June 16, 2011
Letters, Maine

Bad company

bangordailynews.com 16 June 2011

Maine now joins Alabama and West Virginia in blasting and leveling mountain tops to get energy.

First Wind-Champlain is applying for permission to place 27 industrial wind turbines on top of Bowers Mountain in the Down East lakes region – one of the most scenic, pristine, accessible chain of recreational lakes in Maine. Over 1,000 residents, their guests and seasonal tourists will be visually impacted by daytime reflective flicker and flashing red lights at night.

Federally protected bald eagles nest in the area. They regularly soar over Bowers Mountain and feed in these 15 or more lakes. It is a well-documented fact that turbines kill birds and bats. There are rare ad imperiled plants on Bowers Mountain as well as nearby significant wetlands and vernal pools.

Maine should be embarrassed by allowing the blasting of its mountain tops as Alabama does for coal. Once a ridge crest is leveled, the contours can never, ever be restored. The Maine expedited permitting process for land-based industrial wind turbines should be immediately suspended and re-examined before more damage is done to Maine’s scenic mountain tops, wildlife and tourist industry.

I am a winter resident in Alabama and a summer resident in Maine so I have seen the disastrous results in both states.

E.W. McLaughlin

Lakeville


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/06/16/bad-company/