Lost to wind sprawl
Bangor Daily News, bangordailynews.com 14 October 2011
The failure of LURC to protect the Donnell Pond area from wind sprawl is another reason to tighten up their guidelines before any more areas are lost to industrial-scale wind turbines.
The area was protected from development by the Land for Maine’s Future program. The turbines are too close to the protected areas and counters the original idea to save the area from development. The towers are intrusive and impossible to ignore.
The claim by the developer that the area is an “industrial forest” is incorrect. Some areas are a “working forest,” which implies the forest is allowed to regenerate after it is cut. The “industrial” tag applies to the turbine size. Trying to make the project acceptable by claiming the whole area is industrial is not convincing anyone.
The turbine sites and transmission lines are sprayed to prevent tree regrowth, counterproductive to the practice of forest regeneration. Deforestation is a recognized contributor to climate change worldwide.
This project should have been denied. When any industry is allowed to write their own laws the environment is bound to suffer.
Mike DiCenso
Lincoln
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/10/14/lost-to-wind-sprawl/