Proposed Somerset-Piscataquis wind turbine project draws mixed reaction

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    MOSCOW — For proponents, Blue Sky West’s plans to develop a 62-turbine wind farm in Bingham, Mayfield Township and Kingsbury Plantation will bring much-needed jobs to a depressed rural area.
    Opponents, however, claim that the turbines are not economically feasible and will permanently scar the landscape of some of Maine’s most scenic areas.

    More than 100 people packed the Moscow Elementary School gymnasium Monday night for a public meeting on the project conducted by the Department of Environmental Protection.
    Officials explained that the session was not a public hearing on the project itself, but all comments would become part of the application process.
    Eleven turbines are proposed for Bingham, 29 for Mayfield Township and 22 for Kingsbury Plantation. In addition, there will be a 17-mile transmission line running from Kingsbury Plantation to a Central Maine Power substation in Parkman.
    Jonathan Carter of Lexington Township blasted the project, quoting part of the application that stated the purpose was to produce “commercially viable, low-impact energy. These things wouldn’t exist without federal dollars and our tax dollars supporting them.”
    Carter also said that many of the turbines would be placed in an area “officially designated as a habitat for Atlantic salmon,” and construction of anything that would potentially harm the fish “would violate the Endangered Species Act.”
    But Leo Hill of Bingham, a master Maine guide and a member of the SAD 13 Board of Directors, disagreed. “I don’t think there is any Atlantic salmon within 100 miles of Bingham,” Hill said. “I’ve been renting my cabins for 15 years, and not one person has ever asked me if there were any wind towers in the area — not once.”
    Hill said that every year there are threats to close the schools in his hometown “and I want my daughters to be able to stay in the area.”
    Kingsbury Plantation First Assessor Lou Sidell said that he was not speaking for or against the project, but acknowledged that his community “stands to be a significant beneficiary of this project.”
    First Wind first met with the Board of Assessors and said that host communities could receive up to $4,000 in revenue per tower for 20 years, Sidell said. But after a meeting with the 27 permanent residents of the plantation and some of the 200 landowners, Sidell said they wanted $8,000 per tower. “To my surprise, First Wind agreed,” he said.
    Sidell also said that a resident survey showed that a proposed east-west highway “had no support whatsoever. But the wind farm was everywhere on a scale from one to 10.”
    Mike Bond of Winthrop, an energy consultant who said he has hunted and fished in the Bingham area for decades, said that the wind farm “will ruin the area. It will also divide your community. The two sides will hate each other forever.” He cited statistics that contrasted with First Wind’s claim that the towers will generate 186 megawatts of electricity. “Most of them run at only 20 percent capacity. Also, there is a 30 percent curtailment factor … Maine simply doesn’t need the power,” Bond said.
    Bond also said that while birds can live with climate change, “They can’t live with turbines.”
    But Steve Perry of Lincoln, who lives within sight of wind turbines, said that he has no problem with them, and said that they’ll help curb fossil fuel consumption. “Who in this room can tell me what the price of fuel will be 20 years from now?” Perry asked. “There is nothing that will happen on these mountains (during construction) that hasn’t happened already. It’s all about jobs. We need them.”
    Another public meeting will be scheduled later this summer before the application moves forward, according to the DEP.