Woodstock board signs letter of support for wind ordinance petition

Woodstock board signs letter of support for wind ordinance petition

Oxford Hills | Thursday, June 23, 2016 at 2:51 pm

WOODSTOCK — The Board of Selectmen voted Tuesday evening to sign a letter of support asking the Maine Land Use Planning Commission in Bangor to remove Milton Township from the state's expedited permitting area for wind energy development.

The letter stated the town made the request "for several reasons, foremost of which is our obligation to the citizens of Woodstock who, because of our contiguous border with Milton Township, will be in jeopardy of negative impacts to their property values, scenic views, and quality of life."

Last year, EverPower Wind Holdings Inc. of Pittsburgh received approval by the commission to erect a 197-foot meteorological test tower in Milton Township that would allow the company to collect wind data from the site for potential wind energy development.

According to the commission's website, 17 Milton Township residents signed and submitted a petition to the commission on Jan. 8 asking for their town to be removed from the expedited commercial wind project application process.

A public hearing to discuss the issue is scheduled for Aug. 10, with a location yet to be determined.

In the letter that the selectmen signed, they wrote that they had "only recently learned of a potential 12 turbine wind farm" proposed for Milton Township "that may have very serious consequences, not only for Woodstock and Milton Township residents, but also for our neighboring communities of Bethel, Rumford and Greenwood."

"We strongly feel that any wind farm developer should be obligated to inform and work closely with the communities to be impacted," the board wrote. "This had not occurred."

The letter also stated that the towns needed time to review the issue, "which the expedited permitting process limits and which also limits the standards of review when evaluating visual impacts as well as negative impacts to the natural environment."

In 2011, Patriot Renewables LLC constructed 10 wind turbines in Woodstock on Spruce Mountain. Shortly after, a group of residents began drafting a wind energy facility ordinance to strengthen regulations. Residents approved the ordinance in 2013 by a four-vote margin.

The letter sent to the commission stated concerns that the Milton Township wind project may interfere with the regulations within the Woodstock wind ordinance.

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Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on June 26, 2016 at 11:43am

Yes it is also an issue for neighboring communities, as to their quality of life as scenery does play an important part as to the desirability of location, whether to settle or to vacation. Seeing the Turbines on the Horizon of the Bingham Project in Guilford has drawn some comments. Turbines that were once thought to have no visual impact by the citizens of Guilford due to their distance. Little did they realize what 500 feet would be on the horizon. If they had, they may have stood up and spoke out against the project.

It is important to get neighboring communities to stand in the mix of those who object. Even distant communities that may have even but a glimps of these monstrous devices that have already contributed to the CO² issue they seek to resolve. CO² for maintaining, replacement or removal plus the CO² that is left in the atmosphere due to the deforestation. Solar is next in line with a lesser efficiency. 

Comment by Gary Campbell on June 26, 2016 at 11:28am

Good for Woodstock!  I hope they impress on LUPC and DEP that they are opposing turbines in Milton based on their own firsthand experience with turbines and the destruction they cause to the landscape, to the local economy and to the community.

When PPDLW was fighting First Wind's application for a project on Bowers Mtn in Carroll Plt, we were able to argue that we KNEW what wind projects look like. No hypotheticals, no fear mongering. We were forced to look at Stetson I project to the east and the Rollins projects to the west. I believe this experience gave us credibility and contributed to DEP's decision to deny the Bowers project.

 

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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