WIND FARM ISSUE NEWS
To learn about the Appalachian Trail Conference's stance on Endless Energy Corporation's Redington Mountain Wind Farm Project, visit:
To learn more about Endless Energy Corporation's Redington Mountain Wind Farm Project, visit:
From the MATC's Early Winter 2003-04 newsletter: The MAINEtainer --
The developer, Harley Lee of Yarmouth, has told the Land Use Regulatory Commission to expect a formal application soon.
Lee wants to construct 29 towes, topped by whirling, three-bladed propellars, each totaling about 460 feet high on the ridge lines of Redington and Black Nubble mountains.
Redington, at just 4,000 feet, is among the 100 highest mountains in New England. The tower nearest the trail would be about three quarters of a mile from Crocker Mountain.
The complex would be visible along about 50 miles of the trail -- from the open ridgeline of Saddleback through the Bigelows.
An ad-hoc MATC committee has been studying the development under the direction of Steve Clark for the past two years. Among the committee's conclusions:
The industrial complex would have a devastating impact on the views that most long distance hikers see as the most spectacular of the entire 2,170-mile footpath between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Katahdin in Maine.
In addition to the towers themselves, the vast network of roads needed to maintain the facility would damage the mountain landscape, silt streams and destroy important wildlife habitat.
Construction would require roads big enough and heavily enough constructed to bring the largest motorized cranes ever made to the summits of the two mountains.
At least one of these roads is proposed to cross the Appalachian Trail in Caribou Valley, west of Sugarloaf.
There is no need for more power in Maine. Energy specialists say the state is awash in electricity from the state's existing facilities, and that construction of a new generating system would merely require the closing of an existing plant.
Rather than midwestern coal plants, the industrial wind complex would most likely cause the shut down of biomass plants in Maine, and make more difficult the building of additional clean natural gas generating facilities.
Maine lacks the capacity to use all the energy already being generated and export of the surplus is hampered by a shortage of transmission lines to the south.
Thanks to this state's wood-burning boilers and numerous hydroelectric facilities, we already have a higher percentage of "alternate" energy than almost any other state in the East.
The summits most impacted by the industrial development contain some of the most important habitat needed by the rare Bicknell thrush.
The giant towers would be topped by swirling strobe lights flashing continuously to warn aircraft away.
Because wind blows erratically in the Maine mountains, standby plans would have to be maintained to replace wind-generated energy, sharply reducing any possible pollution protection.
For these and other reasons, the Maine Appalachian Trail Club directors have voted to spend another $25,000 to hire environmental specialists to document the harm the industrial complex would cause. Also being created is a special fund to accept any money that may be donated by other organizations and individuals opposed to the damage the giant towers would cause.
MATC had previously approved $5,000 for use by Clark's committee.
Previously, also, the Appalachian Trail Conference had voted its opposition. MATC had sought to have ATC match the Maine contribution, but Dave Startzell, the conference's executive director, said ATC wouldn't impose a dollar limit.
"We'll spend whatever it takes to mount an effective opposition," Startzell told a trail conference held in Vermont in October.
Pam Underhill, director of the National Park Service's Appalachian Trail Office, attended the October meeting and opposed the industrial complex being located so near the trail.
She subsequently declined to give the developer permission to build a road across the trail to bring the towers, giant blades and construction equipment to the Redington Mountain site.
Though the developer has promised an early filing of the required LURC application, the failure of Congress this month to pass a new federal energy law may delay the application. LURC rules require that Lee show that he has the financial ability to build and operate the giant facility.
Lee has said that the facility would not be economically feasible at the present wholesale electricity prices in Maine.
The energy bill that Congress refused to pass contains vast subsidies for the coal and oil generated electricity, along with a 2-cents per kilowatt hour subsidy for wind power.
From the MATC's Jan. 2002 newsletter, The MAINEtainer:
With June 16, 2003 corrections from
Jason Huckaby
Project Associate
Endless Energy Corporation
Phone: (207) 847-9323
FAX: (207) 846-6081 Web site: www.endlessenergy.com/contact.html
The current plan is to install 29, although this number may be reduced in the future.
Endless Energy Corporation is scheduled to file applications for the giant project with the Land Use Regulation Commission early this year, possible as soon as February.
The proposal revises and expands a wind power project first proposed three years ago. Earlier plans called for the blades of the turbines to extend only 230 feet above the ridgelines. The swinging turbine blades, each lighted to warn approaching aircraft, would be as high as a 40-story building under the current plans.
The turbine blades would not be individually lighted. We are currently working with the FAA to determine what the specific lighting requirements will be, but it would not include lighting the individual blades. We hope to just light a select number turbine nacelles (the gearbox at the top of the tower) - but there will be more on this later - when we have discussed this issue further with the FAA.
The expanded project was reviewed at length at the MATC board meeting in November. Members expressed renewed opposition to the proposal. MATC President Mark Simpson has appointed former president Stephen Clark to chair an ad-hoc committee to review the project and to plan a strategy of opposition.
Two years ago, the executive committee of the Maine Chapter, Appalachian Mountain Club also voted unanimously to oppose the proposed wind power site.
"Although we generally support the development of alternative energies, an industrial wind power site on the Redington Range, within two miles of the Appalachian Trail, a national scenic trail, and in full view of many of the trail's scenic overlooks in western Maine would violate the natural beauty of the area, detract from the enjoyment of the natural Maine environment and do serious economic and aesthetic damage to the trail, the surrounding communities and the enjoyment of many thousands of Maine residents and visitors," the AMC directors said.
The Appalachian Trail each year attracts several million hikers, including may thousands to Maine. Those who have hiked the entire trail almost universally consider the footpath in Maine as the wildest, most beautiful and most challenging of the 14 states, which the trail traverses.
Opponents of the wind power project worry that this industrial complex of towers and wind generators would do serious damage to the trail through the cluster of 4,000-foot mountains in western Maine.
The towers would be visible along the open ridgeline of Saddleback and from every overlook north to the twin Crocker summits, where the nearest tower would be less than a mile away.
The Board of Governors of the Appalachian Trail Conference voted unanimously to oppose the project last month. The board cited the area's "scenic beauty, remote character, rugged terrain, high mountain vistas and its undeveloped landscape" as reasons for its opposition.
Also voicing opposition has been Dave Publicover, who heads conservation efforts and the Mahoosucs, this region is one of the three most significant mountain massifs in Maine, Publicover reminds. He concludes, "AMC will continue to oppose any development of the Redington Range."
