Meet the Moores--Voices from Lincoln

Richard and Betty Moore live at an idyllic spot, so typical of the rolling hardwood ridges and lakes that are the northeastern uplands of Maine. They have a small farm, raising sheep and llamas, on Transalpine Rd. in Lincoln, Maine on a hill overlooking Upper Cold Stream Pond and the ridges of Rocky Dundee. They worked hard to live the life they chose on the outskirts of town, on the edge of the vast unsettled country stretching from Lincoln to the Canadian border. So quiet at night they can hear the call of the loons from the lake below and the howls of the coyotes on the ridges above them. So quiet that the rumble of an early morning logging truck coming down the hill echoes across the valley as they begin their day.

The idyll for the Moores is being shattered, as during the winter the Rollins Project of First Wind has been built out. “The blasting was terrible”, says Betty. “I think I was one of the first ones to call 911. Nobody informed us about the blasting. It scared the daylights out of the animals”. She points out the ridgeline where a seeming endless string of turbines peek above the tree line and wonders aloud about how much noise they will be subjected to when the project starts up. Richard enthusiastically tells the story of how the llamas bravely protect the sheep from the coyotes, but wonders what effect the noise of the turbines will have on the animals.

First and foremost, Richard Moore points out he is a Lincoln native and a proud patriot. He is the Commander of the local VFW post. Like many people from Maine, he has worked hard to make a living and stay in the familiar rural area where it isn’t built up and hunting and fishing are right at the doorstep. Before the construction of the Rollins Project, he just accepted what he had heard about wind power development as a good thing. The more he learned about wind, the more skeptical he and his wife became. He is particularly rankled that although the couple is severely impacted by the Rocky Dundee portion of First Wind’s project, nobody ever came to speak to them about it.

The Moores have already decided to move and have found a quiet spot near the Passadumkeag River in nearby Burlington “away from the turbines”. They will soon list their farm with a realtor, though they don’t believe their prospects are good. “It just stands to reason”, says Richard, “that the view is ruined by all the turbines. I don’t know how much the value of the property will drop if the noise is anywhere near what some say it might be.” Indeed, noise may very well be a problem at the property, with 18 turbines all within a mile. The closest ten are on the ridge about a half-mile to the north of them; the furthest are across the deep valley of Upper Cold Stream Pond. Acoustics expert Robert Rand confirms that people like the Moores in the Lincoln Lakes will have problems with turbine noise. There are over 800 properties on the lakes or overlooking the lakes that are likely to be affected by noise from the forty GE 1.5 MW turbines. The 389-foot tall turbines spread across seven miles of ridges that rise above the thirteen Lincoln Lakes.

The Moores are particularly disturbed by the impact of the project being so pervasive when the area doesn’t seem to have the wind to support viable generation of electricity. “It seems like a waste of taxpayers money to me”, states Richard. His wife adds “I understand First Wind will get a big check from the government just for building this project. We don’t want it. We don’t need it. Taxes are high enough without wasting money on wind power. Government meddling to push wind power is causing us to sell this farm with this great view and move. That’s just not fair.”

Richard notes that not only will the Rollins Project not produce much power, but also the power isn’t even used in Lincoln. “We don’t need to destroy our area here in rural Maine for sending power to southern New England. If they want wind power, let them build the turbines down there”. He notes that the Rocky Dundee ridges were rich in wildlife, having a good reputation as a deer hunting area. He can’t see that the wind turbines and wildlife can be compatible. It also worries him that he hears about other nearby areas that are being targeted for wind power development, such as Oakfield, Bowers Mountain and Passadumkeag Mountain. “Before you know it, all we will have is wind turbines. Then where is the wildlife going to live? Where will we be able to find peace and quiet and the views that make this area so special?”

The Moores reflect emerging opinion of many Mainers in the areas that are targeted for wind power development. The same issues are raised in every area: noise, visual impact, loss of property value, violation of citizen’s rights to determine whether a wind project should be in their town, and an ever-increasing knowledge base that wind power’s negative issues far outweigh the touted benefits.

The Rollins Project in Lincoln Lakes will be replicated dozens of times in the northeastern Uplands of Maine and along the spine of the Longfellow Range in western Maine. Rollins is a medium size project, with a trend toward using larger turbines with greater height emerging as more plans are announced. A number of projects with fewer turbines are being proposed as “Community Based Power” but with the exception of Vinalhaven, these projects have not been well received. In quite the opposite trend in the past year, a number of towns across Maine have adopted stringent wind ordinances to protect all citizens. This is a point not lost on Richard Moore, who notes that the Rollins Project was built in a Rural Residential 2 zone. He feels the Town of Lincoln cared more about First Wind than its own citizens.

Wind Power development becomes more controversial with every new project, as more people become aware that the small amount of electricity gained and the effort to offset carbon and the effect on climate change are not worth the local impacts on communities. Wind Power divides communities, with some people gaining at the expense of others. People are hurt by having lives dis-rupted and property value lost. We must not allow wind power to so greatly disrupt Maine’s “Life as It Should Be.”

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Photos courtesy of Friends of Lincoln Lakes
Interview conducted by Bradbury Blake