Southern Maine doesn’t see full impact of wind farms  

Credit:  The Portland Press Herald | www.pressherald.com 24 June 2012 ~~

Would someone please explain why the state of Maine, where the leading industry by far is tourism and the recreational use of our natural resources, has bought into the notion that out-of-state companies should be allowed to develop industrial wind facilities in some of the most pristine and undeveloped areas of our state?

It is time for the residents of southern Maine to go on a field trip in order to appreciate the degree to which the mountain ridges in eastern, western and northern Maine have been stripped to facilitate the construction of scores of 450-foot (think Prudential Building) towers to produce highly taxpayer-subsidized electricity for sale to out-of-state utilities.

A prime example of this desecration is the proposed Passadumkeag Mountain Project, which involves clearing several miles of the spectacular, undeveloped ridgeline of Passadumkeag Mountain to facilitate the construction of 14 450-foot towers.

The most discouraging aspect of this project is the fact that this mountain, and these towers, overlook the many lakes, as well as the thousands of acres, for which the state recently paid millions of dollars to purchase a conservation easement in order to protect these areas from development.

But for a few initial construction jobs, what benefit accrues to our state by permitting this industrial assault on our wildlands? Wind power is not environmentally sound. It primarily benefits wealthy investors through substantial tax credits, but certainly not the citizens of Maine.

Peter R. Roy

Ellsworth