Wind policy
Bangor Daily News | Posted March 21, 2013 | bangordailynews.com
This letter is in response to Jackson Parker’s March 18 BDN OpEd, “Let wind turbines stand on Passadumkeag Mountain.”
Parker stated that the “Department of Environmental Protection created significant uncertainty in the wind power industry” by not approving the Passadumkeag project.
He also suggests that because the DEP has denied one wind power application, it has “created significant uncertainty in the wind power industry.”
Any business assumes risks. If Parker and his investment capitalists aren’t happy assuming those risks, even when history gives them between an 80-90 percent chance of receiving a project permit, with the uncertainty greatly reduced by hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, maybe they should think about a different business.
Someone should remind Parker that the mission of our DEP is not to hand out permits indiscriminately. It is “to preserve, improve and prevent diminution of the natural environment of the state.” In addition, “in pursuing this mission, it is the policy of the department to treat its employees and the public with courtesy, respect and consideration and to be fair and honest in its dealings and to be mindful of the special qualities that make Maine a unique place to live and work.”
I think DEP has done a pretty good job carrying out that policy, and there are many in this state who wish Reed and Reed and its friends in the wind power industry followed a similar policy.
Greg Perkins
Holden
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/03/21/wind-policy/