March 11, 2011
Letters, Maine

Thank you Mr. Buccina and Mr. Volkernick

Rumford Falls Times, www.rumfordfallstimes.com 11 March 2011

I wish to thank Mr. Buccina for his continued concern over wind turbines in Rumford and Mr. Volkernick for his desire to present choices in wind options to the voters in June.

The plan presented last year by the Wind Ordinance Committee was based on research and it was assembled by some of the best minds in the community. Voters failed to approve that plan due in large part to the lack of unified endorsement by the Board of Selectmen. Now, if that plan is simply discarded instead of modifying and improving upon already solid work, it will surely be a missed opportunity and a disservice to the citizens of Rumford.

We have all seen documentary of wind farms in the western United States and the desert southwest. It seems the wind turbines out there are clustered together for economy of scale. And, further, it seems they’re located in places where the wind most always blows.

Does it make sense, then, to dot the peaks of Maine’s western Mahoosuc Mountains with a wind turbine here, a wind turbine there, in places where the advocates themselves report the wind to be less than disireable? And each turbine would carry with it the burden of access road and supporting infrastructure because of remote location.

One must conclude that there is money to be made in the power business if wind turbines can be profitable under such adverse conditions. And that profit, by-the-way, will find its way to the citizens of Rumford in amounts of merely a token.

In a few short years we will have the technology to build wind farms in deep water off the coast of Maine. Extensive research is well underway at the University of Maine, Orono and off-shore leases, granted. These turbines will be clustered together just like the ones out west for economy of scale. And the wind always blows off the Maine coast – ask any fisherman.

Given the negative aesthetic impact that wind turbines will have on the Mahoosucs, the very high likelihood that we’ll negatively impact someone’s health living within range, the potential devaluation of associated real estate, and the fact the citizens of Rumford stand to benefit almost nothing monetarily, I’m happy to wait for the off-shore wind farms. They’re coming.

James Powers,

South Rumford

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/03/11/thank-you-mr-buccina-and-mr-volkernick/