Mr. Hall...please check www.windtaskforce.org for the story of a Wisconsin farmers' experience with turbines on his farm. You may find it interesting.

The selectmen may think the new money will do wonders, but what happens when the turbines are depreciated? Or shut own? The town will be saddled with new equipment they cannot afford and taxes will have to go up. Lincoln used part of the TIF money to hire a detective with benefits. What next, a SWAT team or K9 unit? Who pays for it when the easy money dries up? Joe Taxpayer. Let's say the turbines are shut down. There is supposed to be a bond to pay for the removal and clean up, but say the company changes hands several times, shell companies disappear, and the town has to hire a team of lawyers to figure out who pays. There is not enough money for the court costs which drags on for years, and the whole thing is dropped because it is too expensive to pursue. The wind cartel will laugh all the way to their Swiss bank. The turbines will be litter on the mtns. like in Altamont Pass. Just say NO to the turbine huggers.

Thanks Paul for noting the big victory for the PPDLW. The Bowers project showed that the developers do not have any idea about their impacts on the local areas their turbines affect, or they do not care. One of the worst places in the state for windsprawl was saved thankfully. As I look at the blinking red lights reflecting off the lake in Lincoln, I am sorry we could not prevail here in our attempts to stop the industrial folly. The local officials were too busy counting the TIF money to bother researching the issue properly and were too quick to pick the wishes of a well connected few over the hundreds of campowners and outdoors people who saw the industrial turbines for the scam that they are. The citizens' right to appeal was trampled in the process and the project is in violation of local zoning.. The people of Maine should demand that the wind developers show the public a complete map of all their proposed sites for wind development so we may see the cumulative effect on our scenic state. It wouldn't be pretty. The Island Falls lakes should be protected from industrial litter and the Saponac Lake- Nicatous area too. You can bet the developers couldn't care less about Maine's lakes and mtns. Note they do not want these industrial turbines in THEIR backyards in Mass.

If I did a survey of 22 hikers the wind developer would say it was not scientific or accurate and should not be considered because it was not done by a surveyor of their choosing. Patriot Renewables' survey means nothing and those surveyed could have been paid like the construction workers paid to attend LURC meetings. Time for Maine to defend the outdoor heritage with tough regulations and not the BS "lite" as written by the developers. Good questions , Alice. They don't have any answers.

The state mandated goals shouldn't favor wind power. Hydro should never have been excluded, and favoring wind over solar, tidal, and geothermal seems wrong. It appears like some well connected developers had the most influence with the wind task force to pass such a one sided deal. The drastic impacts of windsprawl are not worth the fickle trickle of energy. I question Mr. Wards' contention that there are beneficial effects toward reducing greenhouse gasses. I believe he is sincerely trying to make sense of this quagmire, but I have not seen comprehensive data of total C02 starting from mining the metals in China thru the building , transportation, construction, and operation etc. to believe there is any benefit. The pollution savings info in the assessment was provided by the wind industry. I do not trust anything they have to say. The pollution assessment should have been done by an independent party. Were the tons saved figured using the imaginary nameplate capacity? Was the energy output counted even if the power went nowhere or was not used? Was fossil fuel ever reduced because of the wind power? Can a grid operator show a fact sheet that fossil fuel use was reduced, and if C02 was decreased or did it increase? Who monitors the emissions when power plants change output? These questions must be answered before anyone accepts theoretical claims from the beneficiaries of the subsidy largesse. Mr. Ward mentioned burning natural gas, how much natural gas is "flared" (wasted) wherever oil is drilled? How much is released and burned for safety before it collects and explodes? Is not nat. gas preferred over coal? Every day, 7000 jet airliners are spewing greenhouse gasses thousands of feet in the air over the US. Add the flights over the rest of the world in, plus diesel fuel burned by cruise, military, and cargo ships. Factor in the coal exports which are increasing to China (to build the wind towers) and elsewhere, and I see no possible way demolishing the ridgelines and mtns of Maine can help reduce C02. The assessment should have included pics of the damage done to the mtns. and the red blinking lights which turn nearby lakes into flashing neon signs advertising man's continued disregard for the natural world we all depend on.

People of Canton, please say NO to the wind sharks. These turbines are a distraction and detract from enjoying outdoor activities. They cannot be ignored and you will never get used to them. Let the developers play megabucks if they want to make some fast money. Maine needs protection from those who would sacrifice the high quality mtns., ridgelines and lakes for the false promises of wind power. Let them build in their own backyards.(They never do!)
Bob W.... remember the uproar when Bigelow was proposed for a ski area? Maine has enough and a couple are too big in my opinion. The difference is that ALL mtns. and ridges are targeted by the wind developers for their unique drilling and blasting makeovers, then decorated with red blinking lights. The lame excuse that there are logging roads already there is a stretch. There is a big difference between a goat path or skidder trail and the developers' super wide dirt highways constructed to move the huge towers and blades across the ridges, not to mention the spraying to prevent tree regrowth. Maine needs more trees and fewer rapacious developers. Tell them NO.

