Recently I attended a meeting in Dixfield, which was the second commercial wind power meeting this week I have been to. Between us, my wife and I have attended in excess of 30 meetings of one type or another on commercial wind power over the last couple of years.
My first introduction to that subject was several years ago at LURC hearings at the Black Bear Inn in Orono. It was an issue being addressed prior to that which I was there for. I found it both interesting and informative. As some of the concerns expressed at that time related to wildlife which I have a deep and personal interest in I listened to the presentations. Little did I know at that time just how interested I would become in that particular subject.
While researching the subject and attending these many meetings, it has become most apparent that the state agencies (DEP and LURC) entrusted to protect us and our environment have had their hands tied by the powers that be. I feel sorry for those holding the meetings, as they are bound by the laws and regulations put in place by our elected officials. It is most apparent some officials have done this only for their own financial gain and their misguided ego. They have left their employees and the citizens of this state out to dry.
Science supports few, if any, of the claims of the benefits alleged by commercial wind power
proponents. It is our tax dollars that are being expended to develop commercial wind power. The only ones to profit are a few individuals and foreign interest. You can check that subject out for yourselves on the Internet.
What has become most apparent at meetings is the voice of over 80 percent of the public in attendance. Their concerns after presenting scientifically backed facts about why they are in opposition to wind power, is the unbelievable expressions of emotion over concerns regarding quality of place, health issues, destruction of mountain tops and wild places, visual impact to scenic areas, damage to potable water, loss of thousands of acres of forest growth, disregard for endangered and threatened species, lost of property values, large increases projected in utility bills while getting none of the electricity (as it goes to supporting the southern New England grid), and the utter destruction of the heritage of a place and its people.
It is absolutely gut wrenching to watch multiple men and women get choked up and even break down and openly cry while speaking over the losses to be realized in our way of life in rural Maine.
There is no other place where you can see the utter disregarded of our elected officials of what the large majority of citizens want. They just don’t care what we want or do not want. Our last elections were a start and hopefully our next elections will finish it. To realize this critical issue first hand, attend one of the many ongoing communities meeting across the state.
Dave Miller
Lexington TWP, Maine
Agreed, Mr. Miller. The DEP meeting regarding Saddleback Ridge in Carthage was heart-wrenching. The DEP and LURC need new laws to work with–laws that are thoughtful and backed by science. Until then, there should be a state-wide moratorium. If and when the blasting starts and the 450′ turbines rise on Saddleback Ridge (in view from many towns, mountains, and a state park), we will suddenly see more residents and tourists in the area wake up as many have already. This is what is happening in Lincoln. The former and current governor and legislature have the rape of rural Maine on their hands until this stops.
Dear Dave, Thank you for sharing your views on this difficult issue. I think you have summed it up so beautifully. The scary thing is that many local town officials have no training or expertise in dealing with the complexities of these projects. And as you point out the worst of all is that the DEP and LURC are forced to make project approval decisions that are in direct conflict with their core missions to protect the wilderness of Maine. There are ten state reps who are sponsoring a bill for a moratorium on the expedited wind law, and there are several other bills that are being sponsored to modify it. I think it should just be repealed. I also just heard about a documentary on the subject: Windfall – that chronicles what happens in a small town in upstate NY when the wind companies come to town. It was reviewed in today’s Washington Post. I think we need some screenings of this film in Maine. Thank you for speaking up, and also for taking the time to get up the learning curve on the wind issue.
Thanks for a great letter, Dave. Bernd Heinrich stated at that Dixfield meeting, “You don’t build a whorehouse inside of a church.” That pretty much sums up how strongly many Mainers feel about their mountains. I’d like to think the DEP was moved by what they saw and heard at that meeting. I’d like to think that they will become profiles in courage, and help us to rescind the expedited wind law, and return to the people of Maine the power and the voice and the constitutional rights that were taken from us by former Governor Baldacci. Our legislators got us into this awful mess by not doing their homework. They can get us out again if we insist that they do, and insist we must. Twelve thousand square miles of viewshed being destroyed in one of the most beautiful states in the nation is a travesty that cannot be allowed, especially given the fact that this viewshed helps to support 170,000 full time jobs, 535 million dollars in tax revenue and ten billion dollars in goods and services brought in annually by tourism, the most powerful economic engine in this state. Destroying Maine’s quality of place will bankrupt us.
Two restrictive wind ordinances and one moratorium on wind development have been passed unanimously in western Maine towns in the last two weeks. It’s becoming very apparent that the myth of 80% approval by Mainers of wind power development is on the verge of being exposed.
