Task force created to study developing wind power energy

 

May 10 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Anne Ravana Bangor Daily News, Maine

Gov. John Baldacci signed an executive order Tuesday to create a task force on wind power development in Maine, making several related bills obsolete.

"Maine must be aggressive in pursuing alternative sources of energy," Baldacci said in a prepared statement issued Tuesday. "We know that climate change is real. We know that people are contributing to the problem. And we know that wind power is a good source of clean, renewable energy."

The 20-member task force will review the regulations that affect the development of wind power projects in the state and recommend any changes that would assure that Maine has a balanced and efficient system for evaluating proposed developments.

The task force also will monitor advances in wind power technology, identify benefits and incentives that might be available to communities considering wind power projects, help developers find the most appropriate locations for their projects, and propose goals for wind power in Maine for 2010 and 2020.

At a hearing Wednesday before the Joint Standing Committee on Utilities and Energy, the committee voted not to pass three bills whose requests were addressed in Baldacci's order. Those bills included LD 1331 An Act To Encourage Community Wind Power Projects, and LD 1644 A Resolve to Establish a Stakeholder Group for the Establishment of Site Requirements for Wind Power. The committee briefly addressed LD 1099 An Act To Encourage Wind Energy Development, and voted to ignore all but its community wind power generator tax credit, which the committee voted to extend until, 2009.

The governor will appoint 16 members to the task force. The president of the state Senate and the speaker of the House may appoint two members each. Members of the task force will serve without compensation.

The governor's executive order stated that Maine energy policy seeks to promote the development and use of renewable energy sources to reduce Maine's dependence on imported fossil fuels and enhance economic development.

"We want to make sure that we're rolling out the red carpet for progress, particularly on wind power. But we also want to make sure we're doing it in a way that's sensitive to the neighbors of any project," Baldacci said.

Maine has the highest wind potential of any New England state and ranks 19th in the United States as a whole in terms of wind potential, the order stated.

To fulfill its duties, the task force will collaborate and coordinate with the Land Use Regulation Commission, the Department of Marine Resources, the Department of Economic and Community Development, the Department of Agriculture, the Public Utilities Commission, the Office of the Governor, members of the Maine Legislature and other interested members of the public.

The establishment of this task force is not intended to delay or interfere with wind power projects that are already in the permitting process, the order stated.

After it submits its recommendations to the governor by, 2008, the task force will dissolve.