BANGOR, Maine — Anti-windpower activists in Maine will achieve their most significant victory yet if LURC follows a staff recommendation and votes during a special meeting Friday to reject a 27-turbine industrial wind site proposed for Bowers Mountain.
The Land Use Regulation Commission is due to vote at 2 p.m. at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel on Godfrey Boulevard on a draft decision prepared by LURC staff. The 27-page draft proposes rejecting the application by First Wind, the state’s largest wind developer, due to the project’s adverse scenic impact on the area’s many nature guide and sporting camp businesses.
“Notably, the community in and around the Grand Lake Stream area has more Registered Maine Guides than any place in Maine,” the draft decision states. “Accordingly, the Commission was not convinced by the evidence presented by the Applicant that the expectations of, and the continued use by, those that recreate in this area would not be unreasonably adversely [affected] by the BWP [Bowers Wind Project].”
The commission voted 5-0 in Lincoln on April 6 to reject First Wind subsidiary Champlain Wind’s request to withdraw its proposal to build the wind farm in a rural, sparsely populated area east of Springfield on the Penobscot-Washington county line. Commissioner Robert Dunphy abstained.
The commission directed staff to prepare the decision rejecting Champlain’s application in October.
First Wind officials have said they plan to submit a scaled-down proposal to build on Bowers Mountain later this year, but that didn’t stop project opponents from calling the April 6 decision a significant advance.
The opponents, who had objected to what they believed would be the Bowers Mountain project’s harm to scenery on nine lakes and ponds within eight miles of the site — some considered “outstanding” natural resources by the state — were elated with LURC’s action.
State regulations specifically recognize “that sporting camps are recreational and cultural resources, worthy of protection from incompatible development and land uses,” the draft decision states. The regulations also identify “the need to protect the values of the jurisdiction that provide residents and visitors with a unique array of recreational experiences, especially high-value natural resources and remoteness where they exist.”
The number of turbines, the extent of their visibility, their proximity to the lakes, and their sheer incompatibility with the “nature of the views offered” and the scenic significance of the area all weighed against the proposal, the draft decision states.
Follow BDN writer Nick Sambides Jr. on Twitter at @NickSam2BDN.
Why are these not going offshore again?
If there were not very big gov’t checks given out to put in these wind farms. This would not be under discussion. The money to be made with wind power is the making of them and getting gov’t funds to build them. Proffits from actual power production is extremely small.
I am all for cutting our use of oil and going with sustaniable energy. But every tax payer is basically subsidizing the wind farm construction through taxes. And thats where the proffits are! If I could afford it I would cover the roof of my workshop with solar panels and install a battery room. And tell the power company to shove it. But the costs of doing so are still too high. I have enough southern aimed roof that I could produce enough power in the winter to even run electric heat. And could tell the oil companies to shove it too. But did you ever notice several of the big solar companies are run by oil companies!!
Please remember that our annual tax payments DO NOT cover the entire roll of annual federal expenditures and we must, therfore, either borow or print more money to acquire the funds with which we subsidize projects, such as wind farms and now-bankruped solar panel manufacturing companies. Unforutunately, when we print money it devalues the rest of the money in circulation and consequently causes prices in to rise accross the board. Nominal price escalation due to curency inflation by the central bank is nothing more than a hidden, insidious tax on labor.
With a $15 trillion National Debt and a seemingly institutionalized inability to balance the yearly Federal budget, there is a whole lot of spending that needs to be cut. Things like wasting taxpayer money on “feel-good” renewables that don’t work and will never be cost competetive on their own is a good example for a chopping block item.
Windmills the biggest waste of money ever. Why don’t these wackos that want these waste of metal, pay the high price of electricity ..I myself can’t afford this high price that they will force us into doing here
You totally misplaced, that comma.
Interesting Powerpoint – “The Mafia and Wind Energy”
http://traccc.gmu.edu/pdfs/student_research/Smokowicz.pdf
Why take chances with drugs, prostitution and gambling if the government will simply hand you taxpayer money? Seriously.
