BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) – The College of the Atlantic observed Earth Day by signing two contracts Thursday committing the campus to using electricity generated by wind power.

The college will be purchasing 100 percent of its electricity through renewable sources for the next 20 years.

It will initially use credits from a wind power project in South Dakota until wind turbines are built in Maine.

“Our decision to contract for new, renewable wind power for 100 percent of the college’s energy needs is a bold step-but not an unusual one for College of the Atlantic,” said college President Steven Katona.

For example, he said students successfully pushed for passage of a returnable bottle bill in the first year of the college’s existence.

“At a college where we learn by doing, having a green’ campus has always been part of our academic mission,” he said.

In the past, college’s share of polluting emissions has amounted to 945,000 pounds per year of carbon dioxide, 2,400 pounds of acid sulfur dioxide and 1,900 pounds of nitrogen oxide.

The college’s electricity use, through the program announced Thursday, will be responsible for creating no pollution.

Maine Environmental Commissioner Dawn Gallagher praised the college’s efforts, saying the college “is doing a tremendous job of translating belief and commitment into action and results.”

The first contract is with NativeEnergy LLC of Charlotte, Vt. By purchasing enough renewable energy credits to match one year of its electricity use, the college will help build the first Native American wind farm, being developed on the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota.

Concurrently, the college is signing a 20-year commitment to purchase all of its electricity from Endless Energy Corporation, a wind power provider planning a facility in Maine. COA will purchase all its energy directly from Endless Energy as soon as it is available.

“The significance of these efforts cannot be dismissed,” Katona said in statement. “While other colleges have bought green energy, COA’s energy comes from a source that is changing the way electricity is produced.”

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