DEP Rules Rumford Whitecap is NOT a Scenic Resource of State or National Significance!

Every Wind Warrior must be OUTRAGED by the action of DEP staff to kowtow to RoxWind attorney Juliet Browne's interpretation that Rumford Whitecap, a Mahoosuc Land Trust Preserve is NOT a Scenic Resource of State or National Significance, in spite of the fact that taxpayer money, including $235,000. from the Land for Maine's Future Fund (from bond issues), was used to secure the summit of this jewel of the Mahoosucs for public enjoyment.
VERY IMPORTANT MEETING IN ROXBURY ON MONDAY, JANUARY 7. PLEASE ATTEND AND SPEAK OUT!
A public comment session regarding the RoxWind proposal and its impact on Rumford Whitecap will be held Monday, January 7, 2019 starting at 6 PM at the Roxbury Town Hall. 

Rumford Whitecap is a jewel of western Maine that took Mahoosuc Land Trust many years and millions of dollars to buy land on the summit, secure conservation easements and secure public access. It is the lowest elevation in Maine to find alpine flora, its ledges show striations left by the retreating glacier of the last ice age, and it has 360 degree view to Mt. Washington to the south and the High Peaks area around Sugarloaf to the north. The views of the Mahoosuc Range and the Androscoggin River Valley are astounding. 
Yet, the DEP staff have DENIED reviewing visual impact of the RoxWind turbines by ruling the Rumford Whitecap Preserve is NOT a "Scenic Resource of State or National Significance"! (SRSNS) Everyone should be outraged by this determination, published just a few days ago on January 2, 2019. Furthermore, the ruling is NOT transparent because it has not been posted for the public on the DEP website. It would appear that DEP is determined to ram through another wind project that will have taller turbines than Record Hill and will be on North Twin Mt., just 2 miles from Rumford Whitecap (much closer than Record Hill and in the sight line to Tumbledown Mt.) 
Please come to Roxbury and speak out to protect further damage to the views from Rumford Whitecap! We need to express OUTRAGE that Rumford Whitecap is not being considered a SRSNS and thus further impacted by more wind turbines! All the information you need regarding the meeting, how to submit comments if you can't attend, and links to information about the project are here, provided by Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power.
The RoxWind turbines will be on North Twin Mt., seen here as the prominent ridge between Record Hill Wind and Black Mt to the right.

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Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on January 6, 2019 at 5:48pm
Comment by Monique Aniel Thurston on January 5, 2019 at 9:28pm

Janet Mills evidently told the DEP to approve wind power.

Here is a sentence from LD 2283 written in 2008 : "Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning
of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the
preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as

Follows:http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_123rd/billpdfs/SP...

TEN years have gone by and there never was an " emergency " for the public health, peace and safety of the people of Maine.

THIS LAW IS A FRAUD !!!

Comment by Brad Blake on January 5, 2019 at 9:05pm

The new Governor of Maine, the former Attorney General, talks about transparency in government.  Sadly, she is also in favor of wind turbines as a senseless and feckless way to combat climate change.  It is more than coincidence that less than one week before the public hearing, the day before her inauguration, the DEP made this callous ruling.  Furthermore, NOBODY except the few people who are signed up to receive emails, knows about this substantive change, as the decision, known as the 6th Procedural Order, has NOT been posted to the website.  Furthermore, the order prevents the intervenor, Friends of Maine's Mountains, from arguing the cumulative impact of wind turbines.  By their ruling, scenic impact has been stricken from the Public Hearing agenda. 
It is very clear to me that this incident is the opening salvo enabling the wind industry unfettered, if not abetted, proliferation of industrial wind power throughout Maine.  Every angry wind warrior needs to attend Monday night in Roxbury and vigorously condemn this DEP decision and excoriate them for not protecting the natural and scenic resources of this state from this scourge of destruction!

Comment by Monique Aniel Thurston on January 5, 2019 at 6:48pm

The abuse and destruction of Maine's beauty for a energetic farce is despicable. Ten years ago on February 18th a group of citizens testified in front of the DEP at the public hearing on the Record Hill project. The DEP members looked annoyed, uninterested. Little did we know how  deep the fix was in to move forward with wind power and destroy rural Maine. Maine . like Vermont has elected democratic majorities , the green lobbies are back in power . It all happened in the voting booth, because facts do not matter . 

Comment by Long Islander on January 5, 2019 at 6:46pm

I can't think of all that many peaks with bald summits that are as low in elevation as Rumford Whitecap. The rarity of enjoying a bald summit at such a low elevation should be given particular importance in the nation's oldest state. It's not as easy for an elderly person to hike to the top of Katahdin as it is for a 20 year old. Rumford Whitecap is a bald summit attainable for many older hikers. Should this real world concern not be factored in to the official classification?

Comment by Long Islander on January 5, 2019 at 6:34pm

From the Appalachian Mountain Club:

Twenty-four hours after my last summit sunrise, I get a second helping of awe when golden light unfurls over the hills of western Maine. Following an on-time departure from the trailhead and a couple of hours’ ascent though forested darkness, I arrive at the bald peak of Rumford Whitecap Mountain.

The white granite glows in the early light, contrasting starkly with dark islands of shrubs, lichens, and small trees. From Rumford Whitecap, I can see the rocky tops of Tumbledown Mountain (3,054 feet), Little Jackson Mountain (3,470 feet), and Sunday River Whitecap (3,335 feet). Farther afield lie Baldpate Mountain (3,790 feet), North and South Baldface (3,606 and 3,557 feet), Speckled Mountain (2,183 feet), and Bald Mountain (2,370 feet). The border of New Hampshire and Maine is open-summit country, a rock-walker’s promised land of solid trails and big views.

It’s also the Northeast’s greatest density of open peaks below 4,000 feet. Granite bedrock and a history of postlogging fires, not to mention proximity to the North Atlantic and its accompanying rough weather, have created a landscape dotted with barren rounds. Rumford Whitecap ranks among the best, with a mile of open ridge at an elevation of only 2,210 feet.

https://www.outdoors.org/articles/amc-outdoors/short-bald-and-beaut...

 

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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