clean air", but really, sadly, tragically...it's all about greed.
Wow. Thank you, Leslie H.
Wow. Thank you, Leslie H. Dixon, for your objective reporting. Governor LePage deserves this.
Wind developers often ask
Wind developers often ask land owners who have leased land to them to sign "good neighbor" agreements, to keep them from speaking against the project after it's up and running. Towns should enact the same thing for the wind developers, have them sign a "good neighbor" agreement which stipulates that if their project is proven to cause loss of property value, loss of quality of life or harm to the residents' health, they must buy the property at fair market value, which would be the value PRIOR to the project being built. Wind developers should sign such an agreement readily if what they say is true about their projects, and landowners and residents would be protected. A protective town ordinance is critically important to all residents, because no wind developer is ever going to sign a "good neighbor" agreement.
Is the pot calling the kettle black?
Fair is fair. If industrial wind facilities are being classified as "green renewables" when they are anything but green, then certainly hydro power must also be classified as a green renewable. Both are environmentally destructive, (and are in violation of federal laws, in the case of industrial wind's high impact on raptors, migratory birds and bats) but at least hydro provides real base load power to the grid. Maine doesn't need this power, but southern New England does, and if Hydro Quebec and Nalcor start duking it out to sign up new customers to their south, which is bound to happen with the second dam being constructed on the Churchill River in Labrador, this will only make for a more competitive electron flowing through the grid.
The value of a scenic viewshed
“There are only 150 National Scenic Byways in the country, and the second most popular reason people come to Maine is for scenic drives."
That is very very true, and we must pay very close attention to what is happening to our viewsheds. The dollar value is priceless considering this is a resource that will go on forever, as long as we protect it. The threat of industrial wind development on Rangely area's ridgelines and mountain tops must be examined and that discussion needs to be brought to the table. Tourism brings ten billion dollars into this state annually. It is our biggest economic engine, and we have to protect the natural scenic viewsheds these folks come here to see. They don't come here to see forty story tall structures with flashing lights, industrial roads and transmission lines strung like tall picket fence along the skyline.
Hydro power is a renewable
Hydro power is a renewable and competition is a great thing in the energy arena. The more competition, the lower the rates. As for Efficiency Maine not wanting to have any oversight or accountability...what are they hiding?
I attended a showing of the
I attended a showing of the documentary WINDFALL in Fort Kent at the University of Maine put on by the Student Ecology Committee. I thought the documentary was very thought provoking and was encouraged by the dialog amongst the attendees afterward. The message I took away from that documentary was that if they join forces, the townspeople CAN protect their quality of life even if their representatives and selectmen want to throw them under the bus for a fistful of dollars. The tragic thing was how the town was torn apart over the issue, but that same thing has happened in every rural town these wind developers target. Sheryl Briggs really does seem to care. She is doing her homework and is to be commended for that.
If it sounds too good to be
If it sounds too good to be true...
This hearing should be
This hearing should be postponed indefinitely. PR should head back to Massachusetts and concentrate on projects in their own back yard for a change.
The dam removal seems to
The dam removal seems to hinge on restoring the Atlantic Salmon run, an admirable cause, which brings to mind the Damariscotta River fish ladder that was built in the early 1800's by two neighboring towns to allow the alewives free run up to the lake. Back then it seems we were more connected to our ecosystems. That beautiful stone fishway is still functional after all these years and folks flock to it when the alewives are running. Fishways could have been built at all the dams but it was deemed too expensive and by that time we didn't care about the fish as much. Now we're starting to care again. The second dam on the Churchill at Muskrat Falls was very contentious, both for its cost to the tax payers and the fact that it's a very wild and beautiful area. This dam would be controlled by Newfoundland, not Quebec, which controls the dam at Churchill Falls, a very contentious arrangement. The dam at Churchill flooded an area the size of Rhode Island, destroying vast tracts of wild lands important to the wildlife and native peoples. Nobody cared. The east coast needed the electricity. There was money to be made. Fish passage? That's a joke. Nobody cared. A beaver dam is an engineering marvel, a thing of beauty that creates vibrant ecosystems and controls flood waters. A man made dam might be an engineering marvel but I think Ed Abbey was right about more than a few things and man made dams was one of them. When I was in Labrador for the tour of Churchill back in the winter of '91, the folks in Lab City paid an average of $100./month to light and heat their homes and the average winter temp was between minus 20 and 30 F. Very long cold winters.
You definitely need to take a
You definitely need to take a field trip to Churchill Falls in Labrador. Take a tour of the hydro facility there. Everyone heats with electricity and it's very, very cheap. The power produced there lights up New York City. They're building a second dam on the Churchill to double their power output and are looking for buyers. Vermont signed an excellent long term deal with them. Maine can do the same. Maine was built on hydropower. It's very real and very powerful. We've had industrial wind technology since the 70's and look how far it's gotten us. There's a reason why these turbine parts from China are coming across the ocean on fossil fueled ships, not sail boats.
How appropriate that those
How appropriate that those industrial turbines look like barbed wire. These things are fencing off the airspace our raptors and migratory birds depend upon. Good-bye Virgil Cain, Maine's only documented golden eagle.
As for the slowly spinning blades, how much of a breeze does it take to move each seven ton turbine blade? Are those slowly spinning turbines drawing power off the grid to make them go round and round? Would it be possible to put solar panels on each of the blades to help turn them? Oh yeah, there's the renewables hitch with wind and solar. When the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow 28 miles per hour steady, no power gets produced.
Hydro power is the only workable renewable as far as base load grid supply goes. Small thorium reactors are the new green grid-scale energy producers, far less destructive than industrial wind, far less expensive and far, far more powerful.