"This project is one of several planned for the Western Mtns..."every ridgeline and mtn. is in the developers' sights with no regard for the residents or people who enjoy the outdoor opportunities Maine offers. It is time to say NO to these subsidy sharks and their cabal of lawyers. The Enron people are targeting Maine because people are reluctant to get involved. That needs to change. I hope Canton residents do not fall for the BS. Check www.friendsoflincolnlakes.org and www.windtaskforce.org for pics and real info on the damage these windsprawl projects do. Remember that wind turbines do not replace oil or coal and will be an expensive source of energy, raising our rates. Maine does not need windsprawl. Notice the developers are not putting turbines in their own backyards...

Jeremy, I would like to call a few points into question. Where are the C02 reductions promised by the wind industry? C02 rose by 5.9% for 2010. Where are the regular jobs for the communities after the construction is done? Usually 1 or 2 per project with GE contracted to bring in the workers from away when needed. Why has the climate change hysteria disappeared from the pro wind arguments? The wind turbines have zero impact on climate change, that is why. Why have my contacts with wind developers and the AWEA been unanswered? Anyone with an opposing view is ignored even if they are looking for info in an unbiased manner. What is your position on conservation? How do you propose to reduce fuel consumption and coal burning? Simply erecting wind turbines is not the answer, nor even a small part of it. Do you wish to shut down the airline industry? That would reduce C02 pumped 30,000 ft in the air, right? Do you advocate shutting down the cruise ship industry, as they fuel up with 500,000 plus gallons at each stop? We could still have sail cruises... How about the military fuel use? Or the Maersk type of jumbo cargo ships? Think how much we could save. The US could stop exporting coal and save the W.Va. mtns. Peppering the Maine mtns. with windsprawl will do nothing to prevent the mountaintop mining. How many wind turbines would it take to replace the 1600 coal burning generators in the US? 2 million or so? That is if the wind blows all of them at the same time. If the industry you represent had any viable solutions to the above problems you would not hear the complaints which accompany these wasteful and destructive developments everywhere they go. Approx. 540 anti wind groups now in Europe, the highest elec rates are in countries with the most windsprawl. Why should we follow them over a cliff?

for the pig known as windsprawl. The cement pad is not the problem. What gets bolted to the pad and sticks 500 ft. into the air is. What makes noise and emits infrasound is also the problem. To only mention the pad is misleading, a deliberate intention to bolster a losing argument. The oft repeated phrase that people favor wind power is also misleading. In that all inclusive grouping are 500 ft. towers and 50 ft. home size with every thing in between. Many who favor small residential size turbines do NOT favor the industrial size behemoths. It sounds better for a losing position to group less objectionable items into a large pool. It might be overlooked be some. That people favor wind power itself is debatable and many polls show increasing opposition. Maybe the pollsters could ask "Do you favor electricity" and politicize the results as supporting windsprawl. Hire the right lawyers whose specialty is wordplay and it might fly...to an uninformed public. Mainers are noticing the towers more and are increasingly alarmed that the fad is moving their way. Money could be saved by job retraining for the construction workers paid for with the subsidy money which would otherwise pad the rich companies Canary Island bank accounts. The bonus would be saving the mtns. and ridges and tourism dollars, along with the views Maine is famous for.

Property rights work both ways. If you do something which devalues your neighbors' property you should provide compensation. That includes 400 ft. tall INDUSTRIAL windsprawl which makes it impossible for the owners to sell their homes. It is not as simple as not liking the color your neighbor painted his house. Wind turbines make noise, infrasound, have distracting red blinking lights all night and do nothing to reduce C02 or lower energy bills. Wind turbines keep coal fired power plants burning out of compliance by providing RECs.It is an energy game, and the increased trans. capacity will make it easier for the next Enron schemers to swap energy around like before. Peru , protect your citizens with siting and noise regs. If windsprawl was so wonderful, these Texans would build them in their own backyards.

The developers do not care that they are annoying people who are living quietly and minding their own business. Wind turbines only keep coal power plants burning longer without reducing emissions. RECs are cheaper than upgrades or emission controls. Maybe we should pay the DEP a visit in person and not be as polite as we have been? How many red blinking lights reflect off the lake at night? I see 15 here in Lincoln, for nothing. Wasting energy that could power x number of homes...

