Wind Fans May Breathe a Bit Easier

Wind Fans May Breathe a Bit Easier

May 13 - Portland Press Herald

Maine may have turned a corner this week in its effort to lead New England in the development of wind power.

First, Gov. John Baldacci decided to create a task force to come up with rules, laws and siting standards to attract wind energy projects to the right places. And second, the company behind a doomed wind farm plan in the western Maine mountains resuscitated the project by scaling back from two mountain ridges to one and moving a couple miles farther from the Appalachian Trail.

A state task force had seemed inevitable ever since plans for 30 turbines on Redington and Black Nubble mountains were effectively rejected in January by the Land Use Regulation Commission. Opposition to the location of that project, and a smaller one in Freedom, left the governor and other wind fans looking for ways to get the state back on track and make potential wind developers feel more welcome.

Lawmakers responded with several of their own proposals to promote wind energy, including one to create statewide siting guidelines. Those bills have effectively been dropped to give the new task force time to do its job. Baldacci's move could put the state in front.

It turns out that Maine is not alone and states across the country are having the same difficulties attracting windmills. A new report by the National Research Council says that's because states are inexperienced at wind power planning and regulation and often lack standards for where, and where not, to build them.

States that hope to break out of the holding pattern, the report says, must provide developers and the public with guidelines for planning and evaluating projects and for weighing the costs and benefits of proposals. The governor's new task force is supposed to put together such recommendations by Jan. 15.

The decision to downscale the Redington and Black Nubble wind farm seemed like an easy call. The Land Use Regulation Commission was expected to kill the project at its meeting in Bangor on June 6. Now, the commission will consider whether to give the developer time to change the plan or tell Maine Mountain Power to start over with a new application. Either way, the project will get new life and an improved prognosis.

It won't get a free pass. The 18 remaining turbines would be visible from the Appalachian Trail and could affect birds and other wildlife. Such potential trade-offs will come with every wind energy plan.

The Black Nubble project, and two other large wind farm proposals, are probably too far along to be affected by the new task force. But, in the long run, the group could help state agencies, local officials and the rest of us decide whether the trade-offs in each case are worth it.

Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at jrichardson@pressherald.com. See his blog at www.pressherald.com.