There is a better way to review wind power than checking which way the wind is blowing.

In its decision-making Monday, the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission did just this. It rejected one project – Black Nubble – and approved another – Kibby – despite the inherent contradiction of this action.

Black Nubble, as wind projects in Maine go, is innocuous. Its proposed 18 turbines would have been less than in Mars Hill (28), Stetson (38) and Kibby (44). The project’s 54-megawatt potential was also more than Mars Hill generates (42) and near-equal to Stetson’s capacity (57).

Kibby will produce 132 megawatts, but spread across almost 2,400 acres in Kibby and Skinner townships. The project on Black Nubble was seeking to re-zone 487 acres, making it perhaps, acre-for-acre and turbine-for-turbine, the most efficient in Maine.

Yet LURC stopped Black Nubble, with 18, 410-foot turbines on a 3,670-foot peak, for marring the landscape, and approved Kibby, with about 18, 410-foot turbines on a 3,286-foot peak, as less damaging to the scenery.

Guess it’s all in how you look at it. And who is doing the looking.

With its votes, LURC said the view from the Appalachian Trail is more important than from Baskahegan Lake, near the Stetson turbines, or from the village of Mars Hill, or from neighboring peaks around Kibby.

This is a subjective analysis, which sidesteps scientific and social arguments for alternative energies, and endorses all-too familiar and deplorable NIMBYism. The development of wind power is too important to be developed, and regulated, in this subjective and haphazard way. Someone needs to take the reins, and soon.

Hope lies with Gov. John Baldacci’s wind power task force, which is reportedly set to reveal its recommendations soon. It needs to hurry, because LURC is doing as much damage to wind projects with its reviews, as good.

Maine environmental groups, as well, must align their interests and agree upon the core qualities, and regions, that are acceptable for wind power. A key difference between the Kibby and Black Nubble projects was dissension among environmental organizations, a division that underpinned LURC’s decisions.

These groups’ opinions carry great weight.

Wind power is endorsed by a spectrum of interests – by industry, for its potential job creation through the manufacturing and construction of turbines and their related infrastructure, like roads and transmission equipment. By environmentalists, for its promise of renewable energy. By consumers, eager to ditch expensive petroleum.

And in the spirit of Brookings and smart growth, Maine cannot allow wind power to dot the landscape according to political sensibilities, instead of cogent analyses and assessments of public benefit.

Wind power cries for a sensible, comprehensive regulatory approach, instead of a proposal-by-proposal review, with decisions based on a project’s beauty, instead of its brains.

The answer is in the wind. Maine needs now to figure out the questions.