Please post some of your best links to articles about the basic costs of wind farms. Preferably short, clear and from an independent or “liberal” site. I know they’re there as I’ve read them, but didn’t save them. Thanks
Much solid information is available at the Partnership for the Protection of the Downeast Watershed website: http://ppdlw.org
This is the primary group that has forged an alliance with the many flourishing anti-wind groups across the state and the guides and lodge owners throughout the Downeast lakes to stand up against the Bowers Project and others. While the opposition to big wind is rapidly growing, the media coverage continues to be overwhelmingly supportive of the wind industry. We certainly feel that if there were more in-depth investigative reporting on the pros and cons of this issue and the back-stories regarding the financial profiting and nepotism surrounding its history, most of the public would realize what a sham it is.
These links are what I was looking for :
Wind Energy Myths: http://ppdlw.org/myths.htm
Taxpayer Subsidies: http://ppdlw.org/subsidies.htm
Thanks
Big Oil costs us all far more than wind–but the costs are hidden, and some of them involve selling our souls to the devil. We need to start moving in the direction of wind and solar, not relying on other countries, and not destroying the beauty of ours.
Specifically, which hidden costs of oil “involve selling our souls to the devil”?
Just for starters, most of the terrorists who hit the Twin Towers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia, a corrupt monarchy–not a democracy–that we pour oil money into.
And again, just for starters, the entire Iraq War, a massive mistake–for the huge oil fields there.
See the book, “The Prize.”
OK. So I am still a bit confused. Are you saying that our general pusuit of oil is “selling our souls to the devil”? Or are you saying that our empirical conquest of foeriegn nations in pursuit of oil is “selling our soul to the devil”?
Right. Now that we took over Iraq we are getting such sweet deals on their oil. Hhmm.. I don’t think so. Nice regurgitated talking point though. And who are we to denounce corruption? We’ve got plenty to fix here. You are right that we get alot of oil from Saudi Arabia. If we help them achieve democracy, do you think the fundamental islamist government will sell us as much? We should keep it quiet until we get all the solar farms (?) set up.
Please enlighten us; what about big wind appeals to you and why should we move toward it? Do you think or know that wind turbine farms eliminate the need for oil and gas? They don’t. It sounds like you mean well but really don’t know anything about the issue. We are way way beyond the we need to do something to get off foreign oil stage. That has been debunked a long time ago.LURC’s decision is about not destroying the beauty of ours and to take it a step further we shouldn’t be destroying the beauty of ours with something that doesn’t work. BTW we are relying on China to build the turbines.
Basically the American people have an addiction to oil. George W. Bush said it, Obama said it, everyone knows it, but we’re all in denial. Switching to wind will help the US people to psychologically shift away from oil (and also coal).
Everything you say reinforces addiction and closes the mind to the kind of new thinking we need, if we are going to survive. You agree with me that we need to reduce oil, right? So stop saying the same things that Big Oil says.
So let’s get real solutions. Stop the cruise ships , mega ships , and airlines for starters. However, each of these industries are predicted to keep growing. At any time 7000 jets are spewing C02 miles in the air. That number will increase negating any fictional benefit from wind turbines. China will double C02 by 2030, even with big investments in wind power. Like the 8 lane highways to nowhere, China is also trapped in the “more industry must be better” theme. Your “psychological” shift away from fossil fuels is meaningless when your real world consumption is ever increasing. I have a 4 cyl. car, ride a bike to work, and paddle for fun. What is your effort to reduce C02?
She’ll let you know when her 747 lands and the Lincoln Town Car gets her to the resort.
So, we should cover our mountaintops with wind turbines to facilitate some sort of collective psychological therapy that will make us believe we are using less oil???
Environmentalists: This is all you need to know
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NAAzBArYdw&feature=related
O M G
SHUT DOWN EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!
Up to your usual pandering tricks of trying to change the subject to oil when in fact less than 2% of Maine’s electricity comes from oil.
Do not feed the troll.
We ARE destroying the beauty of Maine with mountaintop wind turbines which will do virtually NOTHING to reduce our import or consumption of oil.
Selling our souls to the devil???
If certain populated areas of Maine no matter what the population count is, if they do not want a conglomerate entering their taxation area due to whatever kind of interferences the (as in this case) wind turbine project will bring, and the plurality equates to a rejection of the project – then that is it!!
There are several electrical generation alternatives available. Use them. I think the Indian Nation out of Old Town, Maine has a plan right now, and already some sort of corporation already legalized which is an energy-producing enterprise. In any case, alternatives to provide electrical energy is available so get active into researching these alternates.
I love how Dunphy abstained. The biggest piece of evidence that the new Commission is intended to be a joke was when they put him on it. How many towns has he failed as CEO in? And he’s qualified to be on LURC? What a joke.
