Opinion

Wind turbines revive old ‘pickerel or payrolls’ adage

By Mike Lange

    Back in the heydays of the paper industry, you couldn’t turn around in the halls of Maine Legislature without bumping into a lobbyist. As the mills churned out millions of tons of paper each year and employed thousands of workers, any implied threat to their livelihood was met with stiff resistance.

    When concerns accelerated in the 1970s about mill discharges polluting our waterways, lobbyists would say, “What matters most to you – pickerel or payrolls?”  Eventually, cooler heads prevailed and we had both – at least for a little while.
    Unfortunately, the industry employs about half the workers they did 30 years ago. But cleaning up the water had nothing to do with the downsizing of the industry. Foreign competition, the recession and the trend toward a “paperless” society were the culprits.
    So now we’re looking at wind turbines — literally — on the landscape. Supporters consider them as job creators and a way to wean ourselves off expensive foreign oil.
    Opponents visualize wind power companies tearing the top off scenic mountains and installing an ugly device that only works about 20 percent of the time.
    Lou and Nancy Sidell of Kingsbury Plantation operate Perseverance Wild Blueberry Farm on Cowett Hill. Their website says that their 110 acres of sour-top wild blueberries and 200 acres of woods have “panoramic views of the Barren Mountains, wooded hills and distant bogs.”
    Lou is first assessor of Kingsbury Plantation (population 27) and neither he nor the rest of the board have taken a position on the 62-turbine wind farm proposed for northern Somerset and western Piscataquis counties.
    But Lou knows that when First Wind Corporation is willing to pay the community $8,000 a year per unit for 22 turbines for the next 20 years, he, as an elected official, has to pay attention.
    Nancy, however, prefers solitude and notes that Kingsbury Plantation still has the blackest sky in Maine. Except for a small corner near Whetstone Pond, there are no power lines running through the community. “If the wind towers are built, the night sky in Kingsbury and Mayfield will be continuously flashing with 32 red strobe lights,” she wrote.
    She wonders how she’ll describe her farm on the website if the turbine project goes through.
    On the other hand, Leo Hill of Bingham wonders where his daughters are going to finish their education if Upper Kennebec Valley High School closes. This year’s senior class had 13 graduates. He coaches Little League, runs a guide service, is a trailmaster for the local snowmobile club and has seven rental cabins for hunters and anglers.
    Leo looks at the turbines as coaxing Bingham into the 21st century. They may not bring enough people into town to fill the classrooms or convince businesses to open in the boarded-up buildings downtown. But they’ll add at least $300,000 a year to the town’s treasury. That’s not exactly loose change.
    Gov. Paul LePage, who averages one colorful quote per week, once said that wind power was the major reason Maine’s electrical rates are sky high. So at the American Small Business Summit in April, he urged attendees to “break wind together.” Thankfully, they didn’t.
    Undoubtedly, there would not be wind farms in Maine or anywhere else if they weren’t subsidized by tax dollars. On the other hand, billions in subsidies are also spent each year to keep rural hospitals, law enforcement agencies and airports in business. Federal subsidies are a fact of life.
    There are no easy answers today on the future of wind farms. It’s a growth industry that’s not going to fade into the sunset.  It’s just a question of when and where they’re going to be built. Finding a common ground between proponents and opponents won’t be easy.
    But on the other hand, we didn’t think pickerel and payroll could exist in the same town 40 years ago, either.
    Mike Lange is a staff writer for the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.

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