Green or Greed?
Click on the link to read 'Why I turned against "Green" wind power'.
http://www.masterresource.org/2012/01/turned-against-windpower/
Peru, be sure and get a "Good
Peru, be sure and get a "Good Neighbor" agreement worked into any ordinance you draw up, requiring any wind developer to sign on the dotted line that if they exceed or violate your ordinance conditions, especially reagarding sound or shadow flicker, or cause harm to existing residents through property devaluations, they buy the injured party's property at fair market value. If they have an ounce of integrity they'll sign without a quibble. If they don't, send them packing.
Thorium energy
At seven billion and climbing, the human population on this planet will require REAL energy sources. Industrial wind turbines will never cut the mustard. Intermittent wind can never be a base load energy source on the grid, and it is very expensive. Thorium energy is green, cheap and powerful. Thank you for bringing up the subject, Mr. Corrigan. Here is link to those who might not have heard of this energy source.
http://energyfromthorium.com/2011/10/29/nuclear-ammonia/#more-2691
Isn't Reed and Reed making a
Isn't Reed and Reed making a small fortune constructing these wind installations? Jobs jobs jobs for them but nothing for the locals. The businesses that support the wind industry are making a profit from it. Of course they're going to trumpet high praises. By the way, tourism in Maine generates ten billion dollars a year and produces 170,000 full time jobs. The wind industry can't hold a flickering candle to that. All they have the power to do is jeopardize Maine's most powerful economic engine by industrializing the scenic viewsheds people come from all over the world to see. Meanwhile, the rest of us rate payers will pay through the nose for the multi billion dollar transmission line upgrades. Wind might be free but the infrastructure to harness the energy is both fiscally and environmentally unsound. Interesting that FINALLY the CO2/global warming argument has faded from the picture. The Bentek study debunked the myth that industrial wind reduces CO2. Spain just pulled all its subsidies from renewables because they were bankrupting the country, raising electricity rates and driving out jobs. The same thing will happen here. No proof has ever been provided that shows industrial wind power to lower electricity rates, lower property taxes, or even produce more energy than it draws off the grid. The wind blows sporadically here. Inland Maine does not have good wind resources. When the wind doesn't blow, NO ENERGY IS PRODUCED, yet the three blades on each turbine, which weigh seven tons each, are kept turning slowly by the motor inside the nacelle. The lights flash 24/7. Some turbines have heaters to keep the hydraulic oil warm. How much of a parasitic draw does this put on our grid? Industrial wind will never make up any of our base load power. The sacrifices we're making aren't worth what we're getting. As for those studies that show most Mainers support IWP, interesting that eight of the last eight towns voted in strict wind ordinances. That "vocal minority" that you scorn, Sun journal, are the residents of these small towns who realize that they will have to live underneath these forty story tall monsters if they don't protect themselves. Reed and Reed is a great construction firm. Let's put them to work fixing our roads and bridges. Keep them off our mountain tops. We need to focus on real energy solutions if we're talking about heating our homes and powering our vehicles. Thorium Flouride reactors would be my choice.
Peru, get your wind ordinance
Peru, get your wind ordinance drafted and make it a good one. The World Health Orgnanization is recommending two mile set backs from industrial wind projects. If they want to put 25 or 30 massive machines in your community, kill this project. Protect your residents, your property values and your quality of life.
Can this coalition of
Can this coalition of "environmentalists" kindly explain why hydro power is not considered a part of our renewable portfolio standard? We'd all be dead if it water didn't renew itself. We need to move in a forward direction with our power sources. Energy sources must be reliable and have a high capacity factor. Having lived off grid for twenty seven years, I can attest to the fact that when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow, zero energy is being produced. Both sources have a very low capacity factor. That can be a big problem when we're talking about grid supply for seven billion humans and counting. Thorium flouride reactors would be far greener and much more powerful than industrial wind, with a tiny footprint in comparison to the industrial sprawl of the wind machines. That's the sort of power we should be pursuing if we want to heat our homes and power our vehicles using electricity. Or lock in an excellent rate with Canadian hydro power the way Vermont did. In Labrador they heat with electricity, and it's very cheap.
Thank you, Mr. O'Neil, for
Thank you, Mr. O'Neil, for questioning the obvious bias of the state's newpapers. Fortunately Mainers are catching on to the problems of industrial wind, namely that none of the developer's sweeping claims have ever been proven. If my tax dollars are going to be put toward any energy project, I would want the scientific facts laid on the table. I'll take hydro power over wind power any day, ditto for natural gas, and with seven billioin humans and multiplying on this tiny planet, we better be looking at things like thorium flouride reaactors. Keep our mountains and our scenic viewsheds pristine and they'll keep pumping billions of dollars into our tourism based economy. Destroy them, and we've killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Maine Drilling and Blasting
Maine Drilling and Blasting is about to start transfiguring Saddleback Mountain in Carthage, Mr. Hall. My father's ashes are on that mountain. It is sacred to me and to many others as well, tho I would hazard to guess that you really don't care much about Maine's mountains or her rural residents. If Maine is going to "trade off" its secenic viewsheds, which also happen to be a huge ecnomic treasure for our tourism based economy, all for the sake of a few sporadic electrons, I call that a very poor trade. If you could back up your claims as to industrial wind reducing our fossil fuel usage, that would be most interesting. I don't know of any existing power plants that have been shut down because of wind turbine installations. Nor do I know of one single Maine household being powered by industrial wind projects here in Maine. Another thing,given that wind quality is fair to poor and by its nature very sporadic in Maine, and given that these turbine blades weigh over seven tons a piece, explain why they're turning when there's no wind blowing? How hard does the wind have to be blowing to get these massive blades turning? How much of a parasitic draw are these industrial turbines on our existing grid? Lots of questions, not many answers. I call industrial wind a damned poor trade no matter how you cut it. I'll take natural gas and hydro any day.