Please elaborate. Thanks.
google is your friend.
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/store-skips-a-step_2011-10-02.html?pageType=mobile&id=1
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/septic-tankcausesheadaches_2011-05-13.html?pageType=mobile&id=1&start=1
All wind power permitting should go to LURC with the
politically controlled DEP eliminated from the process altogether.
Unlike DEP, LURC has evidently freed itself from the political
influence of the wind power lobby and is evaluating proposals based on facts and
long term impact.
It is truly encouraging to see a state agency both
sensitive and responsive to citizen input.
Well put Dennis!
Is that Jeff Dennis?
What we really need to do is work on the Legislature to repeal or at least drastically revise PL 661, the wind law that includes this heinous “Expedited Wind Permitting”. It is completely counter to the environmental protection mission of both LURC & DEP. As long as we have DEP staffers who really, truly believe in unworkable wind power hiding behind the guise of the wind law, we can never stop the terrible proliferation of these sprawling, environmentally devastating, industrial wind sites.
FIRE THOSE STAFFERS!
First Wind, in trying to withdraw its application at the last minute after LURC’s straw poll vote to deny the project is attempting to venue shop. They hope to see LURC nuetralized and have ALL wind permitting go through DEP, who has rubber stamped every project and has NO PUBLIC INPUT in the process. One can sense the the unspoken attitude of the wind industry is, “Baldacci gave Maine to us. We own it and we’ll do what ever we want. We may stumble, but we have all the controlling people in our pocket.”
Thank you LURC!!
Thank you, LURC Commissioners, for protecting the wildlands of Maine. You deliberated carefully and thoroughly at every turn, concluding that the Scenic Downeast Lakes are completely inappropriate for industrial wind projects due to the tourism economy there. Tourism is Maine’s biggest industry in terms of dollars and employment. Thank you for protecting that special corner of the Maine woods.
Ex-partner of Boston wind exec charged
Italians nab soccer club president in energy fraud
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/expartner-of-boston-wind-exec
Good work by the LURC commissioners! Nice to know someone still cares about the quality of place that used to be important here.
Carpetbaggers pack up your snake oil and go home.
These windmill farms are a crock of you know what! So far, no one has seen his electricity rates drop as a result of putting these noisy contraptions in. Hooray for LURC. They put these thing up on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River and guess what…rates have not changed there either. The only people making money with these windmill farms are the banks and lawyers.
You are wrong – wind power reduces spot and wholesale prices and displaces fossil fuel generators from the grid.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/markets-iberia-power-idUSL6E8FIEM520120418
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/16/markets-iberia-power-idUSL6E8FG8NH20120416
Vinalhaven residents saw their electric bills drop substantially due to the turbines they installed on the island.
That said, this a good decision by LURC. Wind power has its place in Maine, but not everywhere – like Black Nubble and Reddington – and the Grand Lake areas.
Yessah
Thanks for the links. But then below at that site:
UPDATE 2-Siemens to scrap profit goal on wind power hit-report
Siemens, which sees itself at the forefront of Germany’s push for greener energy, has struggled to make a profit from connecting offshore wind farms to mainland power grids.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/17/siemens-idUSL6E8FH0DX20120417
This is like the health care issue – why can’t we find objective, fair, open people to analyze the issues and come up with a plan?
ayuh ..
Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. Windmill farms are a money-making business and does absolutely nothing for the consumer. In fact they charge the power grid more per kilowatt hour than the power grid charges you, and that cost is reflected in your power bill. Each turbine is a government-guaranteed 25% or more per year income generator. Read the following article:
http://www.uticaod.com/opinion/x1149879744
And sure as heck not near pristine lakes like Mattawakeag and Pleasant near Island Falls. Or near Katahdin. Or in the western mountains. Or where people have built their lives to enjoy the peace and quiet. How about Iowa or the Dakotas if they must collect their subsidies.
GET OUT OF MAINE CARPETBAGGERS.
I wish First Wind would leave Maine. good for you LURC..you did the right thing.
Leave our Lakes alone First Wind..and leave our beautiful forests and hills untouched.
It’s about time! Thank you, LURC, for rejecting First Wind “overtures”.
Google: First Wind Mafia
Note that there are approximately 1,200,000 hits
First Wind is the largest wind developer in Hawaii.
