 | Straight Talk |
As a resident of Highland Plantation, a proposed wind facility site, I’ve educated myself about industrial wind turbines and the effects of them. With all the rush to develop industrial wind turbines on 360 miles of mountains, so many things are being neglected. The effects on animals caused by wind turbines are alarming. Bats internally hemorrhaging, moles disappearing from surrounding areas, alpacas changing their instinctual birthing patterns resulting in stillborns and miscarriages, goats dying, dogs nervously barking at night and wetting on the floor, and ponies nervously trembling and shaking, their owners having to sell them. The deer too nervous to eat and moving into the village because of wind turbines. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife wrote me saying, “unfortunately some of the concerns we share can only be addressed by studying wildlife interactions at operational wind facilities. This is particularly true for understanding the effect low frequency noise and shadow flicker have on the survival, reproduction, and habits of wildlife associated with a proposed wind facility.” So, basically let’s build them and see what happens? I’m outraged! Why not study the sites we already have and postpone future projects until we have real answers? What about understanding the effects of low frequency noise and shadow flicker on the survival, reproduction and habits of humans? Are they doing the same for humans, “build first and see what happens”? This kind of attitude will result in devastation to our animals and people of Maine. Heidi Emery, Highland Plantation www.highlandmts.org
‘Wind backers decry conflict-of-interest claims.’As Maine rushes to embrace wind power, unnamed critics posting on Internet sites and reader comment pages contend that money and political connections — reaching all the way to the governor's office — are greasing the skids. By Tux Turkel Maine Business.com
I, for one among many others, am getting some friggin' sick and tired of seeing the huge amount of print/video devoted to perpetuating the Big Wind/Big Lie! Come on, BDN, Portland Press and all you others, try some reporting other than glorifying an industry that wouldn't even exist without taxpayer subsidies. How about equal amount of space to exposing the corrupt relationships that are driving this folly in Maine: Baldacci--Kurt Adams--First Wind. Juliot Browne (First Wind Lawyer)--her husband Rep. Jon Hinck--Expedited Wind Permitting Law. Larry Summers--D E Shaw--First Wind--Obama's $40.4 million gift to rescue Stetson II. Ad nauseum! How about equal space to exposing the true ramifications of the goals for industrial wind sites that were incorporated into that unconstitutional Expedited Wind Permitting law? 45 to 50 more projects the size of Stetson Mt. Blasting away some 350 miles of ridgelines for at least 1800 industrial turbines, permanently clearcutting at least 50,000 acres of forest. Contaminating our streams and ponds with silt and herbicides, fragmenting wildlife habitat, killing birds and bats, and ruining the peace and quiet and health of people in the noise impact zone. What about a true discussion of the facts here and questioning why the politicians of the state decided without asking the citizens to go down the road to this folly. Maine gets nothing from this except a handful of temporary construction jobs and some promise of some property taxes. But wait, not too much taxes because this stupid state grants TIFs to these thieves! We get no electricity from these and we don't need them anyway. How about exposing the real reason why ineffective, unreliable industrial machines will be cluttering up every vista in the state? Try some real reporting. Try some digging into some controversy. Try some reporting on the real impact of these. I could give a damn about tower training. Another waste of taxpayers dollars. I do give a damn about why these ugly, useless machines are being planted throughout my beautiful state!
Industrial Wind Power in Maine’s Mountains is Bad Policy (Testimony of Citizens Task Force on Wind Power) MasterResource.org
CAPE ELIZABETH — The romantic view of wind power is a stand of wind turbines atop a ridge gently spinning in a breeze generating clean electricity in place of an emission-producing power plant. Another view is a natural landscape defaced by huge structures whose operation annoys its neighbors, produces power randomly and does not reduce pollutants because fossil-fueled plants continue to operate as backup. The "pop" culture support and promotion of wind power is all based upon conceptual or theoretical constructs which do not reflect the physical, financial or regulatory realities of operating our electric grid system. Out-of-context claims that a wind power facility will generate the "average equivalent energy to power XXX homes" are akin to a statement that average workers will each earn $2 million in their lifetimes (including 3 years they are unemployed and earning nothing). There is no empirical data or industry information that demonstrates wind power reduces emissions, lowers our reliance on foreign oil, is easily integrated into the electric grid system or is cost-competitive. Government policies which encourage wind power development do not mandate any scientifically sound measurement provisions to evaluate its actual efficacy and remediation.
In order for wind power to reduce emissions, it must displace the operation of fossil-fueled plants. Most of the electricity generated in the United States is from such plants, which operate at high temperatures. It takes many hours to start up or shut down (or "cycle") these plants. The Energy Information Administration has stated that it is unaware of any program which shuts down fossil-fueled plants during wind power production. The EIA says all its CO2 reduction numbers attributable to wind are based upon "forecasts using theoretical models." In the absence of real data, reductions attributable to wind power are a myth.
