ROXBURY — Opponents of a wind farm project approved last month by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection are appealing that final order.

Through attorney Rufus Brown of Portland, Concerned Citizens to Save Roxbury, 37 individual camp or property owners, and the Silver Lake Camp Owners Association filed the appeal on Monday.

Roxbury Pond is also called Silver Lake.

Concerned Citizens is an association of seasonal and year-round property owners, renters or regular visitors in Roxbury.

They organized to gather and share information about wind power and the Record Hill project, and to participate in the local planning and zoning process, and the DEP application process.

The appellants want a public hearing held based on “credible conflicting medical and technical information regarding the licensing criterion,” mainly on perceived noise to be generated by the turbines.

A hearing, they say, would help the DEP’s Board of Environmental Protection understand the evidence.

The 58-page document was sent to BEP Chairman Susan Lessard, DEP Commissioner David Littel and Robert Gardiner of Record Hill Wind LLC, the company that is currently building a 22-turbine, 55-megawatt wind farm.

Board of Environmental Protection executive analyst Cindy Bertocci in Augusta acknowledged on Wednesday that she had started examining it.

“Really, there is no response at this point,” Bertocci said. “They’ve filed a number of documents and the first step is to determine if these documents are in the department’s licensing record.”

“It appears that a number of them are new, so the chair of the board will have to rule on whether or not they could even be considered,” she said.

The next step in the process is to give Record Hill Wind a month to file a written response to the appeal, Bertocci said.

When filed, the matter then goes to the BEP for consideration, even though Littel and his staff made the initial decision.

When the board hears the appeal, it will be at an advertised meeting that will be open to the public.

“This is not something that’s going to happen rapidly,” Bertocci said.

If the appellants don’t agree with the board’s decision, they can take the appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

Gardiner said Wednesday that both he and business partner Angus King weren’t surprised by the appeal.

“We all knew it was coming and we have felt all along that the DEP has been very careful in the entire permit process, and I think it left no opportunity for a successful appeal,” Gardiner said.

“We don’t see anything in here that makes us terribly concerned,” he said. “We must respond to the appeal and we must address the issues, but, in terms of anticipating the outcome, we’re pretty confident the original decision is pretty invulnerable to an appeal.”

“I’ve given the appeal a quick read and I see that they are misunderstanding the way that sound studies are taken, and I think that their appeal is based on misunderstanding,” Gardiner said.

Sound studies are just one facet of the appeal, which objects to DEP’s findings and conclusions on noise, especially the potential for adverse health effects. Others include decommissioning; financial capacity; scenic character; title, right and interest; and wildlife.

The appellants seek relief by having the BEP void the final order and return it to the DEP to:

• Require Record Hill Wind to demonstrate that it meets the DEP noise restriction law for line source and short-term duration repetitive sounds; to provide greater buffers for lack of precision in noise modeling and adverse health concerns; a new monitoring compliance plan; and public notification of monitoring and compliance testing to allow participation in the decision-making process. The alternative would be to hold a public hearing to allow presentation of further expert testimony and cross-examination of the licensee and DEP consultant.

• Require the decommissioning fund to be pre-funded.

• Prohibit RHW from continuing with construction until it has demonstrated financial capacity.

• Treat Roxbury Pond as a scenic resource of state significance and require a visual impact analysis of the project as it relates to the pond.

• Prohibit further construction on the project until RHW has provided assurances to upgrading the (power) grid.

• Amend the final order to restore terminology of the draft order on wildlife protection, which allow RHW to consider but reject mandatory measures to protect wildlife.

Gardiner said that despite the appeal, they’re continuing work this fall to build roads and simultaneously bury electrical lines underground. The turbines won’t be delivered until next summer.

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