August 3, 2012
Letters, Maine

Without resident input

The Bethel Citizen | www.bethelcitizen.com 2 August 2012

I have been asked to write a letter by a couple of folks on the Woodstock Ordinance Wind Mill Committee because I have had personal experience with some of the folks that have been affected adversely by noise from the towers.

First, I want to make my position clear. I believe that wind power is one of the few viable energy options open to us as a people, and thus I am a strong supporter of these projects.

However, with that much said, I believe that it is unethical to erect these towers in places where people have homes or cottages because the sound from the towers seems to bother the people living closest to them.

I have been a volunteer for the Community Lakes Association Milfoil project for the last couple of years and have pulled milfoil out of the coves at both Lake Christopher and Shagg ponds.

This spring while kayaking on Shagg Pond with another member of the Community Lake’s milfoil project I was deeply distressed to witness one woman’s grief and outrage, and to learn that she and her husband as well as other summer residents had not even been notified that the project was being voted on in Woodstock last winter.

I also learned that day that others on Shagg Pond had been negatively impacted by noise from the towers.

From what I gathered from the Wind Ordinance meeting I attended last week this project went through without input from the residents who have homes or cottages on either Shagg or Concord pond unless their land abutted that belonging to the project.

I think it was the town’s responsibility to make certain that all of its residents were contacted. The argument that this town meeting was posted in the Bethel Citizen seems weak because some people don’t read the local paper.

Clearly, this oversight has had heartbreaking consequences for some Woodstock residents, and in the future we can only hope that the necessary ordinances will be in effect to protect all the people, not just some.

Sara Wright

Bryant Pond


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/08/03/without-resident-input/