"There have been no complaints about the existing wind farm, other than those few people that just plain hate wind towers and don’t want to look at them".

By Eesha Pendharkar, BDN Staff • December 6, 2019 1:00 am
Updated: December 6, 2019 7:16 am

Years ago, when the Clifton Planning Board was considering an application that would allow Pisgah Mountain LLC to build five wind turbines, Chair Bruce Jellison decided to do his own research. He and other Clifton town officials traveled to a few wind farms across the state to find out how the installation had affected neighboring residential areas.

His trip to see turbines in Mars Hill in Aroostook County made him realize that he didn’t want Clifton to merely stick to state regulations on wind farms, especially when it came to standards governing the noise the turbines could make and how they would affect residents’ views.

“We went on site to look ourselves. We didn’t just take people’s word for it,” Jellison said. “When I went to Mars Hill, that is when I decided the state standards weren’t strict enough.”

Now, the town is considering an expansion of the wind farm that would more than triple its energy capacity, adding five larger wind turbines alongside the existing five. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the town of Clifton are simultaneously evaluating the expansion proposal. But because of the rules the town adopted, the wind developers have more stringent standards to meet with the Clifton Planning Board than they do with the state.

The Silver Maple Wind Project’s five turbines would add 20 megawatts of energy-generating capacity, adjoining the existing 9-megawatt Pisgah Mountain Wind Project. The expansion would be owned by Halifax, Nova Scotia-based firm SWEB, which came in as a minority partner in the original wind farm.

The application that SWEB submitted to Clifton and the DEP includes an outside evaluation of the new turbines’ visual and sound impact on the surrounding area. It also includes an evaluation of the amount of shadow flicker — an alternating light effect caused by the turbines’ rotating blades — that the turbines will create.

The shadow flicker assessment is an example of Clifton’s higher thresholds for turbine construction. The town’s rules allow only 10 hours of flicker exposure per year for nearby residential buildings, as opposed to the 30 hours per year allowed in the state’s Wind Energy Act.

If the turbine exceeds that threshold, it has to temporarily shut down, Jellison said.

“Because we’re a rural area, we felt that additional protection for the residents was warranted,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Planning Board requested additional information on the sound impact from the developers because members felt the information was inadequate, Jellison said.

The Planning Board will consider the new information at its meeting Jan. 8 and decide on next steps, including scheduling a public hearing, Jellison said.

Please continue reading at:

https://bangordailynews.com/2019/12/06/news/bangor/as-wind-farm-loo...

Opponents of CMP transmission line press for full environmental review

At a packed public hearing, critics of the $1 billion project to bring Canadian hydropower to the New England grid urge the Army Corps of Engineers to do a full environmental impact statement.

LEWISTON — Opponents of Central Maine Power’s proposed $1 billion transmission project that would bring Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid urged the Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday to perform a full environmental impact statement, one that CMP says would delay a final decision by a year.

Critics packed a public hearing on the 145-mile power transmission project, which would serve as a conduit for 1,200 megawatts of electricity from Hydro Quebec. They questioned the environmental benefits, decried the cutting of trees and argued that the project would hurt homegrown renewable projects.

“It’s bad for Maine’s North Woods. It’s bad for Maine’s renewable energy. And it’s not going to help us at all with our climate crisis,” said Sue Ely, attorney for The Natural Resources Council of Maine, which is opposed to the project.

The environmental organization contends CMP’s New England Clean Energy Connect deserves the same level of scrutiny that similar projects received in New Hampshire and Vermont, where the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers conducted full environmental impact statements.

Please continue reading at: https://www.pressherald.com/2019/12/05/opponents-of-cmp-transmissio...

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