Massachusetts Green Bubble Alert: First Wind-
http://bjdurk.newsvine.com/_news/2012/04/01/10888055-massachusetts-green-bubble-alert-first-wind
If FirstWind had anyone with 1 iota of common sense. the Downeast Lakes would never have been considered. The construction outfits do not seem to care that they are from Maine and are content to ruin mtn after mtn for some big bucks. If FW had any conscience and really wanted to be a good neighbor , they would withdraw their Oakfield project as it too is to close to 1A and1B lakes in Island Falls. Mainers should take notice that unscrupulous developers may have their favorite areas in their sights for industrial litter. Join the Citizens Task Force on Wind ASAP.
Leeches have primitive nervous systems so don’t expect genius.
Thank you to LURC for holding actual hearings last year, giving everyone a decent opportunity to be considered on this project. DEP has never, ever held a hearing, where sworn expert testimony is not only taken, but there is cross examination. This process led the LURC Commissioners to the truth, that not every wind power development should be “rubber stamped”. DEP goes through the motions of a “Public Comment Meeting”, then declares the wind developer’s application to be “Gospel”, ignores all the input from citizens, and rubber stamps every application. Such is the implementation of the heinous “Expedited Wind Permitting” statute.
First Wind is relentless and arrogant in their pursuit of industrial wind hegemony in northeastern Maine. Note that in spite of LURC’s position, they promise to come back with yet another proposal for this area. Be a decent corporate citizen, for once, First Wind. Take this denial gracefully and acknowledge that the people have spoken.
“…the heinous “Expedited Wind Permitting” statute.”
Part of the Baldacci legacy. The gift that keeps on giving…to some.
The Partnership for the Preservation of the Downeast Lakes Watershed (www.PPDLW.org) and the folks who rallied behind their lead deserve a huge “Thank You” for their tireless efforts against huge odds. While we might savor for a moment that LURC actually said “NO” to a proposed wind power development, the magnificent Downeast Lakes region continues to be under assault from wind developers.
First Wind vows to come back to the same site with a different plan. These thieves can’t take “NO” for an answer, sort of like the spoiled brat that has to get their way all the time.
On the western edge of the Downeast Lakes region, an application for a project for 14 turbines, each 459 feet tall, is under active review for Passadumkeag Mt. This is the highest point between Cadillac Mt. and Mt. Katahdin and overlooks Saponic Lake and West Lake, both high quality lakes and Nicatous and Duck Lakes, where taxpayer funds from Maine and the Federal Government have protected these lakes from development.
Over on the Canadian border, MET towers were erected on Greenland Ridge above East Grand Lake by Cianbro in January 2012. This has been met by the swift organizing of a group intending to preserve that end of the Grand Lakes in the same way PPDLW has done with the Bowers project. Their website is: http://keepitgrand.org/
As long as there are taxpayer subsidies, the Enron-inspired REC market, and arbitrary mandates for percentages of “renewable” energy supported by pandering politicians, the ruination of our beautiful state will continue. We must fight back and stop it!
Thank you, LURC! Forested ridgelines are not the place for these sprawling industrial wind sites. What is environmentally beneficial about blasting away miles of sensitive uplands, leveling hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of ridges, clearcutting hundreds of acres of carbon sequestering forests, and fragmenting wildlife habitat? What is environmentally beneficial about scalping our ridges and accelerating siltation and herbicide residue into our streams and lakes? All this harm for an unpredictable, unreliable, inefficient source of electricity that we do not need for Maine. All this harm for wind turbines that have actual output, capacity factor, of less than 25%!
If we continue via the heinous “Expedited Wind Permitting” statute to allow build out of the state’s arbitrary goal of 2700 MW of installed wind capacity by 2020, we will cover more than 300 miles of mountains and ridges with ugly, useless turbines that are as tall as 45 story Boston skyscrapers. We will have lost 50,000+ acres of forest and created a spiderweb of new powerlines to link these sites with the grid. We will have turbines on the doorstep of Baxter State Park, home of iconic Mt. Katahdin. There won’t be a single vista from our magnificent mountains that will not have turbines in the view. We will have spent more than $200 million dollars through the Land for Maine’s Future bonds (taxpayer money) to purchase Maine’s “special places” like Tumbledown Mt., only to surround them with wind turbines.