Rate payers should not be
Rate payers should not be forced to back special interest groups. This agenda is clearly driven by the wind industry. Let the rate payer choose on their own by giving them the option to pay a higher rate for "green" generated power. Frankly, a special interest group that doesn't recognize hydro power as a renewable energy source is not to be believed.
Thank you, Sun Journal, for
Thank you, Sun Journal, for running this story, and thanks to both Naomi Schalit and John Christie for their excellent investigative journalism. Mainers need to be privvy to what's going on behind closed doors in the wind industry here in Maine. Thank you, PUC, for protecting Maine's business and residential rate payers.
Patriot Renewables is
Patriot Renewables is planning to build another series of industrial power plants on Saddleback Mountain in Carthage. I live in Carthage. The first inkling I had that this was going to be happening was while driving to work one morning. I heard on the radio that Carthage was going to be the site of the largest "wind farm" in the state of Maine. Everything had been done on the sly years before we were aware. Most of the residents, excluding the landowners and seletmen, hadn't a clue what was happening, and when we found out we were told there was nothing we could do about it. Of course we didn't stick our heads in the sand, we fought like heck. We got town meetings and even brought the moratorium issue to a vote. This turned out to be an illegal vote, held in a place without handicap access and when the building dropped from the weight of all the people in the room, several people exited the building immediately before the vote was taken. I've never been quite so educated and quite so disgusted as I have been by these wind developers and by some of these small town selectmen. Public HEARINGS must be mandated for every wind project to keep the process legal. Testimony means nothing unless it's under oath. A moratorium on all wind projects in Maine should be enacted until these developers can PROVE their claims, something they have never been required to do. It's time we demanded facts. With all due respect, two, three, four or a hundred "wrongs" taken from our past do not make industrial wind "right" for Maine's future.
Thank you for a rational
Thank you for a rational letter, Mr. Michka. Governor LePage is on the right track for helping both businesses and residents reduce their energy costs. Competition is a wonderful thing and we need more of it in the energy arena. Hydro and natural gas are the heavy hitters and we SHOULD be inviting them into the game. As far as the wind industry goes, in my opinion we should show them the door. Our mountains are a huge economic asset and tourism is this state's most powerful economic engine. Maine can't afford to lose its viewsheds to industrial wind.
Frankly I'd rather see this
Frankly I'd rather see this money and these jobs go toward natural gas lines and burying existing power lines. Oh yeah, and fixing our roads and bridges. Jobs jobs jobs that actually benefit the state and the ecnomy!
Thank you for an excellent
Thank you for an excellent letter, Ms. Barnett. It may take a bit longer for the legistlature to admit that the expedited wind law pushed through by Baldacci without any discussion was wrong, but the residents of rural towns aren't wasting any time in protecting themselves from this scam. Good for them. The information is out there and we're educating ourselves. The media hasn't helped, but they could if they chose to. Where there's smoke, there's fire. Lately there's been a whole lot of smoke and it's getting thicker by the moment.
Electricity rates in Europe
Electricity rates in Europe have tripled due to industrial wind power. When the tax payer subsidies run out, they'll triple here, too. Vermont got a good rate from Hydro-Quebec. My guess is, LePage can do the same or better. Canadians are building another dam on the Churchill River and will be looking to sell even more of their hydro power. If we can spend all that money buying Chinese junk to put on our mountains to produce negligbie amounts of high priced power, we can surely buy hydro power from our northern neighbors. I'd rather support Canada's ecnomomy than China's.
Meanwhile, let's get those thorium flouride reactors on line!!!
If Governor LePage is
If Governor LePage is hesitant to promote jobs that will destroy Maine's natural heritage and will raise electricity rates for Mainers, can he truly be faulted for that? Tourism is Maine's most powerful economic engine and has propped up this state for well over a century. This will continue only as long as we remain responsible stewards of our state's natural scenic treasures. Maine is a beautiful place and people come here from all over the world to see it. We need to protect our viewsheds, not destroy them. They are worth billions of dollars. Ten billion per year, as a matter of fact, and the jobs created by tourism number over 170,000 full time positions. Let's put the contractors to work repairing our bridges, repairing our roads, weatherizing our older housing stock. Keep the bulldozers, Chinese towers and dynamite off our mountain tops. Restore the environmental protection that Baldacci stripped away from our mountains. Reestablish hydro power as a renewable energy source. Get back on track to a sustainable and healthy Maine economy.
Governor LePage needs to
Governor LePage needs to reclassify hydro as a renewable and broker a good deal with Hydro-Quebec. Maine doesn't need more electricity right now, BUT if the electric rates were cheap enough, the possibility of heating our homes with electricity becomes very real. This will never happen with wind power, but hydro power really packs some smash. If you ever get to Labrador, take a tour of the Churchill Falls hydropower station. This power plant lights up New York City and the eastern seaboard. In Labrador, which has winters much longer and colder than we do here in Maine, they heat with electricity and it is cheap, cheap, cheap.
"In a letter to Brown, James
"In a letter to Brown, James Brooks, acting commissioner for the DEP, wrote, "Your request has been considered carefully; however, much of the information you have submitted has been considered by the department in previous applications and to the extent you have submitted new information I find that it is not sufficient to warrant a public hearing.""
Translation: The citizens of Maine no longer have any voice in protecting their environment. This "screw you" attitude is not only unconstitutional, but it casts a very poor light on the DEP. If LURC is under such scrutiny, it won't be long before every rug in Augusta gets lifted up and looked under. When did bribery become legal in the political process?
