Laurie Nichols Kelly: Maine’s Finest Lakes Study Includes Area Targeted with Wind Turbines

Dear Editor:

Are you aware that in the Planning Report No. 90 prepared for the Maine Critical Areas Programs titled “Maine’s Finest Lakes: The Results of the Maine Lakes Study” an area 10 miles east of Bangor that includes the areas surrounding Pisgah Mountain in Clifton is ranked third in the entire state for especially scenic lakes? Regardless of this prestigious designation, there is currently an alarming proposal. A wind turbine project by Silver Maple Wind Energy’s permit was approved on Nov. 19, 2019, to add five additional turbines 100 feet taller than the current five turbines on Pisgah Mountain. The turbines will be 567 feet to 607 feet tall and for comparison, a 45-story building is approximately 550 feet tall, the observation tower at Penobscot Narrows is 420 feet tall and the Statue of Liberty is 305 feet tall.

If a proposal for wind turbines were considered for the first designated area in the Planning Report No. 90 as “especially scenic lakes” in the Moosehead Lake area or the second designated area around the lakes on MDI, the public would be outraged. Silver Maple’s project must be assessed for its impact on scenic resources of state or national significance. The lakes and ponds surrounding Pisgah Mountain in Clifton include: Floods Pond, which supplies public water for Bangor and Hampden, Hatcase Pond, which supplies public water to Brewer, Hopkins Pond, Fitts Pond, Burnt Pond, Mountainy Pond, Holbrook Pond, Graham Lake, Green Lake and the west branch of the Union River. The exemplary scenic areas include the neighboring towns of Otis, Eddington, Mariaville, Dedham and Holden.

As year-round residents living on Davis Pond in Holden since 2009, my husband and I didn’t hesitate in settling here once we saw the beauty of Davis Pond with Chick Hill and Pisgah Mountain as our backdrop with access to Holbrook Pond via the most beautiful, natural thoroughfare we’ve ever seen. At that time there were no wind turbines on Pisgah Mountain. Then in 2016 five turbines were installed, which visibly changed the landscape for years to come. The negative impacts include loss of scenic beauty, damage to the environment, loss of dark skies, the killing of birds and bats, wind and noise pollution and for some the views of blinking red lights every five seconds. Also disconcerting is placing at jeopardy the lives of a pair of nesting bald eagles on Davis Pond. Furthermore, the reduction of property values will be exacerbated for all property owners in the affected areas should the proposed turbines be approved.

After attending the standing room only public meeting at the Clifton municipal office on Feb. 3, hosted by the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Bangor office, and hearing many other extensive research reports of additional negative impacts by others, I feel compelled to pass along how important it is to contact DEP for more information, to be placed on its email list for updates, and you may also request an online comment form from DEP. The deadline for accepting public comments is April 2020. Finally, I urge you to contact Governor Janet Mills, your state legislators and your town officials to oppose this project.

Please continue reading at:

https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/opinions/letters-to-the-editor/ju...

Views: 256

Comment

You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!

Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Comment by Penny Gray on February 16, 2020 at 4:48pm

Well, I have to say that I'm opposed to industrial wind energy wherever they cement those useless things.  They are not environmentally friendly. Not so very long ago, people went to meetings (I attended one such meeting in Rangely) and stood up and spoke to protect Maine's mountains and higher elevations from development and degradation.  My, how times have changed, and not for the better.  Plant trees, not turbines.

Comment by Stephen Littlefield on February 16, 2020 at 1:16pm

The ever increasing destruction of the most scenic areas of the state, brought to you from the party of corruption! As Mills, Gideon, Jackson and the rest of the party ignores the tourist business in the the state and support the out of state and foreign interests that do nothing to help the long term economic interests of Maine!

Comment by Eskutassis on February 16, 2020 at 11:47am

My comment to Laurie:

To Laurie Nichols Kelly;
You don't seem to understand the system here now in Maine since the state has been totally taken over by the Democrats and we have a Governor that is more interested in "Green Energy" that is not GREEN at all. We here in Maine have all the energy we need and most of the "renewable" energy is going to MASS and south. In spite of what they say, it is far MORE expensive and LESS dependable than natural gas energy and has to be backed up by gas or hydro 24/7/365. So many lakes have been decimated by installations of turbines and the construction that entails the installation. But Augusta does NOT CARE! You are fighting a losing battle unless we can get new leadership in both our State and Federal representatives. Once Red Maine has been turned almost completely Blue, and that makes me Blue. Don't forget, Angus King was responsible for the first foray of wind in Maine, and it made him a very rich man. This is NOT Science, rather it is totally politics and money. Federal and State subsidies used to prop up these behemoths are the only thing that keep them destroying our beautiful State.

 

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/

Not yet a member?

Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi 

Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!

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/

© 2024   Created by Webmaster.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service