SUPERIOR COURT JUSTICE TO DECIDE PISGAH WIND FARM APPEAL

Posted Feb. 12, 2013, at 8:31 p.m. Last modified Feb. 12, 2013, at 10:11 p.m.

Peter Beckford, left, and his wife talk during their appellate hearing against Pisgah Mountain LLC at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013
Carter F. McCall | BDN
Peter Beckford, left, and his wife talk during their appellate hearing against Pisgah Mountain LLC at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 Buy Photo

BANGOR, Maine — The owners of Rebel Hill Farm filed an appeal in Penobscot County Superior Court in March 2012 to..., and on Tuesday the lawyers gave oral arguments in the case.

After hearing from the attorneys for the farm owners, the town and the developer, Justice Andrew M. Horton determined there was some controversy about where sound receptors were located and told the two parties to submit a brief describing their locations by next Wednesday.

“It’s obviously an issue of importance to all of those concerned,” the Business and Consumer Court judge said at the end of the oral arguments.

The Clifton planning board unanimously approved the $25 million wind farm in October 2011 — after a nearly three-year process. To fight the project, farmers Peter and Julie Beckford asked the town’s board of appeals to review the planning board’s approval, citing 11 items they contended the planners did not fully consider. The appeals board denied their appeal on Jan. 25, 2012, and the Beckfords filed their Superior Court appeal on March 15, 2012.

Since then, hundreds of pages of supporting documents have been filed by both the Beckfords and Pisgah Mountain LLC, which is made up of Bangor residents Paul and Sandy Fuller, his brother-in-law Mike Smith, and Clifton residents John and Eileen Williams.

Eric Mehnert, with Katherine Hutchinson as co-counsel, spoke for the Beckfords; Bill Devoe, with Jon Pottle as co-counsel, represented Pisgah Mountain LLC; and David Szewczyk was on hand for the town.

Mehnert argued pre-construction sound figures were not submitted, that the planning board reached beyond its scope when granting waivers, that two cabins put up on the Beckford’s land are within the 4,000-foot wind tower setbacks, that the developer never submitted isocontour maps, along with other complaints.

Szewczyk handled the setbacks portion of the arguments and told the judge that the cabins put up by the Beckfords went up after the project’s permit application was already in the works.

“Once an application is pending, a change shall not affect it,” he said.

Devoe countered the other arguments, which mostly dealt with sound levels. He said since the town, the Beckfords and the developer all hired their own sound consultants, many of the Beckfords’ arguments about rules regarding the sound calculations are void. The other items of contention were answered in pages and pages of submitted documents, he said.

Several Clifton planning board members and about 20 residents from town attended the appellate court hearing. The wind towers are expected to generate approximately $295,000 annually in property taxes and another $5,000 per megawatt through a community benefit offered by the partners that adds another $45,000 annually to town coffers.

“The judge had a lot to figure out,” Paul Fuller said after court adjourned.

The appeal has basically stopped all work on the mountain, he said.

Please read the  entire  article : 

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/02/12/news/bangor/superior-court-ju...

monique

 

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Comment by Penny Melko on February 14, 2013 at 5:38pm

Hello my east coast friends. Reading this disgusts me. Money vs the ability of individuals to fully enjoy their property; money vs the environment and turning ecosystems into wastelands is insane.  I came across a story written by Dr. Reese Halter which I'd like to share because the end result of peppering the entire United States with unprotected spinning propeller blades and ruining the lives of so many of us is no different than that described in this story. Our government legislators and decision makers, and vendors have over stepped their authority. They have lost their souls and should be tried for acts of treason against nature and the sovereign people for their aggregious acts.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-reese-halter/rapacious-war-against...

Comment by Allen Barrette on February 14, 2013 at 9:17am

There is always room for change and affect.This burden falls on the justice dept. Washington has no money to lend. The credit card that was entrusted to them long ago has expired. As I mentioned last year the time of ridiculous spending is coming to an end. With the fiscal extension finalizing in the capital at the months end so does the borrowing of subsidized taxpayer funds or should I say stealing under false assumptions which in my book is deceiving the public,and fraud. Even if Congress does not have to step in it will be suicide to keep all the subsidies going. The president is desperate in trying to do the right thing but is and will be dumbfounded on a different level when we find out well maybe we made a mistake giving out all those gifts to the corrupt cronies when we should of invested in something that would work for all like The National Monorail system,or hydro electric,and now even natural gas which is now being purged at a high rate.-----------got vision-----------

Comment by alice mckay barnett on February 14, 2013 at 8:02am

“Once an application is pending, a change shall not affect it,” he said.

Comment by Brad Blake on February 13, 2013 at 10:40pm

First of all, the reporter, Ms. Ricker, must STOP using the euphemism wind "farm".  The Beckfords have a farm.  Tell the public what this is---an industrial site that will be installed on a blasted and leveled mountain, ruining the scenic character of the Clifton area.

Secondly, the developers say they still are taking readings.  How about full disclosure of those readings?  They will never do that because, as with every other industrial wind site like Rollins and Stetson, the wind potential is poor to marginal just like NREL predicts.  These industrial wind sites produce less than 25% of their design capacity.  With the tremendous capital costs per megawatt, wind power is the most expensive form of electricity generation and a fickle trickle at that!  

Thirdly, the developers are only in it to reap tax subsidies.  What they are giving to the towns is chump change compared to what they stand to gain.  But what happens when the subsidies go away, which they nearly did last session of Congress until Obama slipped it into the "fiscal cliff" deal at literally the last second of the year.  The developers, an LLC, simply walk away, leaving rusting hulks behind.  Meanwhile, the Beckfords lives are ruined.  Kudos to them for standing up for their property rights and their rights to live in peace and quiet!

Comment by Mike DiCenso on February 13, 2013 at 8:42pm

Wouldn't the Fullers scream bloody murder if the Beckfords started a pig farm abutting them, but it is OK with them for the Beckfords to live with the noise and vibes from the turbine while the Fullers live far away. I remember when Mainers were more considerate.

Comment by Allen Barrette on February 13, 2013 at 7:41pm

Hopefully the justice will find the wind company doing their corrupt business like usual. Now that they had their wings clipped all of a sudden they can't stand lossing to these good honest folks. It really doesn't matter wheather their surveys were performed by the companies in house legals or not the fact of the matter is turbines produce high levels of db when the wind blows,they are bird killers and they waist power when the wind don't blow. These turbines should be built away from people away from birds and fowl, and away from the tourists eyes. Go build them in the plains somewhere. -----------------------------------GO AWAY!-------------------------------------- ---your killing the state of Maine.  

 

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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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