The idea that industrial wind
The idea that industrial wind turbines are going to wean us off of fossil fuels or reduce CO2 are a false promises that need to be exposed. Many of the "facts" that the wind industry spouts have never been proven by scientific methodology, and yet they are taken for gospel by the unsuspecting. Why is this? Every other form of power plant has to jump through those capacity factor, environmental footprint and economical cost/benefit hoops. Wind has never been required to prove that it can provide reliable and cost effective power to the grid. The currently operating industrial wind projects right here in Maine won't even divulge their power production figures, stating that this is "proprietary" information. Given the fact that we tax payers are funding up to 75% of these projects, that makes us stakeholders in every project.
Show us the figures. Show us the proof. We deserve to know what we are being asked to sacrifice our mountains and our quality of life for. Proove to us that industrial wind will heat our homes. Fill our gas tanks. Lower electricity costs. Prove it.
The wind ordinance vote was
The wind ordinance vote was by democratic process. The land use issue is a thorny one. If an industrial pig farmer targeted Rumford because it was a "stinky mill town", I'd like to think the townspeople would put up an equal stink to protect their own property values and quality of life. Extra tax dollars for the town are always nice to get, but if those tax dollars place undue burden on the town's residents, that has to be taken into consideration. I think the town of Rumford is a very beautiful place, and I'm glad the residents voted to keep it that way.
Now that these industrial
Now that these industrial wind projects are spinning in a number of rural towns and townships, let's see the figures on how much energy they are producing, how many residents are being employed full time as a result of the project and how much the local property taxes have plummeted. So far, industrial wind has never had to prove that it can generate any usuable amount of power. They state nameplate capacity figures and forget to mention that when the wind doesn't blow, NO power is being produced, which is probably why they classify actual KWH being produced at these industrial sites as "proprietary information". In other words, they don't really want anyone to know the poor capacity factor of these giant towers. In Carthage, the landowner being courted by Patriot Renewables threatened to close off all his land to recreational use if Patriot Renewables didn't get their permit. When Roxanne Quimby supposedly used the same tactics to promote a national park, she was called all sorts of bad names. Frankly, those wind turbines aren't working for me or for many other Mainers, but we'll be paying for them for a very long time.
health effects of wind turbines
That's an excellent suggestion, Alice. At least one selectman, preferably all of them, should attend this forum and ask questions of the board. Interested residents should also attend. Hopefully Peru residents will vote for the moratorium proposal to give the board more time to draft a comprehensive wind ordinance that protects all residents.
health effects of wind turbines
That's an excellent suggestion, Alice. At least one selectman, preferably all of them, should attend this forum and ask questions of the board. Interested residents should also attend. Hopefully Peru residents will vote for the moratorium proposal to give the board more time to draft a comprehensive wind ordinance that protects all residents.
Two nights ago I saw the
Two nights ago I saw the northern lights. I watched them for a long time in a sky so full of stars and darkness it was like looking back in time a thousand years, a million years. We take so many things for granted here in Maine. We are so blessed with our natural environment. With these dark night skies. With these mountains that we love. Let's not forsake our quality of place for the promise of a few quick bucks.
When and if these forty story
When and if these forty story tall towers go up, there will be no recourse for residents who might be negatively impacted. The wind developers won't take them down. Vote yes on the local ordinance. Protect yourselves and your neighbors. State regulations for industrial wind towers are a joke. They allow them to be placed as near as 1200 feet from inland residents, yet off shore wind developers are promising a 20 mile set back for the coastal residents. That smacks of discrimination.
Thank you, Sally, for helping
Thank you, Sally, for helping people to understand the real impact of these turbines on our avian species. House cats can and do kill song birds, but I've never heard of a house cat killing a raptor and they seldom manage to nab a bat, either. The American Bird Conservancy is currently seeking information on bird kills at industrial wind turbine sites and on references to what is defined as "acceptable mortality" in wind permit application, especially as these parameters apply to endangered species. Relying on wind developers and their employees to provide this information is like relying on a fox to guard the hen house at night.
Wow! Pretty soon area Smart
Wow! Pretty soon area Smart Meters will be spinning backwards and electricity rates will plummet!!! And if you believe that, I'll sell you a rare earth mine in China. Industrial wind has close to zero capacity factor. It's a travesty that these monsters are being erected on our mountains. I only hope Patriot Renewables is fully funded in their decomissioning plans or there will be a very big mess for Woodstock to clean up a few years down the road. This is the same company that did Boston's Big Dig. They've gone from tunnels to turbines. Hang onto your wallets.
Governor LePage needs to undo
Governor LePage needs to undo the Baldacci administration's reclassification of hydropower as a non-renewable energy source, list it once again as a renewable, then negotiate with Canada hydropower for a 20 year cheap fixed rate per KWH, same as Vermont did. We need to get out of RGGI, nix CMP's (Iberdrola's) mulitbillion dollar plans for an uneeded transmission line upgrade, continue to sell our excess electricity to southern New England for a bit of a profit and use the profit to weatherize all of Maine's older housing stock. Natural gas has the potential to help lower heating costs in Maine and promote a healthier business environment. Energy efficiency projects will provide local jobs and help all Mainers keep money in their pockets...or at least channel some of those heating oil costs toward the high cost of food.
Meanwhile, hopefully, our best nuclear physists are working on those Thorium Flouride reactors...
