If you follow the progress of the wind energy plan for Maine, you will recognize the name of Rob Gardiner. He is president of Independence Wind of Brunswick, and the business partner of former governor Angus King. These gentlemen are building a grid-scale wind facility on Record Hill in Roxbury, and have twice submitted permit applications to LURC requesting permission to build an industrial-scale wind development in Highland Plantation.
On May 2, 2011, Mr. Gardiner and Mr. King withdrew their permit application for the Highland project, citing the need to supply additional data to "government review agencies". Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife had, two weeks prior, submitted Agency review comments, wherein they cited the unsuitability of the Highland mountains for a project such as the developers were proposing. (The MDIFW has stated publicly that they've consulted with the developers since 2007 on this same project, so it is hard to believe that they were caught unawares by that Agency comment.)
If you've followed this topic, you'll also know that Friends of the Highland Mountains argued the issue of completeness regarding both their applications. After the first one was accepted as 'complete' by the LURC staff on January 29, 2010, and after we submitted a formal objection to that status, the LURC Commissioners suspended the application in April of 2010. They agreed that Highland Wind LLC did not have Title, Right or Interest to all the land necessary to get their product to market.
Below is a copy of an email secured through the Freedom of Information Act, sent from Rob Gardiner to Catherine Carroll, director of LURC, on January 14, 2010. The 'federal program deadline for initiating construction' Mr. Gardiner refers to is most likely the "1603 Cash Grant" program, an initiative of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. (This program was set to expire in December of 2010, but has since been extended.) According to the Treasury Department's website, "The 1603 program offers renewable energy project developers cash payments in lieu of the investment tax credits (ITC).1 The value of the awards are equivalent to 30% of the project's total eligble cost basis in most cases."
The estimated costs for the original Highland project were in the neighborhood of $260Million. That cash grant the developers were chasing was valued at approximately $70Million. $70,000,000.00 CASH. GRANT. Not a loan, but a GRANT. Paid for by you and me. It's no wonder Mr. Gardiner was in a hurry to have LURC staff declare 'completeness' on their application. If LURC granted a public hearing to the People of Maine, the time-frame mandated by the Wind Energy Act for review would jump from 185 days to 270 days.
That didn't leave much wiggle room, did it?
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From: Rob Gardiner
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:42 AM
To: Carroll, Catherine M.
Subject: process
Catherine,
We'd like to discuss with you the process and timetable for our Highland Wind Project application which is currently under review by Marcia for completeness. We know that LURC has already received numerous requests for a public hearing on this application. We recognize that it is quite possible that LURC will ultimately decide to hold a public hearing, and this additional step in the process is likely to make it take up most of calendar 2010 for LURC review. Like most developers, we'd like the process to move along as swiftly as possible, but in our case there is an important federal program deadline for initiating construction that makes it particularly important for us. Because you are the link between LURC staff and the Commission and the key process decisions rest in part with the Commission, we'd like to discuss the alternatives with you.
I am writing to see if we can schedule a brief conference call with you to discuss the timetable that you anticipate and any measures that we might take to expedite things. I'd like to include Jon Ryan of Stantec, as he coordinates our LURC application work. Please let me know if we can schedule this soon. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rob Gardiner
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Top Photo: The Highland Mountains
Bottom Photo: View from HW LLC's met tower site on Stewart Mountain in Highland Plantation
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