Kingsbury resident not impressed with AT-First Wind deal

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    KINGSBURY — An agreement was announced last week between Blue Sky West, the company developing several wind turbine projects in Maine and a coalition of non-profit organizations representing the Appalachian Trail.
    Blue Sky, a subsidiary of First Wind, agreed to create a dedicated $700,000 land conservation fund to alleviate concerns about the impact of the Bingham Wind Project, a 62-turbine wind energy facility that stretches from Bingham to Parkman via Route 16. If approved, it would the company’s fifth Maine turbine project.

    In addition to the conservation land fund, First Wind has agreed to install radar-activated lights on its Bingham wind turbines once the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approves this technology, according to a statement from Matt Kearns, vice president of business development for First Wind.
    Radar-activated lighting allows the required FAA lighting to remain off except when aircraft are in the area of the project, thereby reducing potential visual impacts of nighttime lighting in rural areas.
    But Nancy Sidell, who owns the 310-acre Perseverance Wild Blueberry Farm in Kingsbury, says she’s not impressed.
    Sidell testified at last summer’s public meeting on the Bingham Wind Project, noting that Kingsbury is a unique area of the state with no visible power lines except for a small northeast corner of the plantation.
    Sidell’s husband, Lou, is the plantation’s first assessor.
    While Nancy Sidell said that the funds for land conservation are welcome, the radar-activated lights have already been discussed. “First Wind had already agreed to incorporate radar-assisted lighting on the turbines, if and when that lighting technology is approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and is made commercially available,” Sidell said. “This technology could either be implemented during project construction or the project could be retrofitted to incorporate it.”
    Sidell added that, in her view, “The Appalachian Trail groups were shortsighted by not suggesting that a permit should not be issued unless the permit states unequivocally that no construction can begin until such time as technology that will permit FAA wind farm lighting to remain normally off is approved, and until First Wind has contracted to install the technology.”
    Sidell said she was also concerned about details in the project summary which described an electrical transmission line that will run above ground for a four-mile stretch along Route 16 until it reaches the collector substation in Mayfield Township. “Then a 115 kV transmission line would extend above ground 17 miles through Kingsbury Plantation and Abbot before connecting to an existing substation owned by Central Maine Power Company in Parkman,” Sidell said. “I am afraid that allowing this wind power project may be the impetus for further undesirable development inconsistent with the rural character of Kingsbury.”
    But Kearns said that the agreement “reflects the importance that there be clean sources of renewable energy in Maine, balanced with protecting important view sheds. The clean energy from this project will (provide) power (to) the equivalent of about 90,000 homes a year. We are proud to work with good partners to be good stewards of Maine’s environment and its energy future.”