Mar 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Ethan Wilensky-Lanford Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine



A bill to clarify what wind energy developers should pay communities that host wind projects received unanimous support in the Utilities and Energy Committee on Thursday.

Currently, wind energy projects can earn swifter approval from regulators if a developer provides "significant tangible benefits" to a community.

This language was too vague, said Pete Didisheim, advocacy director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

In the bill sent out Thursday, developers would pay $4,000 per turbine, per year to host communities -- in addition to local property taxes -- for future projects.

 The money is not earmarked for a specific reasons. And in some cases, a developer can choose to split the payment between a county and town, or among several towns.

Communities would still have the option to approve a project without a benefit agreement, or would be free to negotiate larger payments, the legislation states.

The bill, L.D. 1504, took shape after weeks of negotiations with developers, environmentalists, local government representatives and others.

Developers say they like the bill because it will give them more certainty when planning a project.

"It's hard to budget around an unclear requirement," said Dave Wilby, of First Wind, which has built wind farms in Mars Hill and Stetson Mountain, among others. "Now we at least know what the baseline is, so it eliminates one piece of uncertainty in the development process."

This new benefit standard would not apply to existing projects. But, at $4,000, the new standard is similar to what wind developers have already agreed to pay several communities for either operating or pending projects.

TransCanada, which is about halfway through building its 44-turbine wind project in Kibby and Skinner townships, has agreed to give the nearby town of Eustis $1,000 per megawatt of energy produced per year for as long as its turbines turn.

If an expansion of the Kibby project is approved, as town officials hope, this could total $150,000 of new annual revenue for at least the next 20 years.

"All of that money is going to go to offset the tax that we have to raise in the community," said Eustis First Selectman Jay Wyman. The owner of a home assessed at $100,000 can expect to save $150 a year, he added.

Washington County has used the $3.747 million it expects to receive each year in sheltered property tax revenue from the Stetson wind project to contract with an economic development group, Sunrise County Economic Council, which will administer loans and grants to promote and improve nature-based tourism, transportation infrastructure and other projects in the county's unorganized territories.

"Investment spurs job creation," said Harold Clossey, the council's executive director.

Not everybody is happy about the new standards, however.

Chris O'Neil, who represents the group in Maine called Friends of Maine Mountains, said the bill is an acknowledgment that wind energy projects have a negative impact. Individual communities do not incur increased costs from wind projects, he said, but what he sees as an eyesore affects the whole state.

"We're still not considering the cumulative impact to the state of Maine," he said.

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