Changing horses in mid-stream
Former Governor Angus King has certainly changed his tune from this short speech he gave on protecting Maine's scenic viewsheds back in 1995.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK2wOmoCEaQ
When was the last time your
When was the last time your cat dragged a golden eagle through the door? American Bird Conservancy is currently compiling statistics on bird kills at turbine sites, no easy task when the wind developers are the ones charged with documenting these kills.
Iberdrola, the huge Spanish company that now owns CMP, is tickled pink with our governments renewable energy mandates and rich subsidies. Iberdrola's push for industrial wind in Spain raised energy costs by 300% and drove businesses and jobs out, bankrupting the country. When Spain's renewable subsidies ran out, Iberdrola looked to the United States, a country that willingly subsidizes foreign companies getting in on the "renewables" rush. Beware the promises of cheap power from renewables. Wind might blow free, but the infrastructure required to turn that wind into grid scale electricity is staggeringly expensive, and wind has zero capacity factor. It cannot provide base load electrical power and certainly can't heat our homes and businesses.
And it is far more destructive than a house cat.
Saving 300% on heating costs
Saving 300% on heating costs would be a big boon to most Mainers. Natural gas is a viable resource that should be used to help reduce our energy costs. Iberdrola, the huge Spanish company that now owns CMP, is tickled pink with our governments renewable mandates. Iberdrola's push for industrial wind in Spain raised energy costs by 300% and drove businesses and jobs out, bankrupting the country. When Spain's renewable subsidies ran out, Iberdrola looked to the United States, a country that willingly subsidizes foreign companies getting in on the "renewables" rush. Beware the promises of cheap power from renewables. Wind might blow free, but the infrastructure required to turn that wind into grid scale electricity is staggeringly expensive, and wind has zero capacity factor. It cannot provide base load electrical power and certainly can't heat our homes and businesses.
The Rumford selectmen have
The Rumford selectmen have done a good job with a very difficult subject.
There are environmental and energy issues involving industrial wind, and these technical matters should be solved using real science.
Until they are, the citizens deserve all the protection they can get.
No jobs, no TIF. That's what
No jobs, no TIF. That's what TIF's are all about, the LOCAL jobs a company will bring into town. Wind brings no local jobs. If you're going to lose your mountains to industrial development with no JOB development, tax the developers for the fair value of their development.
NO TIF.
Show me the science. How
Show me the science. How much will this save you? Show me the science when Denmark's CO2 levels and energy costs are the highest in Europe, and they have them most wind energy. Show me the science to make me believe what you say is true.
Capacity factor
Considering that the Bentek study shattered the theory that industrial wind cuts down on atmospheric CO2 and considering that industrial wind has ZERO capacity factor, which makes it useless in terms of the grid, and considering that so much was destroyed to create these monsters, including human life if Chinese lives are important (that's where the rare earth elements for the magnets are mined) and considering that Denmark has banned onshore wind turbines, and that Denmark has the highest percentage of industrial wind energy being produced, and the highest amount of CO2, and the highest electricity rates, and considering the fact that Angus had to transport all his whirlygig components using, dare I say it, FOSSIL FUELS, millions of gallons counting the transAtlantic portion of the journey...and considering that Maine's onshore wind resource is rated poor to fair, and considering that Maine is forfeiting the one industry that has always come through for it, good times and bad (tourism)...I'd say we're getting a really really bum deal.
Capacity factor
Wind has zero capacity factor.
Zero.
Which makes it absolutely useless.
If you don't know what capacity factor is, look it up.
If you don't know what capacity factor is, you shouldn't be stumping for industrial wind.
Science and politics don't mix
“Governor King’s presentation is called ‘Wind Power in Maine: A Progress Report,’ a timely and important topic for all of Maine to consider,” Zinchuk said.
Progress Report? That's an interesting name for it, and it certainly is something for all Mainers to consider before it's too late.
There is absolutely no scientific evidence proving that wind power does anything beneficial for the environment, for the power grid, for CO2 reduction, for people's pocket books or for local jobs. None. Nada. Zip.
Science and politics have never mixed. Angus King's industrial wind project in Roxbury is proof of that.
Gates and Guard Houses
Gates and Guardhouses! Patriot Renewables assured the Carthage folks there would be no Gates and Guardhouses. Everyone would be free to play and recreate around their turbines. Suddenly these turbines are dangerous high voltage towers with gates and guard houses.
So it begins. One can only hope the guards, at least, are local hires. That would be one or two employees, right?
Virgil Cain, one Maine's
Virgil Cain, one Maine's extremely rare, endangered and federally protected golden eagles, will have quite a deadly welcoming committee waiting for her along her mountain ridges when she comes back from her trip to Labrador. Her air space now belongs to Angus King.
A recent poll in the BDN
A recent poll in the BDN indicated that over 80% of Maine residents would not want an industrial wind installation in their town. Although the media and corportate politicians have mostly promoted the wind developers agenda, Mainers are doing their homework. The information is out there. Industrial wind is not green, it doesn't provide the promised hundreds of local jobs, nor does it lower CO2, shut down existing power plants or provide enough power to offset the environmental sacrifices we're being asked (ordered) to make. Maine is one of the most beautiful states in the nation and tourism it its biggest economic engine. Industrial wind doesn't belong here. Period.
wind turbine setbacks and ugly litigation
A twenty mile set back should be granted to inland residents. That's the set back that has been promised to coastal residents. Mainers should be treated equally. Not to do so is discrimination.
Very Impressive!
How did these wind turbine parts arrive in Searsport? By sailboat?
What a sham.
Thank you, Mike Rogers, for
Thank you, Mike Rogers, for providing this information. "Crumbs from the wind developer's table" certainly describes the mere pittance given to the town's taxpayers in exchange for such a big impact on their property values, health and scenic viewsheds. I still don't understand why wind developers are granted TIFS. I thought TIFS were meant to lure development that provided a large number of local jobs.