Steve Dosh is right on geothermal but wrong on wind. T. Boone Pickens may be back on the wind bandwagon but he was cancelling his turbine orders a year ago. The NY Times article quotes production figures from the AWEA which are erroneous to say the least. Denmark also had to build 2 new nat.gas plants to balance the wind blasts and often send their erratic wind power to Sweden or Norway ,who in turn , replace hydro with wind for ZERO co2 reduction. Let's reduce consumption before we reduce our outdoors to an industrial wasteland. It may sound mean , but I don't care what they do in Texas,that is Enron country and hopelessly corrupt. Any time the AWEA data is used the readers must check the background as it is always a PR propaganda piece and not reliable, kind of like wind power. I agree with Steve that there is global warming caused or worsened by man. Wind power will only increase the problem because of intense c02 from origin to constuction. New nuke technology is worth looking at, and I do not mean the designs from a half century ago. Save our State from windsprawl.

Mr. McQueeney states the new technology will become more affordable as time goes by. That does not seem to be true in Europe as they have been playing with wind power for 15 or 20 years and economy of scale has not kicked in yet. The idea that trans. lines would become cheaper also does not happen. They become more expensive each year to build and maintain, and now there are computer controls to complicate matters and further drive up costs. It does not bode well for the ratepayers. Getting off the grid will be the only way to avoid the coming price hikes, and weatherizing and cutting back on waste should save us some money. The Maine Citizens for Clean Energy Coalition is a group of pro wind pro development groups who conveniently refuse to look at the TOTAL C02 costs of their pet renewable, wind power. The turbines come from an environmentally disasterous place in China, Baiyun Obo, and spew C02 from the smelters all across the Pacific in huge cargo ships. The chanting pseudo-greenies only want to count carbon after the turbines are spinning on the rare day that they turn enough to produce anything. Gov LePage is correct to discourage anyone from signing on to the pooly thought out referendum

Supporting the construction bubble with windsprawl will only make matters worse when it pops. There is no point building more windsprawl as the energy demand is lessening and people are buying more efficient appliances. Maine does not need the increased capacity , but the Enron gamers do to sell to Mass. The carbon schemers in Germany stole 300 million in carbon credits and 6 have been jailed. The wind scam just continues , like Enron, with most knowing something is wrong but nobody wants to be the one to spoil the subsidy party. Meanwhile, roads are built where roads should not be, along the entire lengths of ridgelines and mtns. and too close to the lakes and peoples' homes. The developers don't care, they just move to the next project as quickly as possible. If windsprawl was a legit business, they would not have to hire a cartel of lawyers. They should go back to chasing ambulances.

The lesson is not to put too much stock in predictions. Like the fantastic predictions of the wind industry, there may be a tiny bit of something resembling truth, but in the real world it is so insignificant that it goes unnoticed. For instance, C02 reduction from renewables. That is not happening, and may be moving in the wrong direction because of the renewables and their heavy industry. Stopping mtn. top removal, again wishful thinking. China is buying more coal from the US than ever. Nothing can stop the coal industry apparently. The US can stop protecting our oil suppliers, again a misplaced idea. The US will find another reason to occupy somebody as we are the de facto world police force. On it goes, with 14,000 inactive wind turbines in the US already. Back to the comments about LURC, the Downeast Watershed should not have been included in the expedited zone in the first place. It comes as no surprise that the task force was made up of wind industry reps and their avowed supporters.I doubt they even knew about the 1A and 1B rated lakes. Island Falls has a couple also which need protection.Lincoln has Upper and Crooked which were never considered in a study by the state which was never completed for scenic lakes assessment. Why should negligence be accepted as grounds for development?

Pat... the BP debacle in the Gulf should be a reminder that whatever is being drilled for , there needs to be tight regs. and no management shortcuts or laziness. Nat gas could replace coal as power plant fuel for reduced emissions. Better fuel efficiency from autos would be better than electric golf carts with 3000 lb. batteries. We only get 29% of our oil from the Middle East, so if they shut us off we would survive.Whatever foreign oil the US does not use will be sold to China or India. Onshore wind is a travesty and waste of rare earth metals for severe impact on the environment. They are not efficient and the trans lines are super expensive. Bad idea. Offshore is more productive, but still expensive. Right now there are a lot of new coal stoves being sold in town. That is not a good sign. Maybe we should be looking at cleaning up and improving the old technology while conserving and improving weatherization before blowing billions on giant pinwheels. Have you looked at the new nuke technology? Those half century old plants are due to be shut down, maybe the new ones can be made safer?

