| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Maine House votes no on LePage’s proposed changes to wind energy permits
Credit: By Fred Bever | Maine Public | April 3, 2018 | mainepublic.org ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
State Lawmakers are giving an initial thumbs down to Governor Paul LePage’s proposal to raise the bar for new wind energy projects in Maine.
The governor wants to limit streamlined permit reviews to wind projects only in eastern Aroostook County. And he wants to expand reviews of their visual impacts to anywhere within 70 miles of significant scenic resources.
Representative Paul Stearns, a Guilford Republican, says he sees the scenic harm wind farms can do first hand.The porch of his camp on Piper Pond in Abbot is in the shadow of the Bingham wind plantation.
Local zoning, he points out, bars him from even adding to his own porch, “because it would dramatically change the way that camp fits into its natural surroundings. Yet my neighbor across the pond, six miles out, was able to put up 45-mile high towers, that spin occasionally when the wind blows. And I get to watch blinking red lights, at night. In unison.”
But representative Heather Sanborn, a Portland Democrat, argues that windmills are far from a blight on the landscape. She says they signify sustainable economic development for Maine.
So when I see the wind turbines dotted along the ridges from the top of a ski area, to me they look like hope,” she says. “They look like hope we’ll still have a tourism industry based on snow sports in 50 years, because we won’t have so much global warming that it ceases to snow in Maine. They look like hope that we will have clean energy and clean water because we have renewable energy in our energy mix. And so o me, they look beautiful.”
The Maine House voted against the Governor’s proposal 89 to 53. The Senate has yet to act.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Contributions |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=87635 ]
