Some Aroostook residents want more benefits from massive wind project

More benefits? That implies there already are benefits when any honest person who has observed wind power in Maine knows that there are none. Just one disaster after another. I guess if we consider the banks hosting offshore accounts and the corrupt politicians who store their bribery proceeds in those accounts....well they benefit, although hopefully they one day pay the price for their crimes.

What "benefit" could possibly compensate for the destruction of Aroostook County that will follow this project if it goes through? If transmission goes in, rest assured many, many more wind projects will be going in, with no regard for one of the most beautiful rural areas in America and those who love it. These wind "farms" do not run on wind but rather subsidies, stupidity and bribery.

March 1, 2023

by Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli

HOULTON, Maine — Local residents think they should be getting more out of the proposed $2 billion King Pine Wind project planned for 175,000 acres of forestland in Aroostook County.

The 170 wind turbines snaking along a large swath of mountain tops from Monticello to Oxbow to Knowles Corner and New Smyrna will generate 1,000 megawatts of power and link the region to the New England electric grid via new transmission lines starting in Haynesville.

The project got a boost when Massachusetts signed on in January to pick up 40 percent of the total cost.

Area towns stand to benefit economically during construction, a consultant for Longroad Energy, the project’s Boston-based developer, told Houlton town councilors and area residents during an informational presentation about the project Monday night. There will be some local jobs and the project will use area subcontractors, said Al Cowperthwaite, the consultant. Additionally, Maine law requires Longwood Energy to pay towns located near the wind turbines $4,000 per turbine, per year, for 20 years, he said.

Still, if what would be Northeast’s largest wind farm is built in Aroostook County, some residents at the meeting said there should be more rewards for locals.

Hammond Plantation sculptor Glenn Hines said it was not enough because the people in northern Maine are sacrificing a certain quality of life that they enjoy so the consumers of the power don’t lose theirs.

“That troubles me. I have no problem with wind power as a concept, but if we’re going to be making a sacrifice for southern New England, I don’t feel like we’re being fairly compensated,” Hines said during Monday’s Houlton Town Council meeting. “In fact we’re sacrificing our future, our children’s future and our grandchildren’s future.”

Last fall, the Maine Public Utilities Commission selected Longroad’s bid to develop and construct the wind project northwest of Houlton and New York-based LS Power’s $2.78 billion, 345 kilovolt transmission line bid for the project.

Longroad Energy will run transmission lines from Pittsfield to Haynesville to connect into New York-based LS Energy’s 345 kilovolt transmission lines.

In December, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources agreed to pay for 40 percent of the project’s cost to receive 40 percent of the power generated by King Pine Wind.

“Massachusetts does not have the large expanse of land to do it,” Cowperthwaite said last week. “It’s the same with southern Maine. There are no large tracts of this size where they can put this many turbines without negative impact.”

Bridgewater organic seed potato grower Jim Gerritsen said on Monday night, following the council meeting, he’d like to see a map that shows where the wind turbines will be located and where the transmission lines will run.

“Then it should be explained what benefits people in the Unorganized Territory and Aroostook County will receive in exchange for project burdens such as degraded landscapes, the impact on quality of life and an expectation that local ratepayers should help pay for those transmission lines,” Gerritsen said.

The wind project is on commercial forest land mostly owned by Irving, according to Cowperthwaite. There are no homes in the tract, although there are 48 cabins, so there are no environmental features that are negatively impacted by seeing the turbines, he said.

Longroad Energy, under the name First Wind, constructed The County’s wind projects in Mars Hill, 25 wind turbines, and Oakfield, 48 wind turbines. King Pine Wind is four times larger than the project in Oakfield, which receives $600,000 annually for the project, Cowperthwaite said.

During the meeting, Houlton Town Councilor Eileen McLaughlin asked about previous impact studies, referring to dwindling bird and bat populations.

While Aroostook County may be the ideal location for the company building the project, McLaughlin said, “is it ideal for the people who live in a natural area? When people come to northern Maine do they really want to have that encroaching on their wilderness?” she asked. “Probably not.”

In 2011, a similar project, called the Number Nine Project, went from near Mars Hill up to Knowles Corner and through the Maine woods never got off the ground because the state did not want to pay for the transmission lines.

The funding from Massachusetts makes a big difference for the new King Pine Wind project, Cowperthwaite said.

Please continue here for the full article.

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/02/28/news/aroostook/aroostook...

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Comment by Donna Amrita Davidge on March 5, 2023 at 4:22pm
Oh this just breaks my heart .. going to desperate communities that have the most pristine nature that less and less people value- shortsightedly tragic.
Comment by Art Brigades on March 3, 2023 at 1:43pm

Remember all those folks who opposed the NECEC?  Well, in last year's NECEC referendum they passed a law that says big transmission lines must now be approved by the Legislature. Here is the bill currently awaiting public hearing in Augusta:  

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?ld=924&a...

Comment by Penny Gray on March 3, 2023 at 8:51am

Where are all the environmentalists that protested the NECEC?  Oh wait.  Aroostook County is out of sight, out of mind.  Doesn't matter what happens up there, and any amount of industrialization of the woods and waters in northern Maine will have no environmental impact because it won't be in their backyard.  The corruption, ignorance and hypocrisy is mind boggling when it comes to these wind projects.

 

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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