Mr. McGinnis states we need to start cleaning our environment. I agree, but wind turbines are sucking money away from things which might work ,like solar, hydro, and tidal not to mention new tech nukes which are much safer than the half century old plants which are due to be decommissioned anyway. The tree cutting for trans. lines, roads, buildings, etc. and the spraying to prevent tree regrowth is counterproductive to cleaning the env., and if one looks further to China, they will see where the nasty turbines begin. Google Baiyun Obo rare earth mines. We are only getting 29% of our oil from the Middle East. If they cut our supply off, big deal. We could even import from Venezuela. As far as war, humans have a propensity for it and I am sure another reason would be found. It was revenge for the bombing of the WTCs that Iraq and Afg. were invaded, not oil. I think it would be a mistake to expect the landowners to be petty and close their lands. They were doing fine before the wind turbine circus invaded the area, and will be fine after. When people say they are for wind power , how do you know what size they are talking about? Many would favor smaller turbines but not the industrial size ones which are the most objectionable. If the wind developers want to leave the state, GREAT!!! Maine won't miss you.

Angus extolls the money spent on construction of the windsprawl, yet the same dollars could have been spent on fixing roads and bridges and the same people working on ruining the viewshed could be making the bridges safer. His refrain about mountaintop removal makes no sense. Has windsprawl slowed Virginia's mtn. top removal? No. The US is increasing coal exports to China, I suspect to make more wind turbines. How is that green? The coal lobby has more pull than the wind lobby so far, and there are no plans to reduce coal extraction.I wonder if Angus still owns a fuel guzzling motorhome? King is not fooling anyone. If he thinks he is , he is fooling himself.

I suspect more communities will harbor hard feelings as the windsprawl onslaught continues. I believe Maine would be better off if the wind developers had stayed in Texas and communities didn't have to deal with such a corrupt industry. Maine doesn't need turbines or new trans. lines, or our mountains and lakes defiled by corporate greed.

Great letter , Dr. Aniel. They will not take you up on your offer. They will not supply any info to support their wild claims after repeated requests, either. A summer resident of Lincoln, Prof. Mahar of USF, offered to do a complete economic assessment on the Bowers project as he has done for the World Bank for 25 years,for free. Interestingly, LURC has not taken him up on his generous offer. It seems too many are willing to accept the wildly proposterous claims of the wind industry without demanding proof. Maybe that is a statement of our culture, accept the easiest and quickest answer and never question the developers , especially when they have dozens of lawyers on the payroll. Anyone who looks beyond the superficial fluff realizes that wind power has tremendous impacts on the environment. Roads never belong on the tops of mtns. The effects on those living nearby wind turbines is well documented but still ignored by the state agencies whose job it is to protect Maine citizens. The critics who claim "every little bit helps" are wrong. The miniscule contribution of wind power is buried under plumes of soot and C02 as more coal fired plants fire up in China. The US is shipping coal to China to build the turbines and process the rare earth metals. Wind power is neither clean nor green.

You must be careful with zoning because the wind developers will sic their big city lawyers on it and you will wind up with 389 ft. tall wind turbines in a rural residential zone with a 40 ft. height restriction!!! The Planning Board and Appeals board can collude to deny citizens due process and apply their own absurd definitions, then vote to deny any appeal. It happened in Lincoln. Zone them out and do not be afraid to stand up for your town. Mr. Hine's defense of the comprehensive plan tells me he may be all in favor of windsprawl. The CLUP is flawed. Some Lincoln residents are hearing and feeling the noise and vibrations from the Rollins site and are not pleased. Mars Hill, Freedom, and Vinalhaven all have turbines sited too close to homes and the sound levels are too high. Do not let it happen to Peru.

Great point, Penny. They are being careful not to step on the rich folks' toes while accosting rural Mainers who can't afford Portland lawyers. Many thanks to Chris O'Neil for a factual and honest presentation of the folly of industrial wind. The coal industry is blasting West Virginia mountaintops, shipping millions of tons of coal to China to build turbines, shipping turbines BACK to the US and drilling , blasting, clearcutting, spraying,and ruining Maine's mtns and scenery for erratic expensive energy we do not need. Gov. LePage needs to demand the developers show a complete C02 accounting or stop claiming these wind toys can stop climate change. Until such a time there should be a moratorium on all windsprawl. The costs are not worth the impacts, and the truth has been hidden long enough.

As if the doubling of the power line width was not altering the ecosystem enough, the helicopter will be disrupting people and critters with its excessive roar. Add the copter emissions to the C02 tally sheet for total emissions associated with the wind turbine scam. They can never repay their carbon debt and the climate change will continue unabated. Real solutions are desperately needed, not Enron games.