Protect yourselves with a
Protect yourselves with a strong wind ordinance. Carthage residents were overwhelmed by the wind developers and our selectmen sold us out for a fistful of dollars and promised benefits.
I applaud the residents and
I applaud the residents and wind ordinance committee members of Sumner. I wish Carthage had gone down the same path. Protect the residents of the town. Do a very careful cost/benefit analysis. Once those turbines are up, they'll be there for a very long time.
"Annoyance" is an actual
"Annoyance" is an actual classification of a degree of noise that is guaranteed to cause law suits and big head aches for these wind developers. I believe inland residents should be granted the same set backs from these industrial turbines as the coastal residents. Twenty miles has been granted to the wealthier Mainers in order to preserve their "quality of life" and scenic viewsheds.
"Annoyance" is an actual
"Annoyance" is an actual classification of a degree of noise that is guaranteed to cause law suits and big head aches for these wind developers. I believe inland residents should be granted the same set backs from these industrial turbines as the coastal residents. Twenty miles has been granted to the wealthier Mainers in order to preserve their "quality of life" and scenic viewsheds.
Wow, the wind developer is
Wow, the wind developer is granting residents a 1,500' set back from their forty story tall industrial machines! How generous! I wonder why these machines must be placed twenty miles off shore to protect coastal residents' quality of life and scenic viewshed? Could it be that rural Mainers don't have the same rights?
Has anyone asked the eagles?
The following link provides some interesting perspective on industrial wind power from a raptors point of view. Nobody thought to ask them how they feel about these giant spinning contraptions being erected in their airspace. There's a video that shows what Maine will look like if King and Gardiner and the gaggle of other wind developers get their way.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/08/16/energy-in-america-dead-birds-u...
Is Weld being targeted, too?
Is Weld being targeted, too? Of course. Enact a strict wind ordinance. You have been given the stewardship of one of the most beautiful areas of the state. Protect it. Protect the raptors and migratory birds and bats. Protect your neighbors. Protect your children and your property values. Show industrial wind the door, and give them the boot. Don't believe a word they say. I use to. I've learned my lesson.
The residents of rural Maine
The residents of rural Maine towns should be grandfathered. Constitutional rights should be upheld. Protect your neighbors as you would have them protect you. Enact an ordinance that preserves the quality of life and health and property values of rural inland residents. Don't lose site of the fact (no pun intended) that coastal residents are being granted ten to twenty mile setbacks from any off shore wind development in order to protect their "quality of life". This is the very worst kind of discrimination. Shameful. We pay taxes, too. We may not drive Audis and BMWs, but we matter. We love our homes. We love our mountains. We deserve the same ten to twenty mile set backs as our well heeled coastal residents do. Protect us.
hydro power
Can Electricity Maine broker a deal with Canada for hydro power? That would be the way to go.
This is so sad. The
This is so sad. The industrial wind developers divide every town they try to conquer. They turn family members against each other, friend against friend. They tear apart the fabric of the small, tight knit Maine communities. And they don't care one bit. As long as they get their big piece of the pie and the juice is running down their chin, they're happy.
It's a tragedy that we're
It's a tragedy that we're destroying the best parts of Maine for a mere dribble of intermittent electricity. The Bentek Energy study just released completely debunks AWEA's claim that wind turbines reduce our carbon footprint. So what's the point of a bunch of foreign made forty story towers with bird and bat killing blades leaving their footprint over three hundred miles of Maine's most scenic resources and natural, as well as national, treasures? Not very smart, considering that tourism is Maine's biggest economic engine. Hikers and environmentalists and ANYONE who cares about the industrialization of Maine's mountains should join together to fight this destruction. It's not too late.
The Federal Migratory Bird Act
Chewonki is a great educational organization and we will need their avian rehab expertise as Maine's raptors lose more and more of their air space to industrial wind sprawl along our ridges and mountain tops. All of these wind developers are in violation of the migratory bird act yet this doesn't seem important to Maine Audubon, the Natural Resources Council of Maine or the Sierra Club, all organizations that use to protect Maine's forests, mountains, waters and wildlife. Maine's raptors are on their own. Their survival may very well depend on the education of our young children. To see these marvelous birds up close and ALIVE is awe inspiring. Thank you, Chewonki.
Respect your neighbors
How ironic that a town with such a rich renewable resource as hydro would be toying with such a weak renewable as wind. This issue is clearly tearing the town apart, but the invasion of industrial wind has done this in every single town in Maine that they've invaded and tried to conquer. This turns neighbor against neighbor. How tragic and sad. There's no doubt that some would throw their neighbors under a bus for a few bucks or one single job. Stand up for your quality of life, Rumford. That's all any of us can do. You have a beautiful town, a beautiful landscape. Defend it. Protect it. Respect your neighbors.
It seems unbelievable that
It seems unbelievable that when the stakes are so high, and the information is out there, these selectmen have not bothered to educate themselves. Let's hope they attend the supper on May 20th. Thank you.
I would have to say the
I would have to say the FINANCIAL reason for wanting a stricter and more protective ordinance would be primarily the effect these industrial turbines are going to have on property value. If a resident wants to sell their home or a part of their property, they are going to be taking a substantial loss in value. Of course this doesn't matter if the land/homeowner is well to do.
The humane reason for wanting a stricter ordinance would be to protect the health and quality of life of the residents of Rumford. Weren't they here first? Don't they have rights?
Just my opinion, as a Carthage resident who has suffered from the same lack of humanity and common sense displayed by our own selectmen.