Have we forgotten that a good amount of Maine’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry comes from the attraction of the gems of inland Maine, the mountains and lakes? The influx of seasonal dollars for second homes, resorts, B & B’s and Maine’s traditional sporting camps and guiding services are worth far more than the fickle trickle of electricity derived from these wind turbines. Have we forsaken the recommendation of the Brookings Institute that Maine’s “Quality of Place”, the “Maine Brand” is its most important asset for the short term gain of wind site developers in pursuit of taxpayer subsidies?
The Maine media is totally wrong in its unquestioning promotion of industrial wind power in Maine. It doesn’t work, it isn’t economically viable, and it is ruinous of the beauty and natural resources of our state. Let’s keep Maine a special place and not allow it to become a wind turbine plantation for outside special interests.
Anthropogenic global warming – not wind farms – are the real threat to Maine’s alpine, subalpine and high elevation habitats.
As the climate warms, tree lines will creep higher and over grow these habitats.
Recent studies have already seen climate-related changes in Maine’s mountaintop ecosystems.
http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/as-climate-changes-so-does-what-grows-atop-mountain-in-maine_2012-02-21.html
In a few human generations, Maine’s high elevation habitats will look like the 4000-5000 foot peaks in North Carolina and West Virginia – mature temperate forests.
Wind power displaces fossil fuel generators and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Off peak wind power can displace heating oil by using ceramic heaters – and charge electric cars – and further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In Spain, Germany and the Midwest wind power displaces coal and gas-fired generators from the grid.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/markets-iberia-power-idUSL6E8FIEM520120418
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/16/markets-iberia-power-idUSL6E8FG8NH20120416
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL6E8ES2IU20120328
Wind power is a key weapon of the fight against climate change, but are wind farms appropriate everywhere in Maine? Nope – and they will NOT be putting wind turbines on Katahdin.
Hysterical nonsense.
yessah
Put them out in the ocean where no one will see or hear them.
Bunch of horse—- Yessah! You actually advocate blasting away our mountains and leveling hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of each of them to put up 45 story machines that don’t work enough to offset their own “carbon footprint”! Truly asinine! Wind does not work and is a waste of taxpayer money to support it and does nore harm to our mountains than a bit of change in vegetation patterns.
Maine has many resources for hydro power, including tidal power. All of which are capable of producing sustainable uninterrupted electrical power sources, this is what needs to be pursued. Wind is intermittent and costly to maintain!
This is 180 degrees from the way LURC handled the Kenetech wind proposal back in the 1990s. Thankfully.
Don’t forget the investigation being carried out by federal authorities regarding the questionable practices involved with the loan guarantee for Angus King’s First Wind project. He’s a crook and don’t forget it when you cast your vote for senator in Novemebr.
Don’t forget that the investigation of Blagojevich was known and over BEFORE the election of 2008 !
Thank you LURC and the commissioners you have restored my faith in the system.
Typical. The Losers Unite & Refuse Citizens committee is at it again, what a bunch they are.
I would be curious on how much power the exsisting wind mills produce and compare it to what they claim they will produce.. If under 50% of their claims then no more windmills..
Good luck finding that out! Those numbers are carefully guarded under the guise of “competitive trade secrets.”
Wouldn’t you think if the production numbers were drop-dead impressive the wind folks would be bragging about them? But they don’t. I wonder why?
UMPI has a wind turbine that has been installed for over 2 years now. The last data available showed a capacity factor of about 11% of nameplate rating. That was months ago before the thing failed catastrophically. This $2 million investment of public funds was to have provided real-time data on the turbines performance. It will take some kind of record-setting electricity production to ever approximate their sand-bagged 19% target. Stay tuned. http://www.umpi.edu/wind
Awesome. Thank you, LURC!
Want to see what the windmills look like? Travel to Danforth and head north on US 1 towards the town of Orient to a place called “the million dollar view” which overlooks East Grand Lake and Canada. Then turn around.
It will only get worse when the gigantic Oakfield project goes in, thanks to the DEP abusing their discretionary power and allowing First Wind to change the permit to increase the number of turbines from 34 to50 and to go from 389 ft tall GE turbines to 459 ft tall Vestas turbines. And, if we don’t stop it at the “Met Tower” stage, Cianbro wants to build an industrial wind site on Greenland Ridge right on top of East Grand Lake just outside of Danforth. Folks, the wind law passed in 2008 has opened the door to total destruction of rural Maine by blasting away and leveling our mountains! Get involved: http://www.windtaskforce.org