Comment

Comment by Martha thacker on June 8, 2013 at 6:27am

Oh

BDN loves wind farms. 

Comment by Gary Campbell on June 7, 2013 at 12:27pm

In his comment, Clyde Macdonald says "I agree with everything in the article except Mr. Campbell's statement that turbine fires are rare."

Let me point out that that particular statement attributed to me is not a quote, rather it is the reporter paraphrasing me. The point I made in the interview is that because there is no systematic gathering of data in the U.S., because there are no nationwide standards for reporting turbines fires, I'm not able to assess how often fires happen. Maybe they're frequent, maybe they're rare... we have no way of knowing. I think the paragraph following says this in the form of a quote:

“The opportunity is there for a catastrophic forest fire,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s likely. I have no way of knowing how likely a fire is to begin, but I’m fairly confident that if it started under the right conditions it would be a catastrophe.”

I stand by that quote.

Also, I can assure you I never said PPDLW's "chief concern had been with the turbines blocking scenic views".  Our concern was, of course, the scenic impact of the turbines on a network of SRSNS Lakes.

Gary

Comment by Martha thacker on June 5, 2013 at 6:39am

And I think Clyde McDonald's research shows that there are 140 gallons of oil in each turbine. Highly combustable. First Wind had an elaborate new way of storing power in Hawaii. Well, that entire storage system burned .As far as I know , the wind farm is still not in operation. Lots of tax payer money down the drain right there.

First Wind's way of doing business is shown by their $5000 donation to the Mars Hill fire dept; zero to the Stetson Mt wind farm unorganized territories for their volunteer fire dept.

At one time the turbines in the US were such a fire hazard that they were uninsurable. It would be interesting to see what kind of insurance if any First Wind has had in the past in Maine.Would the state govt. be liable for property damages in the event of a fire? People have found out after disasters that their homeowner's insurance did not cover damages. A fire at a wind farm wouldn't even be  natural occuring ..it would be a Baldaci disaster.

Comment by Brad Blake on June 4, 2013 at 10:42pm

DEP is finally putting this huge danger to Maine's forests to greater scrutiny, albeit 4 years too late. Maine's forests are just plain poor locations for wind turbines due to this threat of fire and the poor wind conditions on forested ridges.

I say 4 years too late because I brought up the question of fire danger in Lincoln during public meetings regarding the Rollins Wind project. The answers to my questions were disturbing: there is no way a fire that is more than 200 feet up in the air can be put out by the Lincoln FD. This, in a town that has a large pulp and paper mill. It was estimated that it would take a half hour to muster and get out to Rollins once a fire was reported (meanwhile, flaming debris can be setting the adjacent woods on fire). The fire fighting strategy, never challenged by First Wind officials, was to let the turbine burn out and contain the fire to the perimeter of the property. This, on ridgelines that have no water source close by, even in the region of Lincoln Lakes. If the prediction is that dire in Lincoln, with a full time fire department and a lot of equipment, then wind turbine fires in areas as remote as the Kibby Range are a horrendous prospect.

Does anyone remember October of 1947 when great swaths of Maine burned? Imagine a state with hundreds of turbines on remote ridges in tinder dry forests that have lots of fuel (slash, deadwood, etc.) to stoke a forest fire. Imagine just one malfunction that starts a turbine fire with windy conditions like October 1947 all over again. Were that to happen at Rollins, such a forest fire would burn all the way to the Canadian border.

The very real forest fire danger posed by the industrialization of hundreds of miles of Maine's forested ridges with hundreds of wind turbines, every one a potential torch, is just not worth the risk.

Comment by clyde macdonald on June 4, 2013 at 3:16pm

Good going, Whetstone-willy. It is estimated Maine's woods related industries are worth $5 billion and employ thousands in paper mills, logging, and others too numerous to mention. So, when the construction companies claim wind power creates jobs, they fail to mention that each turbine is a potential torch that can destroy thousands of acres of forests as they did in Australia with hundreds of acres elsewhere. Wind turbines place those jobs in jeopardy.

Comment by Whetstone_Willy on June 4, 2013 at 3:05pm

We are the state with the highest percentage of forest cover and that forest is vital to tourism, forest products, fishing, hunting, our lakes, etc. We should not have a fire policy towards wind turbines that derives from the states that are nothing but endless corn fields.

We also happen to have the nation's third best ratio of forest CO2 sequestration to CO2 emissions - we are an EXEMPLARY "carbon citizen". So the Federal government's one size fits all 20% wind that is advocated by NRCM, the gun for hire, should be sent packing.

As for Clyde McDonald's issues regarding insurance requirements, I say bring it on. These companies want private profits with only public risk. Give them what they need - "MacDonaldcare".

Comment by clyde macdonald on June 4, 2013 at 2:54pm

Another fine article by Whit Richardson on wind turbines and  forest fires. Thanks also to the Bangor Daily News. I agree with everything in the article except Mr. Campbell's statement that turbine fires are rare. A Danish insurance firm's 15 year report indicates that wind turbine fires represent 20 percent of all of the accident claims that it paid. Since there were few turbines in Denmark until 10 years ago, the percentage for recent years must be even greater. I may only imagine how expensive homeowners and auto insurance would be if one in every five houses and/or cars  experienced a fire.

Does First Wind and other companies buy insurance? If so. how much coverage? Does it cover collateral damage such as to forests and dwellings? Do they self insure? What does the State of Maine require? I could find no Maine laws that cover any aspect of any turbines operations (except Vinalhaven) and our Legislalture in its much ballyhooed energy bill faile to require wind developers

to report turbine and/or forest fires caused by them. We need a moratorium on turbine construction so hat the next legislature may enact laws that give the state enforcement capabilities and oversight. No wonder Norstat wants to locate its questionable turbines in Maine waters instead of the North Sea. They know Maine has no regulations and no regulatory authority on the operations of turbines.

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