Money does strange things to people's ethics, integrity and morals. One quickly learns who the honest people are.
Maine's Mountains are no place for Industrial development
I don’t see how, in good conscience, King and Gardiner could have proceeded with this project, and I would think the IF&W report on the “unmitigatable” negative impacts to wildlife would be a big warning flag to all other projects planned in that area. How can you claim to be helping the environment whilst slaughtering endangered species, not to mention all the others, and fragmenting their habitat? If they have no conscience and this is really and truly all about money, they’ll be back. For the sake of Maine’s beautiful mountains and last undisturbed areas, and for the sake of all who live there or navigate over her ridgelines to the place they call home, let us hope they walk away. Our mountains, wildlife and wild places will not benefit from being studded with four hundred foot tall cuisinarts. As far as the jobs jobs jobs mantra chanted by the wind industry, no industry provides more year round full time jobs than the tourism industry, 170,000 jobs, to be exact, 535 million in tax revenues and ten BILLION in goods and services. Those are 2009 figures, and 2009 was a bad year.
The following are passages taken from the 2006 Brookings Institute Report: ‘Charting Maine's Future, An Action Plan for Promoting Sustainable Prosperity and Quality Places’:
"In the long run, the slow degradation of Maine’s vivid and distinctive quality of place (and the reputation it supports) may be the greatest cost to Maine of all.Another problem, meanwhile, is the defacement of Maine’s scenic corridors.
"Maine’s stellar quality of place, its traditional towns and beautiful landscapes and seacoasts,constitutes a major, appreciating asset in an age when retaining and attracting workers and retirees matters intensely. The state should continue to invest urgently in protecting and enhancing its top-notch quality of place, for that is its ‘calling card,’ its brand, and its truest source of prosperity. As its world-famous brand declares, Maine has - in its vivid small towns and waterfronts, its lakes and fields, its mountains and rocky coastline - exactly the sort of authenticity and quality of place that can set a place apart. Maine is unforgettable and distinctive, and that matters."
The state paid a lot of money for that report. We should be following it, and promoting sustainable prosperity and our unforgettable quality of place. Bottom line, the economic cost/benefit analysis proves that industrial wind is fiscally unsound. There are no benefits for the majority of us Mainers, and even less for Maine’s mountains, waters and wildlife. Worse, industrial wind could very well destroy the tourism infrastructure its rural residents count on for their very survival.
Letter sent to Governor LePage
Dear Governor LePage,
I am writing to ask you to please support a moratorium on industrial wind, as well as the bills that were presented before the Energy and Utilities Commission in Augusta this past Monday and Tuesday.
This issue is about protecting Maine’s mountains, Maine’s people, Maine’s wildlife, protecting the Maine brand, and PROTECTING JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. No other industry provides more jobs than tourism. No other industry even comes close to employing over one hundred and seventy thousand people in full time positions, or generating five hundred and thirty five million dollars in tax revenues and TEN BILLION DOLLARS in sales and services, and this was in 2009, a bad year. These aren’t temporary jobs or temporary revenues. Tourism has been Maine's biggest economic engine for nearly one hundred and fifty years and will continue to employ MORE AND MORE Mainers, and generate billions of dollars annually, as long as we can keep Maine a special place to visit by preserving her natural resources and unspoiled landscapes.
Industrial wind will not wean us off foreign oil. Most of us don't drive electric cars or heat with electricity, and adding two percent of wind energy to the forty percent we already export out of state is a poor excuse for raising our electricity rates and destroying our quality of place.
It is equally inexcusable for Mainers to be divided into two classes; the coastal residents, who are granted a twenty to forty mile set back from off shore industrial wind installations in order to preserve their quality of place, and the inland residents who are being ordered to live within 1500 feet of these forty story monstrous machines. Mainers deserve equal treatment, regardless of their income bracket.
Thank you for your time.
Respectfully,
Penelope R. Gray
Registered Maine Master Guide
Thank you, Avon!
It's heartening to read that some small towns care enough about their citizens to put protective wind ordinances in place. More and more towns are taking action to ensure the health and well being of their people. If only Carthage had gone that route. We are still fighting to protect those residents who will be living very close to Patriot Renewable's industrial wind towers. Patriot Renewables has torn our town apart. They don't care. The residents of Avon are showing true Maine spirit and looking out for their neighbors welfare. Good for them!
Thank you Andover
Thank you, Andover, for voting to go on record as not supporting industrial wind in our beautiful mountains. Please think about getting a wind ordinance in place before having to face the same fight that we in Carthage are facing. We have no ordinance in place and no selectmen who are willing to stick up for the health and well being of our residents. It doesn't take much of a bribe from the wind industry to change the minds of key people in your town. Work on an ordinance to protect yourselves, and get it voted in ASAP.
Thank you Andover
Thank you, Andover, for voting to go on record as not supporting industrial wind in our beautiful mountains. Please think about getting a wind ordinance in place before having to face the same fight that we in Carthage are facing. We have no ordinance in place and no selectmen who are willing to stick up for the health and well being of our residents. It doesn't take much of a bribe from the wind industry to change the minds of key people in your town. Work on an ordinance to protect yourselves, and get it voted in ASAP.
More Questions than Answers
Thank you, DEP, for acknowledging the voice of the citizens of Maine and extending the meeting one and a half hours beyond your deadline. Attending that emotionally charged meeting, where many of the speakers choked up and many eyes in the room filled with tears, was a heart wrenching experience. This project must not be permitted, nor should any of the others in the permitting process. A moratorium must be declared on industrial wind until the expedited wind law can be rescinded. The ends don't justify the means. Our mountains must not be destroyed. The creation of two to three full time non-resident positions per wind farm is hardly worth threatening the one hundred and seventy thousand jobs, $535. million in tax revenues, and 10 billion dollars in goods and services that tourism brings into this state. The cumulative effect of all the proposed industrial wind farms would impact over twelve thousand square miles of Maine's pristine view shed. Can we afford to jeopardize Maine's biggest economic engine for something as fiscally unsound and environmentally devastating as industrial wind? I think not. The people of Maine must join together to speak up for Maine's mountains and her economic future.