Portland Press Herald, William L. Downes, Oct. 19, 2009
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Protestors Target Governor’s Energy Conference. More than two dozen picketers from small towns across Maine staged a protest in front of the Augusta Civic Center Tuesday over what they say is a flawed and unfair process to develop industrial wind projects in the state. Inside, Governor John Baldacci and other state officials were hosting a daylong wind energy conference. Protestors say they want to put the state and wind developers on notice that they won't stand idle any longer. MPBN Oct. 6 2009, By Susan Sharon
I recently made my annual migration to my camp in Lakeville. I love the Lincoln Lakes Region. I live here 6 months out of every year. I buy all my groceries, gas and supplies in this area. My legal residence may not be here but my heart and soul are. As I drove along Route 6 I encountered a convoy of trucks carrying enormous white wind turbine blades. Once I settled in, I picked up the Lincoln News and read about the approval of the Rollins Mountain Industrial Wind Project.... Even If by Gary Campell
Wind turbines should not be built within 1.5 miles of people’s homes. There will still be health and life quality problems caused by wind turbines beyond this radius. People living 1.5 to 3 miles from a proposed turbine site should be notified of potential health and life quality effects, and for this they should be appropriately compensated. In our area, this 3 mile arc encloses a lot of surrounding territory: East Winn, Silver Lake, Madagascal Pond, the Upper Cold Stream Ponds, Bagley Mountain, and more. By Gordon Johnson, Lincoln
From Wendy Todd, Mars Hill, ME. Ignorance is bliss. I wish I could go back and find the bubble that I was living in before industrial wind. We grow up here in the states thinking that we are safe and reasonably well protected. If we follow the golden rule that life will somehow be kind and that what is right will prevail. The residents of Mars Hill assumed that their town leaders and the Maine DEP would never let anything bad happen to them. Most of us believed that the developers of the Mars Hill wind project were trustworthy. We were wrong. Now we are caught in a battle to save a way of life. Wind turbines can be a good way to diversify our electrical future but they are not the answer to stopping global warming. The Mars Hill facility was touted as being apable of reducing carbon emissions by 120,000 tons back when the project was being sold to the town. Last year when the project completed its first year of operations and was so pleased with its 36% capacity rating, it was stated that the Mars Hill facility had reduced carbon emissions by 60,000 tons. Which is correct?? Neither. Be careful, go backand read the fine print "traditional New England power plants would release 60,000 tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to produce the same amount of electricity". Now call MPS and ask if power generation in the area has changed since Mars Hill went on line. The answer, from a reliable source, is "NO". So, if there are no carbon producing plants that have to slow down or stop, there are no carbon reductions for Maine. The fact that Maine only uses oil for a reported 1-2% of its electrical generation makes you wonder how much foreign oil will be reduced because of "Maine" wind facilities. So why are we sacrificing our ridgelines? Why are we sacrificing residents health, safety and property values? Does it matter that the low frequency repetitive noise, shadow flicker and visual pollution that turbines create make people ill and destroy quality of life and property values? It seems that, for now, it does not. All that most of us are asking for are meaningful setback requirements that protect the public. Why can't we strike a fair balance between economic growth and the golden rule?
A site like the Rollins project in Lincoln Lakes will consume more than 700 acres of land, an acreage far larger than most Maine farms. It entails creating a 3-6 acre clearcut for each turbine site, blasting and leveling, digging down to bedrock and pouring tons of concrete to anchor each 262 foot tower which is topped by a 92 ton nacelle (turbine generator) and 253 foot wide blades. A huge, wide network of roads must be created up to and across ridgelines to get these huge components into place. At Rollins, more than 20 miles of powerlines will be cut. All of the turbine sites and powerlines will be kept cleared by the use of herbicides, effecting dozens of streams, all of the lakes around Lincoln and the watershed of three rivers. Siltation of streams and lakes will occur from erosion from all this construction. Lastly, important wildlife habitat will be fragmented and ruined.
Maine's 'wind rush' an abuse of the public trust. An Editorial by WindAction
First Wind is a company whose business model depends on subsidies and market manipulations to make money. They already have tremendous advantages from double declining balance 5-year depreciation for writing off infrastructure and equipment costs. They can write off windmills quicker than the mill can write off a tissue machine! They have 2.1 cents per kilowatt-hour production tax credit, which will reap them more than $4 million dollars per year from this project. They have the ability to sell the same kilowatts as “green tax credits” to polluting industries. Through Renewable Portfolio Standards, they have guaranteed access to the New England electricity market whether the electricity is needed or not. These investors are laughing all the way to the bank at taxpayers and ratepayers expense!
What it's like to live near a wind turbine...Before the turbines were erected on Beaver Ridge, I visited wind turbines in other towns with the knowledge that one was going to be built very close to my house. I came away thinking living next to one was going to be somewhat annoying but that it probably was going to be OK. I was encouraged by promises from Competitive Energy Services, the parent company of the developer Beaver Ridge Wind LLC By Phil Bloomstein:
First Wind spent $120,000 to get access to US lawmakers who were working on a proposal to revive the use of tax credits for renewable-energy projects. “This is absolutely critical both to our company and to the growth of renewable energy across the country,” said Carol Grant, vice president of external affairs for the company, which is seeking funding to build four wind farms in New England. Grant said First Wind representatives met with lawmakers to discuss problems with the financial markets and ways to restore credit. The Obama administration is still developing guidelines for the energy incentives approved in the legislation."