GRAND FALLS TOWNSHIP, Maine — Staff at the state’s top environmental agency recommended the denial Thursday of an application to build a 14-turbine industrial wind site on Passadumkeag Mountain, saying the windmills would disrupt a “one-of-a-kind” view from Saponac Pond.
If Commissioner Patricia Aho accepts the draft decision next week, the project will be the first industrial wind site rejected by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, spokeswoman Samantha Depoy-Warren said. The deadline for responses to the draft decision is 5 p.m. Wednesday.
“It is extremely unlikely that the department would receive any information between now and next Wednesday that would change the course of the decision,” Depoy-Warren said Thursday.
Attempts to contact project developer Quantum Utility Generation, an alternative energy company based in Houston, were not immediately successful.
The decision echoes a verdict reached by the Land Use Regulation Commission when it rejected a First Wind of Massachusetts proposal to build 27 turbines atop nearby Bowers Mountain in April, Depoy-Warren said. In both cases, officials felt the windmills’ effect on mountain and lake views and businesses that profit from them would be too great.
According to the Passadumkeag Mountain draft decision, Quantum “has not made adequate provision for fitting the generating facility portion of the development harmoniously into the existing natural environment.”
“The development will have an unreasonable adverse effect on existing uses and the scenic character of Saponac Pond,” the draft decision added, noting that the applicant’s materials showed that the majority of the turbines would be visible from 97 percent of Saponac.
“This is a one-of-a-kind view. The project as proposed would have had a significant impact on that view. We heard that loud and clear from people who use that resource,” Depoy-Warren said.
The DEP staff also found that 41 percent of the applicant’s surveys of pond users — “a substantial percentage” — said the project would have a negative effect on their enjoyment of the pond. Department officials also rejected arguments that relatively few people use the pond.
“The fact that the pond may not be used by a large number of people does not diminish the importance of the limited users of the pond,” the draft decision states.
“The department has made it very clear that we take a very thorough and thoughtful look at these applications. Ultimately the project passed our review on all but this one criterion,” Depoy-Warren said.
The agency recommended delaying a decision on the 42-megawatt project in August to give Quantum more time to answer questions. Several residents and local business owners protested the project’s effect on the mountain and pond during public meetings held over the last six months.
“We heard them loud and clear,” Depoy-Warren said.
Passadumkeag Mountain is 1,463 feet tall and located southwest of Saponac Pond directly east of Greenbush in Penobscot County. Bowers Mountain is 1,127 feet tall and east of Lee and southeast of Springfield near Route 6, about 30 miles northeast of Passadumkeag Mountain. It overlooks seven lakes — including Bottle, Keg, Duck, Junior and Scraggly lakes — near the western Washington and eastern Penobscot county lines.
If Aho takes the staff recommendation and rejects the application, Quantum officials can appeal the decision to the Board of Environmental Protection or civil court, Depoy-Warren said, or they could revisit the idea with a substantially revised project.
A First Wind subsidiary submitted a drastically reduced turbine plan for Bowers Mountain on Wednesday.
good!
Thank you, DEP!!!!!!!! Thank you!
PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!
The same rejection should be made for the Oakfield project. The proposed environmental impact is even worse there. A state-wide moratorium on these massive wind projects needs to be enacted ASAP. The Oakfield project proposes fifty 500 hundred foot tall turbines overlooking 2 pristine wilderness lakes. Put a hold on this project before its too late! Please!
the two pristine wilderness lakes have dozens of camps on them and the cell phone and government towers on May Mt. are a lot closer and uglier than those windmills are going to be
Stop Oakfield Wind in the name of Teddy Roosevelt who cherished Mattawamkeag Lake that stands to be defaced by these hideous out of scale and out of place useless treasury draining China-enriching pieces of junk.
Oakfield residents approved it at a town meeting. it is an Oakfield issue, DEP and out-of-town environmentalists should keep their noses out of it
You are absolutely wrong. The state of Maine belongs to all of us. While Oakfield chose to sell out to First Wind, the project impacts everyone. Proliferation of industrial wind power ruins the highly touted “Quality of Place” that is Maine, cited by the 2007 Brookings Institute as our state’s greatest asset. That is why impacts on places like Pleasant Pond & Mattawamkeag Lake matter. That’s why industrial wind sites must not be granted preference over Scenic Resources of State or National Significance–as provided in the law. We are seeing, finally, in the LURC decision on Bowers Mt. and this DEP decision that the SRSNS is being given it’s due diligence.
There is no indication that the expanded Oakfield project willhave any better capacity factor than existing wind sites and it is a sad day when we mandate generating sources that produce from 15% to 30% of it’s capacity and have to exist on taxpayer funding. It is a foolhardy public policy which is already leading to higher electricity costs.
I feel the winds that blew public subsidies into the wallets of wind farmers and the Kings; are shifting dramatically.
UK’s new Energy minister is urging a halt to off shore and land wind farms; Canada is heavily promoting inexpensive, reliable, green hydro power for the N.East U.S.
Maine’s #1 job producer, the tourism industry, demands scenic skylines and uncluttered landscapes and huge wind turbines, their access roads and clear cut right of ways maintained with herbicides damage that image.
This is a fair and just decision. We can’t let all of Maine be defaced with these monuments to short-sighted greed. The line must be drawn somewhere and I’m pleased that Commissioner Aho has the courage to draw it on Passadumkeag Mountain!
Let’s hope she has the courage to follow through at the final vote and to apply the same standards to Oakfield and Bowers.