Does the taxpayer have to pay the insurance company, too?
I have a question regarding these industrial turbine installations on Maine's mountain tops. Are they required to have insurance? And if so, what happens when the insurance company pulls the rug out from under them after multiple lightning strikes, which happened in Germany recently. These Maine installations will be the first in the world being placed on mountain tops, predominately composed of granite, which means grounding them will be virtually impossible. Lightning strikes will cause all sorts of damage to the nacelles and blades unless they can be effectively grounded. In Germany, when the insurance company backed out, all the industrial turbines had to be removed. What's the story in Maine? Does anyone know how Kibby's insurance is set up with TransCanada?
Great Letter.
The Sun Journal was way out of line when it chastised Mainers who disagreed with Baldacci's vision of industrializing Maine's mountains. As citizens of one of the most beautiful states in the nation, we should have a voice in how our natural treasures are treated. If Obama can help save mountain tops from being destroyed in coal country, we can only hope LePage can do the same for the last unspoiled mountain landscapes on the East coast. Dynamiting our mountains for twenty years worth of intermittent and unreliable energy is short sited, even if it will make a select handful of people very wealthy. Abundant and cheap natural gas, along with hydro from Quebec and Labrador, will provide southern New England with all the energy it needs. Maine doesn't need any. We already export forty percent of what we generate and our energy portfolio is one of the greenest in the nation. The Sun Journal should be ashamed of foisting their own ignorant bias on its readership. They should be investigating and reporting on industrial wind with professionalism and honesty.
Is this what we really want?
Tourism is Maine’s biggest economic engine, providing many thousands of jobs, generating eight billion dollars in goods and services and 400 million in tax dollars annually, and it will continue to do so as long as Maine’s natural resources and scenic wonders remain a legendary and iconic draw to those living in crowded, highly developed and less scenic areas. Industrializing Maine’s ridge lines and mountain tops, which basically encompass the last of our unspoiled landscapes on the East Coast, to supply a projected 2 to 3% of our energy needs is fiscally unsound, extremely short sighted and will bankrupt the heart and soul of Maine’s mountains, along with her wildlife, waters and people. Why is this such a wonderful idea?
Do the math
Tourism is Maine’s biggest economic engine, providing many thousands of jobs, generating eight billion dollars in goods and services and 400 million in tax dollars annually, and it will continue to do so only as long as Maine’s natural resources and scenic wonders remain a legendary and iconic draw to those living in crowded, highly developed and far less scenic areas. Industrializing Maine’s ridge lines and mountain tops, which basically encompass last of our unspoiled spaces on the East Coast, to supply a projected 2 to 3% of our energy needs is fiscally unsound, extremely short sighted and will bankrupt the heart and soul of Maine’s mountains, along with her wildlife, waters and people.
Do the math. Do your homework. We only have one chance to get this right.
I'm impressed by what a good
I'm impressed by what a good job Rumford has done to try and craft a zoning ordinance that protects its citizens from the negative impacts of industrial wind. I wish the town of Carthage had been as respectful to its own citizens. A petition for a one mile set back was presented to the selectmen over fifty days ago but has not been acted upon. Once those industrial turbines go up, there's no going back. We've got to get this right the first time because we'll be living with these huge rusting metal towers for the rest of our lives.
Big Wind Blows
The biggest landowner in Carthage used the same tactics to blackmail the citizens of our small town into defeating the moratorium vote. It takes real sand for small town selectmen to resist becoming corporate prostitutes. Money is what it's all about. The rape of the land and the people who live there matters not to industrial wind and those that benefit from the federal subsidies (our tax dollars).
Twenty years of public hearings
Great essay, Karen. I guess I don't understand Mr. Wyman's comment that as a selectman he's listened to environmentalists preaching about clean energy at public hearings for twenty years. What projects is he talking about? I've lived off grid for twenty five years in a town not far from Eustice and I guess I'm in the dark, literally, except that I do understand the limitations of alternative power. Not sure if I qualify as an environmentalist because I don't know what happened to all the environmentalists who fought so hard for the past forty odd years to protect one of Maine's most valuable and ecologically sensitive habitats, her mountains. But what it comes down to, in my opinion, is this. Are our mountains and ridgelines worth more as industrial parks for the next twenty years, or as a tourist draw for the next two thousand? And if we taxpayers are funding these projects, don't we have a right to see the real facts and figures? Show us the electricity! There should be a state wide moratorium enacted until the machines currently operating are proven to be cost effective, efficient and useful. Which might mean a permanent moratorium...
p.s.
The Harraseeket Inn proudly stands behind all the NIMBYs. NOT IN MAINE'S BACK YARD!
The real cost of wind power
If the best we can do to save the planet is blow up Maine's mountains, we need to get back to the drawing board ASAP. Tourism is Maine's biggest economic engine and will continue to be only as long as we protect Maine's natural beauty. Destroying Maine's iconic mountains and ridgelines is akin to killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Is the sacrifice worth it? We taxpayers should be getting quarterly statements from Mars Hill, Kibby, Stetson wind projects since these are all funded with our tax dollars. Methinks the reason they're being so secretive about the amount of power these turbines are producing is because they have nothing to brag about...