What do you do when the rules made by the group with the money, the governmental contacts, the lobbyist and the access to the media? All across Maine local residents have tried to get their voices heard. Every time an industrial wind operator comes in and submits a permit application nearby residents resist. Every time a permit is issued and construction begins locals object, protest, write letters to newspapers, all trying to get our voices heard. And none of it does any good.
These people did something that brought attention to the efforts of anti wind groups. It is not the way I choose to put my message out but it is completely legitimate, completely American, and something I’m very glad to see happening. Nonviolent opposition is what brought women the right to vote, what brought people of color all the rights we all expect to exercise and what brings attention to monster issues such as WAR and Industrial Pollution and political hanky panky.
Rather than making snap judgements about the people on trial please think about the subject they are highlighting. Our state government was bought and paid for by the industrial wind developers during the last administration. The dregs of that lobbyist conditioned acceptance still lingers today, but between local residents resistance and efforts like this one the new governor is noticing. The new congress had better notice!
I salute the right to protest! I salute the willingness of these people to do what they did, and their willingness to face the consequences if a jury forgets that we all have the ultimate right to peacefully DISOBEY. The government is just people, and it is as often wrong or misguided as it is right. In this case whether I agree with the idea of industrial wind complexes or not is irrelevant! I will forever support the right of non violent protest and non violent actions in defense of rights or viewpoints or areas that can’t defend themselves.
Check out how many applications for industrial wind complexes are being put together now! We will loose our entire mountainous region if no one has the courage to stand up and say “NO MORE!”
Lauri Sibulkin
Phillips, ME
Well Said.
When you think of this topic, remember the TEA PARTY, and how they are treated by the mainstream media. The right to PEACEFULLY protest applies to ALL, and needs the utmost protection, even (especially!) when the message is unpopular. Civil disobedience is in fact illegal, but also has its (again, peaceful) place in historical rule-changing.
I happen to agree with the wind issue presented here, even from a conservative perspective – Maine is selling off the very things that make Maine special – the mountains! “Crony Capitalism” is NOT capitalism, and it’s not limited to 1 political party or viewpoint….it’s just cronyism, after all, and is frowned upon by most conservatives, believe it or not.
To each there own. You should be able to do anything you want with your Mountain. Keep your Liberal mentally in your own home.
Right on, MR. Sibulkin! Gender and ethnicity police, take notice.
But keep Tom’s warning always in mind. Peaceful protest is a valuable and cherished American tradition, even when it runs counter to the party line.
Mark [s]K[/s]Hemp: It’s to each his own, but I suppose you have to be above a certain age before grammar matters. And I always try to keep my mental liberal on a very short leash.
Lauri, of course local citizens voices are being heard. Haven’t you noticed that town after town are adopting wind power ordinances. That is due to local voices. That is the peaceful way to protest, not padlocking yourself to the underside of a truck. Where exactly do you look the see how many applications for industrial wind complexes are being put together now. It was a good speech, but how about some facts to back it up.
Bad grammar or not, at least Mr. Kemp dares to display his real name. I don’t support wind power, but do what you want with your mountain as long as it is legal. Just do it without subsidies! And if you want to see a truly butchered mountain go to Sugarloaf. Surely you’ll agree it looks as unnatural as a few windmills. Where are the protesters here? Oh yeah, skiing!
But all you have to do is look over your shoulder and you can see any number of mountains! Is your neck broken? I live in town, and I can take you for a ten minute walk where you can see nothing but woods.
Right off the top of my head come the following:
Saddleback Mtn in Carthage
Bull Hill in Township 16, next to Eastbrook (Ellsworth)
Bowers Mtn, Kosuth Township, Lincoln
Spruce Mtn, Concord Pond, Bethel
Sisk Mtn, Chain of Ponds
Highland Township,
Concord and Lexington Townships,
Bingham is a place of interest.
These are the proposals I can list off the top of my head. For more we can look up the Bureau of Land and Water Quality website and look under “Wind Power” and the LURC web site, under Wind Power applications.
