PPH: Maine board sets stage for rejection of First Wind project

Posted: May 1, 2014
Updated: Today at 12:45 AM
 

Maine board sets stage for rejection of $100 million wind project

The Bowers Wind Project would have an adverse impact on Downeast’s scenic lakes and the people who use them, members say.

By Tux Turkel tturkel@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

EXCERPTS:

The board’s action on the Bowers Wind project, proposed by a subsidiary of Boston-based First Wind, sets the stage for a vote next month in which the state of Maine, for the first time, would formally reject plans for a major wind energy project.

Bowers Mountain is in a region that includes the fabled fishing mecca of Grand Lake Stream, and the chain of lakes that attract sportsmen from around the country. Guides, some camp owners and other people who value the remote, forested setting and the dark night sky bristled at the idea of turbine towers with flashing lights, visible from far off ridges. In its latest configuration, each turbine tower would stand 450 feet tall from the ground to the blade tip.

“It’s widely recognized that beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” Juliet Browne, First Wind’s lawyer, remarked at one point.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine_environmental_board_sets_stag...

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Appeals board delays likely rejection of $100M Bowers Mountain wind project

First Wind attorney Juliet Browne argues for her client at a Board of Environmental Protection appeal hearing in Augusta on Thursday.

First Wind attorney Juliet Browne argues for her client at a Board of Environmental Protection appeal hearing in Augusta on Thursday.

Posted May 01, 2014, at 4:43 p.m.
Last modified May 01, 2014, at 5:49 p.m.
EXCERPTS:
AUGUSTA, Maine — An appeals board delayed issuing a formal decision Thursday that could decide the fate of a $100 million wind-to-energy facility proposed for Bowers Mountain. However, it said a denial of the project is likely to be upheld. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Patricia Aho said it was probable that the project would be denied then. Project opponents expressed gratitude at the likelihood, while a First Wind spokesman said the company would strongly consider appealing to state’s top civil court if Aho’s prediction comes true. “It sounds like they are going to deny the project,” First Wind Project Director Neil Kiely added.

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/05/01/business/appeals-board-delays...

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State agency recommends board deny Bowers Mountain wind project

Posted April 29, 2014, at 5:47 p.m.
EXCERPT:

AUGUSTA, Maine — State environmental officials have recommended that the Board of Environmental Protection reaffirm the denial of a proposed $100 million, 16-turbine wind-to-energy site in eastern Penobscot County, officials said Tuesday.

Maine Department of Environmental Protection staff members Jessica M. Damon and Mark Bergeron advised the appeal board in a 12-page memo dated this month that the proposed 48-megawatt facility would have too negative an impact on the views of several lakes and..., the site of the proposed development.

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/04/29/energy/state-agency-recommend...

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Posted:Today
Updated: 12:13 AM
 

Down East wind project to go before Board of Environmental Protection

The board will decide whether to reverse a decision rejecting turbines for scenic reasons.

By Joe Lawlor jlawlor@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

Excerpt:

“I think it’s going to be really hard for a board to reverse a recommendation by an agency that spent the better part of a year researching this,” Campbell said. 

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Down_East_wind_project_to_go_before...

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BREAKING NEWS

The staff of Maine's Board of Environmental Protection has completed its analysis of the record in the matter of Champlain Wind LLC's and Bowers Mountain LLC's appeals of DEP's 2013 denial of a permit to build the Bowers Mountain Wind Project.

They have recommended
that the BEP affirm the denial!

To read the draft order document, please click here.

And more information at: http://www.ppdlw.org/

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Comment by Mike DiCenso on April 28, 2014 at 9:08pm

Pineo girl...what news do you have I may not be aware of? I am hopeful all hands will be on deck to save our state from the windsprawl cabal. 

Comment by Art Brigades on April 28, 2014 at 8:58pm

What ever you say.  Looking at their web site and all their activity it sure looks like their thankfully doing what needs to be done and if that costs money, then so be it.  We have the message to defeat wind, if we could only afford to get it to the people.  This Citizens site, FMM and other sites are doing great work. 

Comment by Pineo Girl on April 28, 2014 at 8:41pm

Art Brigades - Your comment about FMM is a colossal crock of DOODOO - If FMM is doing anything more it is financed by wind - I know we are all in this together but some people have been in this for a paycheck all along! 

Comment by Sherwin Start on April 28, 2014 at 3:16pm

ANything Can Be OVERTURNED as Long as the RICH POLITICIANS in Augusta Have there Say!

Here Again MONEY buys POWER and it BUYS POLITICIANS who in Turn Apply Pressure to the STATE to Do Things that ARE ILLOGICAL and Only in the Best INTEREST of the The Legislatuires that have a VESTED interest in Wind Power Reasearch and Development..UNTILL U get The GREEDY Politicians OUT of AUGUSTA-The People of the UT AND the The Entire State of MAINE, will CONTINUE to LOOSE there FREEDOM(s)..

Comment by Art Brigades on April 27, 2014 at 10:54pm
Comment by Art Brigades on April 27, 2014 at 8:55pm

Friends of Maine's Mountains (FMM) looks to be alive and well. They recently announced their schedule for educating candidates to the legislature, Governor, and Congress. They are working in Massachusetts to expand renewables to mean Big Hydro. They are also hounding First Wind at the DEP.  FMM continues to do great work.  

Comment by Mike DiCenso on April 26, 2014 at 9:54pm

I am still keeping my fingers crossed. No towers on Bowers. I hope this will stand forever. What happened to FMM? I have not heard about this yet.

Comment by Whetstone_Willy on April 26, 2014 at 6:03pm

Jimmie Talcott,

Hopefully we win this one.

Kudos on thinking of Passadumkeag and all the other wind projects.

It is my sincere hope that we never leave fallen comrades - even when a project has been built, if we can help those affected seek justice and reparations, I believe we should. I know that many of us share this same attitude.

The enemy is motivated by greed. We do this for free.

That is why I believe we will eventually prevail.

Willy

Comment by James M. Talcott on April 26, 2014 at 3:39pm
Great job Gary, Kay, Kevin, and everyone else that worked so hard and long on this, attended various public meetings and those that gave personal testimony as well as those that took the time to write. I for one want to thank all of you personally, I am grateful. Hopefully we can close the book on this and that there are no other devious means by which the "Wind Criminals" can resurrect this project again.

Unfortunately there are many other projects in the works and proposed and I would hope we could turn our attention and support to them, all equally as important as our own "Bowers." One close by which seems to currently be in a lull, perhaps awaiting the Bowers decision is the "Passadumkeag Wind Park" project. Currently it appears visual impact also is in play there though as with us, the criminals wish to down play that and have everyone believe it is a "heavily developed area" lies as usual. "Passadumkeag Mountain Friends" is the organization leading the fight and can use all the support they can muster as they have a VERY limited membership basis in this sparsely settled area and have retained an attorney to help in their battle. They have a nice Facebook page at "Friends of Passadumkeag Mountain" and their organizer is Elizabeth Johns, e-mail, elizjohns@gmail.com, I'm sure she could answer any questions you might have.

As an aside, I was unaware that "Friends of Maines Mountains" had folded up their tent, is this true or am I misunderstanding?

Thank you one and all.

Jimmie Talcott
Comment by Penny Gray on April 26, 2014 at 11:14am

Great idea, I just marked Bowers in my Maine Atlas as Campbell Mountain, and just to the west, Getchell became Gurall Mountain.  Long may they stand free and proud!

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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