LIFE CHANGING: Lawmakers warn Aroostook residents a proposed wind farm will do more harm than good
by Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli
Bangor Daily News
Lawmakers warn Aroostook residents a proposed wind farm will do more harm than good
State and county lawmakers shared financial and environmental concerns about the proposed County Line wind farm with concerned Haynesville residents.
Maine Rep. Tracy Quint, R-Hodgdon, and Aroostook County Commissioner William Dobbins pointed to misleading promises by regulators and developers about jobs and financial rewards for people living along the expansive wind farm route.
The lawmakers’ comments further affirmed Haynesville residents’ fears that their quality of life will be affected by the project. In this Aroostook County town of 97, there are no stores and no gas stations — and residents said they like it that way.
“They can all talk about how they are all into the climate, climate efficient, and they can destroy all of northern Maine in order to reach those goals,” Quint said during a packed Tuesday Select Board meeting. “It was never about the rural areas and keeping things beautiful. They want to be carbon neutral and however they have to do that, they are willing to do so as long as it’s up here.”
The wind project, slated to install 150 to 200 turbines along thousands of acres of commercial timberland, is part of the planned Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program.
The exact location has not been publicly released, but residents and the lawmakers speculate, based on previous mapping, that the turbines will be installed from Glenwood Plantation in the Unorganized Territory near Wytopitlok Lake to Island Falls.
In August, the Maine Public Utilities Commission chose Clearway Energy Group LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, for an 800-megawatt onshore wind project that will generate electricity for transmission to the New England grid.
Clearway officials did not respond to the Bangor Daily News request for comment.
The regulators also selected Central Maine Power/Avangrid to develop a 1,200-megawatt transmission line for the generated wind power that will connect northern Maine to the regional grid through substations in Haynesville and Pittsfield.
The 108-mile transmission route’s Haynesville substation and the County Line wind farm already had residents’ attention following the PUCs August bid award.
Subsequently, several Haynesville residents formed the Haynesville Maine Residents MPUC-Avangrid Substation Awareness Group. In a September meeting at resident Alan Trudeau’s home, they signed a petition to temporarily halt new power generation and transmission projects.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Haynesville Town Clerk Aaron Zufelt read the town attorney’s response to the legality of the proposed temporary hold on the project, which Trudeau wrote. According to town attorney Jacob Flewelling, provisions dealing with electrical substations and new transmission lines are unenforceable because the state’s control through the PUC preempts the town’s ability to enact an ordinance.
Nonetheless, provisions dealing with utility-scale solar or wind energy facilities and large-scale data centers are likely enforceable, he said.
“I believe the town has the authority to do so,” Flewelling said.
Flewelling recommended the town develop separate ordinances: one for utility-scale solar and wind energy facilities and the other for large data centers, giving the town more flexibility in responding to such issues.
“Without windmills, they don’t need the corridor,” Quint said. “The whole linchpin here is the windmills and that’s where the fight is. If they can’t do the windmills, they have no need for this project.”
“Why don’t they build their clean energy down in the Berkshires?” one resident asked.
Quint agreed.
“Funny thing is, they are not volunteering for that. It’s definitely for us. We’re a cheap date, unfortunately,” she said. “They have no problem using and abusing that, so talk to your neighbors. A lot of people don’t realize what’s going on.”...........................
.......................The Select Board will begin drafting documents to temporarily halt a wind project while they research and develop their own town ordinance related to such projects, Selectman Craig Clifford said.
Read the full article at https://www.bangordailynews.com/2026/10/14/aroostook/aroostook-gove...
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Comment by Dan McKay 8 hours ago
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It's good to see the town organizing. Let's see how much money to buy them out will be offered.
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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