AUGUSTA (AP) – A bill that’s critical to the future of a proposed windmill project in northern Maine is scheduled for a legislative committee’s review on Monday.

The bill would allow large-scale commercial windmill projects to be built in Maine.

The windmills could provide a source of electricity without creating greenhouse gas emissions and other adverse environmental impacts, said Rep. Jackie Lundeen, D-Mars Hill, the bill’s sponsor.

Passage of the bill before the Utilities Committee is needed if a proposed 20-acre, $55 million windmill project in Mars Hill is to move forward.

Evergreen Wind Power LLC, a Bangor-based subsidiary of Massachusetts-based UPC Wind Partners, wants to build 33 turbines on 1,748-foot Mars Hill Mountain by fall 2004. The project would have the capacity to produce 50 megawatts of power, officials say.

AP-ES-03-21-04 1230EST