Gee what do you know, we have a republican administration and we FINALLY get some environmental protection!
If DEP sticks with this decision, Maine will have at least one less threat to Maine forests and wildlife from turbine caused forest fires.
Much appreciation is due to DEP staff for sorting through voluminous, complex information, and reaching the right decision. These towers would have been a visual blight on an outstanding scenic resource. Thank goodness there are people who recognize that we’ve got something very special here in Maine and are willing to protect it. Echoing Ms. Nichols (below): Thank you, DEP, thank you!!
An encouraging decision by the DEP! The energy, environmental, and economic benefits of this project would have been inconsequential – as they are in most Maine land-based wind projects. No justification here for degrading the Maine brand with mountaintop industrialization. Kudos to the DEP on this one.
This recommendation by the DEP staff is encouraging news for
Maine.
This wind project is the first they have ever recommended for
disapproval and although coming very late in the wind scam game, it is a hopeful
sign.
Could this mean that we now have a DEP staff that
actually considers environmental impact when reviewing wind power
projects?
Could it even mean that influence of the wind lobby has been
diminished in the department?
If so, Thank you Governor LePage for restoring some honesty to and removing the rubber stamp from the
DEP review process.
The DEP got it right this time!
Don’t give up on us.
“The department has made it very clear that we take a very thorough and thoughtful look at these applications. Ultimately the project passed our review on all but this one criterion,” Depoy-Warren said.
THE DEP REVIEW WILL NOT BE THOROUGH AND THOUGHTFUL UNTIL LOW FREQUENCY NOISE IS THOROUGHLY ADDRESSED.
As in Mars Hill, Vinalhaven, Freedom and soon Oakfield.
It is great to see the DEP finally morphing away from the “rubber stamp” mentality as it comes to industrial wind power and interpretation/application of the heinous “wind law”, PL 661. Earlier this year, Commissioner Aho pledged there would be a “New Tone” set in DEP regarding this review.
The section of PL 661 regarding Scenic Resources of State or National Significance (SRSNS)within the 8 mile scenic impact zone has always been there, the one hedge in a law that otherwise states clearly that scenic impact is to be ignored. All one needs to do is ride around the Lincoln Lakes region, close by Passadumkeag Mt. to see the impact.
Sadly, the SRSNS was ignored in several previous wind project approvals. Record Hill impacts on the Appalachian Trail, a designated State “Scenic By-way”, and the Rumford Whitecap preserve of the Mahoosuc Land Trust. The Spruce Mt. project turbines in Woodstock are within 1 to 3 miles of two parcels bought for protection by money from Land for Maine’s Future fund: Little Concord Pond/Bald Mt. and Speckled Mt. The approval of Saddleback Wind in Carthage has Mt. Blue State Park within the 8 mile zone.
There have been heavy impacts on other Maine treasures just beyond the arbitrary 8 mile zone, also: We now see wind turbines from Mt. Katahdin–Gov. Baxter and Thoreau must be spinning in their graves! Same for Myron Avery, the driving force behind the Appalachian Trail in Maine, as the turbines of Kibby are clearly visible from the peak named in his honor on magnificent Bigelow Mt. Worse, the newly constructed turbines on Bull Hill are clearly visible from Acadia National Park. Let’s hope the “New Tone” in the DEP means that this significant section of the law is finally being honored to protect Maine’s priceless scenic and natural resources!
As a person who has been very vocal and made every effort to save the heritage of my great grandparents and their historical connection to Theodore Roosevelt’s experience of wilderness in Island Falls that for years has been considered an important part of Maine history, I am gratifed that the DEP is finally listening as it should.(and am also grateful for the comments here defending this fight) There are so many verifiable reasons that the wildlife, humans and pristine highly ranked and ,until this wind travesty arrived, preserved Lakes Mattawamkeag and Pleasant, should NEVER see the blasting of the hilltops and ruination of this amazing area so loved by the many who wrote letters to the DEP and the over 700 who signed the petition imploring the DEP from their hearts and own family history’s to PLEASE NOT PERMIT this. The 80 people ( yes, 80 people..smart of FW to have to bribe,influence so few) from Oakfield who voted in this project were understandably influenced with short term monies in an area that is not affluent but extremely wealthy in terms of nature. The opponents truly care about the wildlife, woods, lakes and longterm fate of this area for future generations.I know as I have dealt with them all as the leader in the legal fight against the ruination of lakes that are held dear by much larger numbers than the 80 people of Oakfield who did not know better because they listened to First Wind’s lies. By becoming active globally in this movement I have seen articles time and time again that speak of all the negative impacts of these wind machines, both financially and environmentally.
Thank-you DEP. The people of that area will be grateful that you have saved their quality of place and quality of life. Now, would you please do something about the controversy over DB-A and DB-C sound? Vinalhaven, Freedom, Mars Hill and Spruce Mountain wind projects, need to be studied and corrections made concerning sound and its affects on the people living within 2 miles of these projects. Please, consider a sound study to protect the people of Maine from health affects. The industry will never admit that these industrial wind turbines are noisy and affect the people that live nearby. It breaks my heart to see the devastation on the top of these mountains after the projects are put in. I can always find my way home by following the wind turbines rather than the Northern Star. My heart is lighter knowing that one project will not go in and pray that this is something I will see more of in the future. Again, thank-you DEP, your decision has given me hope in the preservation of Maine.
Since King Angus has already raked in his loot from the windmill scam, no need to build any more wind farms in Maine. Stay tuned for the new rush on tidal power in every cove along the shore.