The tower sections are made in Asia in steel plants powered by COAL. The US exported 3000 tons of coal to China in 2010. The first 6 months of 2011 the count was in the millions of tons and rising. Angus and Rob are deliberately ignoring the high C02 costs to make these turbines. If the US keeps increasing coal exports to China to continue the wind turbine fad, is that not defeating the ALLEGED purpose of wind power, to stop climate change? If Maine was covered with industrial turbine garbage there is nothing to stop the coal industry from exporting ever more coal to China. Therefore it is a complete waste to continue sacrificing Maine so some greedy developers and construction companies can get rich quickly. This scam needs to stop.

Make the developers take their cabal of lawyers with them too. Far, far away.

Wrong. Willow could not disperse because she was physically unable to, due to the bike lock. Erik was not breaking into the truck, only warning the driver not to move, preventing a serious accident or fatality. See how perspective comes into play? The courts are all in the wind industry's pocket so they sided with the money. Again.

Property rights are not just for big landowners. If you have a swimming pool, you may need a fence around it for safety and to comply with zoning. That is reasonable. If your neighbor wants to raise a dozen pigs, you have rights as an abutter to breathe clean air even if the neighbor thinks pigs smell beautiful. Zoning protects you. If someone wants 500 ft. tall turbines flopping around depreciating your property value,making audible noise and infrasound, your property rights trump theirs to do as they please. It is all about being reasonable and respecting your neighbors. All of the communities were happier and got along better before the wind wolves came knocking.

Vote NO. Keep Rumford free of wind turbines. They are worse than you think. You do not realize how they dominate the countryside and cannot be ignored.

Good idea. The river should class B at least.

Wind power and trans. costs will cost the Sun Journal and all other businesses and citizens a lot more money. Why support something which will put you out of business?

Limited areas are set up? Like 2/3s of the state? Gad. Then the wind energy act reduced the DEP and LURC to shells of their former selves allowing anything acknowledging that there are impacts but they are "not unreasonable". Fill in wetlands? Pay a mitigation fee with tax dollars of course. Do a study? No, just "extrapolate " from another study to ignor the eagles' nests near Upper and Madagascal Lakes. It is insane to let the developers write their own rules which is what the Wind Energy Law did. The legislators should have known better but now have a chance to undo the WORST law ever passed in Maine. Why would your editorial board approve of such folly? Do you want more expensive electricity?

You really have no choice, if you do not do it now you may not have time in the future. Lincoln had what we thought were protective zoning regs.,but we found out that if the Planning Board is bought off and they approve an illegal development , there is a legal means to prevent citizens from appealing the Planning Boards' decision!! Now turbines 400 ft. tall are going up in a rural residential zone with a 40 ft. maximum height !! The crooks have the money(your tax dollars) to hire 100 lawyers to pave their way. We know the politicians are bought and paid for. Maine is still a home rule state so protect yourself from developers from "away" who want to get rich quick with YOUR resources. see www.friendsoflincolnlakes.org for more info on how the crooks got away with an illegal development. Maine doesn't need expensive windsprawl when we have hydro all in place. The money thrown away to the wind developers would be better spent building working fishways on our hydro dams. Reed and Reed couldn't do the work,probably. They can blast mtns. and dump concrete for wind towers though, the easiest engineering known.

This is another case of the wind industry trying to evade zoning and deny citizens rights to involvement. Check the Lincoln fiasco with the town officials coached by wind. Nice business to have invade Maine.

Interesting. My snowmobile does not touch their land, any more than a plane crosses their land when flying overhead. I only touch the snow which covers their land. I think if landowners close off their land they should be disqualified from having "tree growth" tax breaks. Time to pay full taxation like the rest of us. How would the deforestation company feel about that?

Imagine Maine with 2000 plus turbines covering the landscape. I can't. The greedy developers do not care about Maine people, our towns, the environment or anything except making big bucks. Then they will go somewhere else and bribe for TIFs and tax breaks and keep scamming tax dollars. Can someone stop this?