Yes, you can walk thru the woods and see nothing but trees, today. And if you live out in the lower elevations where most of the population dwells chances are there is no problem, unless you live in Eastbrook or Lincoln or somewhere Big WInd has stuck a pin in their maps. Unless we say NO very loudly there is no end of this sell off of Maine’s upland resource. Yes, Sugarloaf and Saddleback and Sunday River are scarred and over run. On the other hand, they do provide hundreds, maybe even thousands of jobs to locals. By the way, just because Kibby and Sugarloaf and Mars Hill and others have ski resorts or wind turbines on them is no reason to abandon every other peak and ridge to the subsidized avarice of industrial wind.
Think about it,
Lauri Sibulkin
There is a right time and place for everything. I support wind power as it is, to me, a harmless alternative source of energy and a cool looking investment.
People do have the right to object to anything, but it does not bother me that people protest because it will never change anything when it comes to multi-million dollar projects/investments like the installation of wind towers. It is actually amusing to see people protest wind energy because of how efficient they are.
And to ‘Frostproof’-you did no justice by patronizing Mark Kemp, keep trying to prove yourself right!
I wasn’t trying to prove anything. These LTTE’s are opinions, as are the responses – including yours, Me. Was I patronizing Mr. Kemp? If you say so. I did a 5 year tour of duty on my town’s planning board and can tell you (my opinion, of course) that it’s a well and long established Maine tradition to tell people what they can and can’t do on their property. Just ask any camp owner who wants to build a little sandy beach.
My problem with wind power is the proponents try to sell it as a replacement for “traditional” forms of power but it can only be, as you say, an alternative. Harmless? Of course – except for the roads built to get the materials in place for the mills and to build transmission lines to get the power to the grid. Except for the promise of all the “green” jobs, most of which disappear after construction. Except for calm days, like today, when I’m really glad for the non-alternative energy sources to keep my computer and internet going so I can keep posting condescending messages to prove my opinions.
But all the above dwindles to insignificance because wind power is cool. No point is trying to argue with logic like that.
You are right, because it is cool there is no point in arguing it. Fantastic maturity…
Emotions,,,,,,,,,,,THIS is good!!!
So if your “Peaceful Disobedience” is dangerous, what do others do,,,Counter Peaceful Disobedience??
OMG,,,if only some of us had the time,,,,,,,
But then again,,,I learned something: I cant always have my way (that’s life and that’s fine and fair).
Some folks just REFUSE to take no for an answer.
IF THEY DONT GET THEIR WAY,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,OH BOY THERE THEY ARE and all you see is their tonsils.
Yes,,, a lot of people LIKE this kind of behavior in general. You seem to be hung up on the “establishment”.
I wish you PEACE in your mind my friend.
Hope I didn’t spell any words wrong here,,,,,,,,geesh.
You are talking about the scarring of the mountains for the purpose of installing wind turbines. Do any of you consider the scarring because of strip mining for coal and shale oil? Is that more palatable than wind turbines ? Not in my humble opinion. Yes, if you want to protest wind power, by all means, go ahead. I think your time would be better spent working with your local governments to adopt ordinances against commercial wind facilities. Wind might not be a replacement for fossil fuels, but it would help to reduce dependance on foreign oil and cut down on green house gases.
I find it very humorous the position anti-wind proponents take. Have they ever really gone and looked at a wind site such as Kibby Mt? Have you really looked at the western mountains up close and not from 20 or 30 miles away? Just take a gander at mapquest or any other on-line website that gives you satellite view of the areas. You will see the land is already scarred from decades or even centuries of logging operations. The land is already criss crossed with countless logging roads, whole mountains have been logged time and time again. Untouched wilderness my behiny, there are multiple areas that have been cleared cut, again probably many times over.
Are you really trying to SAVE the so-called untouched wilderness areas of western Maine? Get real and get off your rear ends and go take a look for yourself and stop listening to the NIMBY’s.
For those that claim it’s a get quick scheme by developers, ask yourself this, if you dare, is this truly a new technology? No, wind mills have been around for centuries and even the modern wind turbine has been developed over decades of usage. It’s been is use in other areas of the country for a very long time. Is it the end all of and only solution of ending our dependence on oil? I don’t think anyone has made that claim, its part of the puzzle, and part of the solution.
Well said Bruce.