May 31, 2013
Environmental Protection
Chris Swain, Maine DEP Director of Innovation and Assistance, 207-287-7831
-The meeting is the second of two DEP is hosting to inform the public and invite comment on an 18-turbine wind farm being proposed in Hancock County by First Wind-
AURORA – The Maine Department of Environmental Protection will host a public meeting on Thursday, June 6 to get feedback on its draft analysis regarding an 18-turbine wind farm proposed in Hancock County.
The meeting on First Wind’s Hancock Wind proposal will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Airline Community School at 26 Great Pond Road in Aurora. Several DEP representatives will attend, including Commissioner Patricia Aho, project manager Maria Eggett, as well as DEP’s noise and visual consultants involved with the agency’s review of the project’s Site Law and Natural Resources Protection Act permit applications.
While this is the second public meeting on the project, it’s the second time the DEP has held two public meetings on an application to the agency as part of an internal review process established by Commissioner Aho in 2011 that requires two public meetings be held on all proposed grid scale wind power projects in Maine.
Developed to ensure adequate opportunity for public comment and a transparent, inclusive review of often controversial wind power projects, the new process also requires the presence of the DEP’s Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner at that second meeting to hear the public’s comments on DEP’s draft analysis, which for the Hancock proposal is available at http://www.maine.gov/dep/land/sitelaw/selected-developments/index.html
DEP will take the comments voiced at the second public meeting into consideration as its review moves forward before a final decision is issued this summer.
First Wind is proposing to begin construction this year on the 54-megawatt wind power generation facility on Schoppe Ridge in T22 MD and an unnamed ridge in T16 MD with an operations and maintenance building in Aurora. In addition to the 512-foot tall turbines, the project includes up to five 344-foot meteorological towers.
The power generated would flow to an expanded substation at the company’s nearby 19-turbine Bull Hill Wind Project.
For more information about the proposed Hancock Wind project and DEP’s review, please contact DEP project manager Maria Eggett at hancockwindproject.dep@maine.gov or go to http://www.maine.gov/dep/ftp/WindPowerProjectFiles/HancockWind/ to view the application and related documents.
http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=Portal+News&...
Comment
Gary, do you have any of the documents and/or testimony where the First Wind attorney states this? I have filed an appeal with the Board on the Hancock Wind Project. If you could email this to me, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Darren
This article from windaction is important for Maine. If NH doesn't build transmission lines, there is no need for ME to do the "upgrades". We should all have our 19% increase in electricity bills reduced and the 19% hike returned. The goal was to have high voltage lines all the way from ME to Mass. Wind farms bit off more than they could chew. Seems the transmission lines were harder to pull off than wind farms. Guess because it affects southern ME, where they would actually be seen.
http://www.unionleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013130619699&...
Mike, thank-you for your passion and for caring. I have spoken with Maria several times and did find her very reasonable, professional and willing to listen to our concerns. I put a presentation together of why the Hancock Wind Project should be rejected and she told me that it was perfectly fine to put on the public table at the meeting for individuals to pick up and read.
I will contact Maria also directly. Thanks.
done thank you
DEP, HancockWindProject a href="mailto:HancockWindProject.DEP@maine.gov">HancockWindProject.DEP@maine.gov>
Sadly this is happening globally- Scotland- England- Australia- we all need to keep making the efforts to have them recognize their wrongs..can you provide Maria's address? It has been Jessica on all the other projects I have communicated on- thank you Darren...
Thank-you Mike for the follow up and for your passion. I would encourage all members to drop a line to either Patricia (Commissioner) or Maria (Project Lead) at the DEP to let them know your feelings on the Hancock Wind Project. This will impact 9 Scenic Resources and 1 Coastal Resource (Tunk Mountain) and we simply can't let First Wind devestate our natural resources.
Thanks.
Darren
Darren...I am sorry I could not attend but I sent comments and I will be sending more. I think there is a real problem here as the DEP has already allowed the Bull Hill project. I went to that meeting and many attended were opposed to the project and the DEP approved it anyway. I will hit on the cumulative impacts thread next. They still accept opinions from the public even if people did not attend the hearing.
Hello to Lyle !!!
"2) demand a hearing"
I thought Maine law read that a hearing was no longer necessary. A neighbor overheard in a public meeting that there would be way more turbines when Stetson I was approved than the original request. Then the speaker back tracked. Another neighbor , in talking with someone who worked for J Haynes, said they knew when Stetson I was approved that they knew Stetson II was included. Lots of money each year for J Haynes. This same person said one million a year after the first five years.
Another thing, shouldn't DEP when calling on people to speak at their hearings go by the list as people come in ..i.e. I was early and one of the first on the list at the Bowers Mt. hearing at Lee Academy, but there were lots of pro wind farm people ahead of me to speak. This is a way to stack the deck to appear like there is more support than there actually is.
Same goes for BDN in their own way. How can the public know the facts if there is so much manipulation?
U.S. Sen Angus King
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 - 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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