Why do people say the same stuff over and over? Windsprawl is not working well in Europe. Often it is shunted away and cannot be sold because nobody wants the problem of integrating it into their grid . Too erratic and destabilizing. It is job security for the Ivy Leaguers though trying to modulate things ang play with energy like Enron did years ago. I guess people largely forgot. Remember Enron? They cost the people of California over 30 billion dollars with their energy trading fiasco. That is developing again on the East Coast. Windsprawl is never beautiful. It defiles nature. It disrupts the ecology. "If I don't want to see them ,I'll turn my head" is a bizarre notion. They cannot be ignored. They are a distraction and there will be nowhere in the state to go to get away from them. What if you turn your head and just see more wind turbines? There are 2 more people in Freedom selling their homes to the windscammers because they cannot stand to live there and cannot sell their homes on the market. Who in their right mind would buy a house when it is so loud and shakey your family can't sleep? I thought Mainers would stand together against an industry which is such an obvious scam. Either many Mainers only care about themselves or they do not want to bother researching the truth. The developers came snooping around Lincoln and many told them to get off their property. Sadly some got greedy. If people would stick together these schiesters would go back to Mass.

So Dr. Mills knew over a year ago that turbines are a health problem and she willfully,knowingly chose to ignor Dr. Rabinowitz's advice. That is dereliction of duty and she is doing Maine people a great disservice. I hope she is booted after the elections. I hope Rumford voters do the right thing. So much new info has come out that they did not have before. The wind industry only wants to spread their propaganda, but the facts keep surfacing that windsprawl is not good for Rumford or anywhere else in Maine. With HydroQuebec next door, Maine has the opportunity for cheaper elec. rates and the blessing of keeping the mtns. intact. That ordinance will help all of Maine by showing Augusta a better path toward lower energy costs. That will help homeowners and businesses. Windpower will only increase elec. rates as proven in Europe. Another well written and informative letter from Dr. Aniel.

Neil Keily of course wants a pro wind ordinance, so he calls anything otherwise anti wind. He is a self serving greed merchant. Wind turbines are the latest example of out of state, out of country corporate interests coming to Maine to exploit it. Didn't the mill have a ruckus years back with foreign takeover? If you support wind turbines you are supporting Iberdrola from Spain and Abu Dhadi banks and energy investors. There goes more American dollars to the Middle East. What would Maine look like if there were 50 windsprawl blights the size of Mars Hill all over the state? That would be just the beginning. The person who lives in Rumford says the mill is noisy and the traffic noise and soot are annoying but he got used to it. That is your choice. I wouldn't think you would want things to get worse with windsprawl. Mars Hill had a tiny tax drop the first year after the turbines started, but they climbed right back up and are higher than ever now. It was a scam to trick the residents. The Stetson wind tech travels around so they do not have to hire one for each project also. The jobs created do not deserve a TIF. The idea was for a TIF to lure manufacturing jobs to an area, not give money away to one developer with a different name for each project it starts. UPC,Evergreen, Firstwind,Champlain, etc. ad nauseum. No wonder the state is in the red giving away tax money to corporations. What business wouldn't like to have their taxes reduced with double depreciation? Maine needs to get tough and stop the giveaways when only a few jobs are created. Wash. County has used part of its TIF money but if it can only be used in the Unorg. Territory, it may never be used. Does the money go back to the windscammers ? It makes one wonder. The turbine tourism idea makes me think someone is on drugs or are legally insane. Turbine tours? Please say you were joking, that just makes me sick. Maine needs to attract good businesses.Windsprawl does not qualify. If Mass. needs energy let them put a nuclear reactor on the Harvard campus. Maine's obligation to Mass. stopped in 1820. Save Maine's mtns!!

Why give easements to windsprawllers? Is it true? Who wants land conserved if it will be surrounded by industrial windsprawl? The even bigger picture..has the NC been bribed like the NRCM and Aud. Soc, not to mention LURC and the DEP. Who is left to protect Maine from Boston developers?

Candiceanne, do you have a problem with reading comprehension? I said I do not know anybody there nor do I own property there. I do live in Lincoln a mill town which has the same problems as Rumford. Town officials who love to spend and do not know how to cut. The mill got a big tax break to restart and our taxes went up.Whatever bribes the windsprawllers offer it is not worth the environmental degradation. The DEP and the NRCM have decided not to do their jobs and protect the environment, so it is up to the people to enact a tough ordinance. If your residents voted for wind power it is because they were not informed of the truth. The wind industry will exaggerate, twist and invent new "facts". They are not to be believed. When any Maine community is presented with the facts they will vote windsprawl down. Check the disaster the wind industry has wrought on the European economy with the labor riots over gov. spending. C02 has risen. Coal imports have gone up. Where are the benefits the wind industry promised?(blowin' in the wind) It is like in Jay when the mill controversy split the town. Rumford will get along fine without windsprawl as well as all other Maine communities. Now Candy, are you leasing land to FoulWind? That is usually the case when pro winders speak out in small towns.

