AUGUSTA – A month into its road construction for the 44-turbine Kibby Wind Power project north of Eustis, TransCanada Energy Corp. is holding a press conference on Thursday morning to announce a conservation agreement it’s reached against developing 1,100 acres of ridgeline surrounding the wind project area and, additionally, that it will donate $500,000 towards the land conservation along the Grafton Loop Trail.
TransCanada officials plan to make the Kibby Wind Power Project Conservation Agreement announcement on Thursday at the Augusta Country Club, according to a press statement released today.
TransCanada has agreed to not develop additional wind power on approximately 1,100 acres of high-elevation ridgelines near the project site. The energy company is also contributing $500,000 towards a larger conservation effort by the state in partnership with the Trust for Public Land. “TransCanada’s contribution will ensure the protection of a buffer along approximately four miles of the Grafton Loop Trail, a backcountry hiking trail with exceptional scenic and ecological value,” according to the release.
“It’s very significant,” said Pete Didisheim of the Natural Resources Council of Maine of the TransCanada contributions. The Kibby ridgeline surrounding the wind farm will be protected from development. He noted the area sits at or above 2,700 feet in elevation, has steep slopes and supports a diverse mountain alpine habitat.
“It’s important that area be protected from further development,” Didisheim said. The second part of the agreement is for TransCanada to donate $500,000 towards the 3,300-acre Grafton Loop Trail land conservation project in the Mahoosuc Range. About 750 acres will be conserved with the funding. Didisheim said that area is recognized as being an ecologically sensitive high mountain alpine habitat.
“Development has its impacts, no question about that. We endorsed this project because it helps meet Maine’s clean energy challenge, with the additional benefit of conserving land,” Didisheim said.
The $270 million project along the ridgelines of Kibby Mountain and Kibby Range, is expected to be completed in 2010, with half, or 22 of the 44 turbines on line by late next year and the rest completed the following year. Road construction, which includes building or rebuilding more than a dozen miles of roads for construction purposes started at the beginning of last month.
Once completed, the Kibby Wind Power Project will be the largest wind power development in New England, and is expected, the energy company has said, to produce 132 megawatts which will provide enough electricity for the equivalent of 50,000 average Maine homes.
It is expected that a total of 250 people will be employed for the construction of the wind project, and at its completion, 10 to 12 permanent employees will be needed to oversee the turbines’ maintenance.
In early June, Franklin County commissioners unanimously approved a $12.9 million tax increment financing plan for the Kibby Wind Power Project.
The TIF will capture 75 percent of the taxes raised by the estimated $270 million project for the first 10 years of operation, then 50 percent for the 10 years after that. Sixty percent of those captured revenues, capped at $8.9 million over the 20 years, would go to TransCanada. The other 40 percent of captured revenues, capped at $4 million, would be used to fund a series of Franklin County investments in the unorganized territories. Should the caps be reached, all remaining money garnered through the TIF will be released from the program to the state.
On Thursday, members of the Kibby Wind Power Project team will be on hand to thank the environmental leaders who participated in the development of the conservation agreement; including representatives from the Appalachian Mountain Club, Maine Audubon, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Trust for Public Land.
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Kibby Range in the distance. |
I do have to wonder why the “enviromental leaders” of Maine especially the Maine audobon Society, and the The natural Resources council of Maine are saying yes to wind towers all over Maine, would they be recieving money from the wind folks? I would really like to know this one! Can’t imagine any other reason they would be all for changing the face of Maine, and for what??? A small amount of power to go to another state! The least they could do is keep any small amount of power produced in Maine. Or is it that Maine doesn’t need it, because we already produce enough power here. I wonder how long the tourists will still come to Maine when all they will see is wind Industrial sites in all directions? Maine, the way Life should be. OR WAS…
Since tourism is one of the few ways left to earn income in ME….one wonders why so many of our elected officials are pushing wind farms. Are they looking after the state of ME? Wind farms do not produce a significant amount of electricity anyway. When the wind blows really hard …they have to shut down. And of course…there are times the wind doesn’t blow. So now it is 2 billion dollars needed for additional transmission lines to send these spurts and sputters of electricity to Mass. and Canada. Who pays for them ? Mainers. In their electricity bills. The attorney general’s office says this is not their concern. Folks in Plattsburgh NY wanted a grand jury investigation into First Wind for bribery of public officials, fraud and false documents. So instead the NY attorney general’s office is investigating. Looks like some palms have been greased here too.