Data basing Environmental impact of wind farm 'footprint'...site, access roads, transmission line ROW
As some of you know, I've raised the issue before the PUC and DEP of considering the environmental impact on CO2 and air pollution reduction from clear cutting forests and other bio-mass from these sites using iTREE software.
The iTREE program was specifically designed by the US Forest Service and several other organizations like the DAVEY FOUNDATION to 'measure' the tree and other bio-mass cover, on a tree-by-tree basis and then it's impact on converting CO2 into sequestered carbon and oxygen.
This is the 'official' DEP reponse:
"Frank,
The Department does not require applicants for wind power projects to calculate CO2 reductions or increases. The Wind Energy Act makes a broad statement that wind power projects are an important component of the energy mix in Maine and are beneficial for reducing greenhouse gases. We have no standards in the Site Location of Development Act that require applicants to demonstrate impacts on greenhouse gas emissions. So to answer your question, no the Department does not use iTree to calculate CO2 uptake.
James R. Beyer
Regional Licensing and Compliance Manager
Division of Land Resources Regulation
Eastern Maine Regional Office
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
(207) 446-9026"
Yet if you switch to hydro permits, every possible impact within the watershed is measured to the microscopic level. One set of permissive stds. for wind; another of prohibitive ones for water.
Totally not fair, and probably illegal under Maine's WIND ENERGY ACT which states:
“and that the State should seek to host a substantial amount of wind energy as part of a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the goals established in the state climate action plan developed pursuant to Title 38, section 577.”--cutting down just one tree INCREASES green house gases, instead of reducing them;
and probably Federal law which states:
“of wind energy production in the State in a manner that is consistent with all state and federal environmental standards” i.e. compliance with KYOTO endorsements on afforestation and reforestation.
The National ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION is making a national issue of the impact of forestation on reducing CO2 emissions and other air pollutants, and has documented this impact in a quantifiable way.
For example, I can look at the surrounding forest cover at Mars Hill, measure the amount of land cleared for the wind farm and come up with the NEGATIVE impact of he wind farm on air quality and CO2 reduction.
I need help.
Send me your best aerial photos of wind farm sites so they can be geomapped. Include the full access road and ROW's for transmission lines if they didn't exist before. And where possible, a description of the specific species of tree, and their age that were removed.
If you want more information on the software GOOGLE iTREE and download a copy. There are sample reports for urban forests which make stunning testimony at permit hearings and challenges to existing permits.
Views: 131
Comment
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Comment by Frank J. Heller, MPA on April 16, 2012 at 10:05am
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Attorney general will best respond to the iFORE analysis...Scientific studies speak louder than emotional pleas.
Send me the aerials and descriptions of wind sites for analysis.
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Comment by alice mckay barnett on April 16, 2012 at 9:36am
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what does the Attorney General think?
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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