This registered Democrat will not be voting for Libby Mitchell. I think she is bribed by the windsprawl thieves to say what they and Gov B. want to hear. Libby and the NRCM, what are you thinking, you are ruining the mtns and you do not care. Your wind turbine pals from Boston want to foster a trading market in energy credits so they can cash in big time, like Enron. They do not care that Mainers cannot afford expensive windpower and that C02 is not reduced or fossil fuel use is not reduced. It is a bald faced lie from Big Wind. FirstMaine not FirstWind. (or whatever their new incarnation is called, but the Friends fo Lincoln Lakes are an unknown quantity though we are called by our first names in the town office) Did the slick lawyers tell the town to delete certain voices from the tape recordings? You bet they did. Corrupt bass-turds.

J.Dwight is pretty close. Isn't it nice riding thru rural Maine? Rolling hills and pretty scenery. Sometimes in the impoverished backcountry one will be surprised by someone unexpected. I rode my offroad motorcycle in some odd places and one day I came upon a local looking fellow. After some conversation, I could tell he was either well read or well educated. Sure enough, he was a Wall St. investment banker who had enough of the rat race and came to the Maine woods to return to the real world. He lived without the extras, but had a solar system set up and his small cabin was well insulated and easy to heat . He was happy. Another time I met a college professor who had enough of academia and also was living a simpler life on a dirt road without the trappings of city life. He also would not go back for anything. Sometimes having the expensive toys and lavish too large house on the expensive side of town isn't worth the cost. Both these guys and their wives were content living in the woods. A lot of people would choose to scratch by somehow instead of live the high life in the rat race. Rural Maine has that kind of presence. When that rural way is threatened by miles of ugly, noisy wind turbines which produce little usable electricity and do not reduce C02, something is wrong. There have to be places where people can go to "get away". Maine had these places. Industrialization is not wanted or needed. If Mainers wanted it , they would have moved to New Jersey years ago. The carbon spewing wealthy are a major problem and they really do not care about anyone but themselves. The article made some interesting points, thank you J Dwight.

You people screamed when Roxanne Quimby bought a large chunk and did as she pleased. Many people would be willing to buy the land to keep the turbines away. Getting someone to sell productive timberland is not as easy as some might think. They have had a sweet deal over the years with tree growth tax reductions and other little perks from Augusta. The timberland owners owe the people access to their land because the taxes they did not have to pay were made up by the rest of the taxpayers. The employees work hard for not a lot of money and most if not all still cannot afford health insurance but have MaineCare which again the rest of us pay for. The big landowners are millionaires today and they owe it to the workers who made them rich and they owe the taxpayers for carrying them too. I think letting people use their roads is a small price to pay and there is a law granting legal access to any pond greater than 10 acres. What makes commoncents think anyone can do arything they want? I only own 1 acre and there is zoning which applies to me. When some project affects abutters they should rightly have a say. Windsprawl affects people for miles and should be banned period. Maine doesn't need it.

How can you tell when John Lamontagne is lying? Answer: His mouth opens. He sneaked around Lincoln and bribed his way with the Planning Board and Appeals Board. He wanted industrial turbine structures sited in a Rurl Residential zone and told some that" They can't stop us. They can slow us down maybe." When the DEP, DIFW, LURC and the Supreme court are siding with the crooked developers and the Baldacci cabal, the cards are indeed stacked in their favor. The moratorium and wind specific ordinance are the best tools to deal with the schiesters, because they have slippery lawyers from Bangor to Portland and probably Boston too. Rumford needs to protect the people, critters and scenery. HydroQuebec is so close and 6 cents per kw/h would help the businesses and townsfolk too. CMP and BH do not want the competition. Angus King should have known that back when he pushed them to break up the trans. and gen. facilities. Maybe he did? Did that favor the invasion of windsprawl mountain hating developers? There is so much info kept from the people. John L. keeps the meager output a secret and the push poll results too. Make your best guess why. Not all business is good business. Remember the nuke dump they wanted under Bottle Lake? Some locals wanted that! Anything for the Haynes family. Thankfully, enough stood up and turned that away. Windsprawl is not needed either. It doesn't make enough power to bother with and the destruction is not worth it.

A brief correction. Two councillors, Mike and Marscella, did do the homework. The other councillors are on the payroll or just refuse to listen.