I was at the Dixfield meeting that Mr. Miller writes of and can confirm all that he says. The attendees were overwhelmingly opposed to the development of Saddleback Ridge by Patriot Renewables. A very small minority of people – you could have counted them on one hand – spoke in favor of the development. Predictably, they each cited financial benefits – usually for themselves.
Opposition by people who’ve done their homework is growing. To those who support this destruction of Maine’s scenic treasures and the lives of the people who must live around these projects, please learn more about what it is you’re supporting. By all means, don’t get your information from the wind industry, the politicians supporting them, or the NRCM. Each has shown a willingness to sell wind power with misinformation and exaggerated facts.
Start learning the facts at: http://highlandmts.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20_Facts_March_v2.pdf
On February 24th of this year WABI-TV5 conducted a pollin which they asked a single question:
Which would you rather see–wind turbines on land or off shore?
The results showed that 84% of respondents prefer NOT to see wind turbines on land. That’s in stark contrast to the poll the wind developers quote endlessly which they claim shows that 80% of Maine residents favor land-based wind energy. Have opinions changed that much? Not likely. The poll quoted by the wind developers was conducted by the American Wind Energy Association and funded by the wind developers themselves.
Citizens of Maine, we should be shouting from the highest mountain:
If, I believed that begging and pleading and all the tears that I have shed would make a difference, then I will share the fear and tears that I have shed in the last 16 months, here at the base of Spruce Mountain, Woodstock, Me. Patriot Renewables is ready to blast and destroy the mountain. I have spoken out from the beginning. Many a night I have prayed for peace and resolution to the safety and health concerns with this project. Just the vision of the division of a town and the legal battle has its affects. Our only recourse here is to go to Supreme Court. The Quality of life and respect for our mountains, mind you they are the heart of the people and do bring in the tourist who buy our goods and services, are being attacked. Many of us are angered and frustrated that politics has done this to the people of Maine.
I, too, was at the Dixfield meeting. My heart cried for those people. I have traveled down the road that they must travel and all I can do is share our experiences here in Woodstock. My heart was given to the mountains from Webb Lake back in 1976, as I taught swimming lessons and life guarded for Camp Lawroweld. We had parents from all over the world sending their children to us for the experience of Nature at its finest. If, Patriot has its way, it will be destroyed forever. Once the stone is blasted, it can never be returned to God’s design.
95% opposed tells one reporter who spent the whole evening in Dixfield. as opposed to the local reporter who ducked out at half time.
Blinded, they are, by the media and it’s non reporting.
“…the utter destruction of the heritage of a place and its people.”-Mr. Miller that is an excellent description of my own personal feelings towards industrial wind. Thank you for your letter!
I own land that directly abutts a Patriot Renewables project on Beaver Hill in Freedom. My family, neighbors, and friends fought a gutwrenching battle to try to stop that project. Many tears were shed and many dreams were ruined. Our pockets took a direct hit when those massive towers were erected (this doesn’t count the personal money lost as we all chipped in to try to stop it). My land has been violated and robbed-it really is like losing a friend! And in the two years since the turbines have been online, I continue to mourn the loss and I fear that I always will be in a state of mourning over this nightmare.
The real issue here for me is that my children have been violated and robbed of their future land and their birthrite to that family heritage. My children are multigenerational Mainers. I want for them to have the Maine that I so cherish. It would have been so easy for my husband and I to have packed up and left Maine when we were young and fresh out of college for more money. Neither one of us was willing to do that. We love Maine.We love her quality of place. And now I feel like I’m reaching a fever pitch to protect her so that my children and their children will have a piece of this beauty. The kids around the state shouldn’t have to bear this tragedy or try to clean up from the mistakes that were made by policy makers who didn’t do their homework.
Sadly, this is just one of the many heartbreaking stories playing out in this state. It is time for more of our elected officials to open their ears and listen to the voices of the people and the state they serve. I’m hopeful that now I’m witnessing the changing of the tide.
It’s time to change policy to reflect the people and the State of Maine and not the greedy corporations looking to line their pockets.
Try polling your sacred tourists and tree huggers and see what they prefer; a few neat windmills or all the disgusting trash they have to view at many rural homes on the way to their mountain. Which by the way has many non-environmentally friendly scars carved in it called trails. The problem with windmills is that they couldn’t exist without huge tax funded subsidies. Out of state developers are laughing at our ignorance while getting rich. I just paid my state income tax; now there’s a reason for real tears!
I can’t see what we are crying about. I went moose hunting this last fall right besibe Kibby project. The mountain I was hunting on was stripped. The Kibby wind mill mountain looked better. There must be something else I’m missing. Plus, I like the idea that it’s not poluting the air and land. And the wild life had plenty of space around the wind mills to exist. I can’t buy what you wrote.