Rob Gardiner, could you explain why Denmark has 6000 turbines running but still imports more coal than ever and had to build 2 new gas fired power plants plus has C02 35% higher than before? The benefits of windsprawl have been exaggerated and the C02 reductions are not there. That means you are trashing the mtns. for nothing. Is the easy money worth your industrializing rural Maine? How did FoulWind Llc. bribe the Supreme Court to disallow the Rollins appeal? The RR2 zone prohibits buildings over 40 ft. tall and the only utilities allowed are elec., sewer, and water lines to residential housing. The court denied the Friends of Lincoln Lakes appeal and so approved of the chicanery and corruption which will haunt the Rollins project. It also shows that the wind industry does not care about the zoning or anything else. They rewrote the rules and weakened the DEP and LURC to make themselves rich. Expedited process is immoral. Just because the logging outfits abused the forests I guess Augusta figures they might as well let the rest of the state be ruined too. I am baffled at Mainers who continue to believe the wind lies and apparently couldn't care less about our state. Thankfully many are beginning to listen to the science and the real facts and see the windsprawl scam for just what it is. A ripoff!!

The BP disaster was not that they drilled but they willfully and knowingly ignored safety rules and were not regulated enough. Corporations prove time and time again that they cannot be trusted. They simply can't. Greed will take over and the environment (and people) will suffer. The workers warned them but what management ever listened to the workers?

More wetlands filled in. How much needs to be filled for Baldacci's capricious and arbitrary windsprawl goals? None is needed for Maine. Maine will be criscrossed with power lines and it still won't be enough for the greedy out of staters. John Baldacci will go down as Maine's WORST governor ever.

There have been 16 new coal fired power plants in the U.S. started since 2008 and 16 more slated to be built. Where is the national worry about CO2? Even if the bald faced lies from the windsprawlers were true about CO2 reduction , any reduction will be buried and forgotten by the new coal emissions. Fossil fuel use is a lame excuse to destroy Maine with windsprawl. Save Maine's mtns. and stop the scams. Let the wind lawyers from Bangor and Portland go back to chasing ambulances.

So, Jeremy, we should believe your version of facts? Mtn. top cutting with spraying to prevent regrowth cannot be good. You fail to mention the carbon just to mfg. the windsprawl. You ignor the studies from Europe which document increases of CO2 in spite of turbine sprawl. You omit the bird and bat reductions since the windsprawl fad in Europe. In short, you disregard pertinent info to make your "facts" seem more palatable. You are an industry schill and have a vested interest in promoting windsprawl. HydroQuebec sealed a deal with Vermont to sell power for 6cents per kwh. Why can't Maine have cheap hydro power from next door and save our mtns?

Thanks to the SunJounnal and Mz.Schalit for the good article. Accurate and concise. Clair is wrong on a few points. The stat 90% of Mainers favor wind power is ridiculous. It does not differentiate between small home sized turbines and the industrial type. How the question is asked makes all the difference and the pollsters know this. I know some who favor the small size and are against the monsters. If one is in favor of alternative energy it does not automatically mean every type and at all costs. Stats can be misleading and are polls are slanted toward the desired result. If America never imported another drop of MidEast oil we would still be jumping into any armed conflict anywhere. That is what happens when money talks. If you want facts look up what has happened in Europe to bird and bat numbers since the installation of thousands of turbines. Europe's CO2 has risen also in spite of the alleged benefits of windsprawl. The imaginary benefits of windsprawl are not worth ruining the mtns. Many homeowners in Wisconsin and New York have abandoned their homes because they were too close to the windsprawl and nobody would buy. Maine has HydroQuebec offering cheaper power, but Baldacci's buddies don't want them here. Windsprawl is obsolete. If Toyota built a brand new Edsel, would you want one?

4out of 5 doctors claim smoking menthol cigarettes is good for you , according to ads from the 60's.

Well said Jonathan. Even primitive cultures had reverence for the mtns. Modern folks should have better sense than to destroy thr environment while claiming to save it. Let the nouveau Enronnites find a less damaging scheme to steal tax dollars. Windsprawl go away.

The ordinance must be specific because the wind lawyers will pick it apart for loopholes, but it is a good idea. Lincoln zoned the Rollins project rural residential with no building more than 40 ft. high. First Wind ignored the rules and went ahead anyway with the complicity of the Town Council , Planning Board and Appeals Board who were also in on the scheme. The few who were trying to be responsible were overrun by the crooks. Industrial wind turbines would belong in the industrial zone. RR is for dwellings. It is not a difficult concept. Good luck. Save the mtns, big and small.

25% is too generous.The windmill in Presque Isle makes 11.6% . I doubt the Mars hill and Stetson windsprawls make much more.We will never know because the windsprawlers will not tell how much power they really make. The STATE should put a moratorium on windsprawl until the true production is known. How else can we determine if the adverse effects are worth the output? What's the matter, BigWind? Are you hiding something?

Wait til' our good Governor goes to work for FirstWindSprawl. Millions in subsidy money ,outright grants, insider trading of RECs...who could resist? Hopefully someone with a conscience and moral compass...