You Are Not Welcome Here

My family doesn’t post our property.  We never have, for as far back as I can remember.  My grandparents owned many acres, as did my parents, and there was never a “No Trespassing” sign posted on trees. 

My husband and I are lucky enough to own 70 acres of forest.  We feel fortunate to be able to step off our front porch and take a walk in the woods and we want everyone to have that same freedom and ability.  When I was a child, almost all of Maine was ‘open’.  It was rare to see a “No Trespassing” sign and Mainers were able to roam the forests and fields and mountains to experience that ‘quality of place’ and quality of life that is so integral to our contentment. 

A shiny silver Ford pick-up drove out of the driveway to our orchard.  That was not a big deal.  It happens all the time in November, since this is the height of deer hunting season.  The truck then proceeded up the road and stopped beside our house.  Since my husband has just gotten into his Blazer to take our son to work, he got out and walked over to the Ford.

He noticed the GPS antenna mounted on the front of the hood.  He asked the driver what was up.

The driver informed my husband that he and his partner were ‘fixing the positions’ of residences in the area for a survey they were conducting.

Mr. Pease asked them who they were working for.

The driver informed him that his client wished for its identity to remain confidential.

Mr. Pease said, “Oh.  Iberdrola, huh?”

The men became deer in the headlights.  Kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.  They shut their mouths.  Stick a fork in them—they were done!

It’s easy to have the last word when the other party won’t speak—but the words my husband uttered could not have come easy, nonetheless.  He’s the kindest, gentlest, most generous man I know.  But he meant what he said when he told those wind industry surveyors that they were not welcome on our land--that he knew he couldn’t prevent them from using the county right-of-way to invade our privacy or help a foreign company threaten our way of life, but he could forbid them from stepping foot—or driving tire—onto our property.

This is a tough battle we’re fighting.  We don’t have anything against those men—not personally.  Those contractors are Mainers who are “just doing their job”.  But as a friend from Vinalhaven said of the construction workers who built the Fox Island Wind turbines near his island home: “YOUR job has ruined MY life.”  Those six words sum it up quite succinctly.

That shiny, decked out Ford (and yes, I went outside and got their license plate number) which was driven so nonchalantly onto the property we generously share with all may very well have been purchased with money earned by work that was done for an industry which is negatively impacting the lives of hundreds of Mainers.

So, no.  We don’t post our property, and unless something drastic occurs--we won’t.  But let this be public notice that anyone working for an industrial wind developer--whether directly, or indirectly as a subcontractor--is not welcome at The F.A.R.M.  If you’re going to try to plot and plan how to sidestep the wishes of more than 77% of the residents of Lexington Township, you’re going to have to do it without our help.  If you don’t care that we have stood together and said “NO!” you will not be the beneficiary of our largesse.  We will not harbor you, we will not welcome you—and we will not hesitate to firmly escort you off and arrange for your transport to the county jail if you come onto our property without having express and written permission from my husband or me.

I can't make this any clearer.  You are not welcome at The F.A.R.M. and you are not welcome in Lexington Township.  Or in Concord, or in Highland.  Accept defeat, please.  You are not welcome here and I am just one voice of many asking you to respect us and abandon your plans for wind developments in these three communities.

Voices of Support

Today, the residents of Lexington and Concord Townships and Highland Plantation, Maine, took a stand.  In a press conference in the State Capitol, we requested that Iberdrola Renewables and Highland Wind LLC abandon their wind development plans due to the fact that a majority of the residents signed petitions in opposition to grid-scale wind developments in our communities.  We also asked Governor LePage to support our colllective will by using the powers of his office to remove us from the Expedited Permitting Area.  Our Senator, our Representative and our Somerset County Commissioners showed their support--for which we are grateful.  Below is the letter sent by Rep. Larry Dunphy, District 88. House of Representatives 2 State House Station Augusta, Maine 04333-0002 (207) 287-1440 TTY: (207) 287-4469

Larry Dunphy PO Box 331 North Anson, ME 04958 Residence: (207) 635-2831 Skime2@roadrunner.com

                             

November 14, 2011

To Whom it May Concern:

This is a noteworthy day.  Today, Maine citizens—American citizens–are standing up and stepping forward to make sure that they have a ‘say’ in determining the future of their communities.

Constituents from three communities in my district have spoken, and I intend to support them.   Just as I will respect majority votes in New Portland or Bingham or Caratunk, so will I defend the determination made by the citizens of Highland, Lexington and Concord.  They have spoken and their voices echo a resounding “No!” to industrial wind turbine facilities on the ridgelines in their communities.  I urge Iberdrola Renewables and Highland Wind to abandon their development plans for this particular corner of rural Somerset County and I urge the Governor to support these citizens.  The People have spoken.  We need to listen. 

The current Administration has vowed to put “People before politics”.  Under former Governor John Baldacci, the Wind Energy Act was marketed as a panacea for our energy problems.  But since those panic-driven days of 2008, we have learned much about the impacts and the benefits of wind-generated electricity.  People were not put before politics when the Wind Energy Act, favoring one industry, rezoned 2/3 of the State of Maine as an industrial zone for grid-scale wind facilities.

My constituents in Highland, Lexington and Concord have been proactive.  They’ve educated themselves about this issue and they’ve made their desires known.  They were denied input when their community was rezoned, but they are speaking on the record today.  This isn’t a secret ballot.  My constituents feel strongly about this issue.  They have publicly put their names on a ballot and sealed it with their signatures.  As their Representative, it is my intention to support their votes.

Sincerely,

Larry Dunphy

Anson, Bingham, Caratunk, Carrabassett Valley, Embden, Jackman, Moose River, Moscow, New Portland, Wellington and Plantations of Brighton, Coplin, Dennistown, Highland, Pleasant Ridge, The Forks and West Forks, plus the unorganized territories of Concord, Lexington, and Wyman Townships, Northeast Somerset (including Rockwood Strip), Northwest Somerset and Seboomook Lake

Voices of Somerset County--A Press Release

Once again, the names Lexington and Concord are in the forefront of a People’s right to self-determination.  As the Colonials did in 1775, the citizens of these Maine communities are facing what would seem to be an overwhelming force from abroad.

  But citizens in Lexington and Concord Townships--and in Highland Plantation, too--will not be intimidated.  We're taking a stand.  Speaking up.

And saying "No!"

PRESS RELEASE

Who:  FRIENDS OF THE HIGHLAND MOUNTAINS

When:   November 17, 2011; 11:00 a.m.

Where: Hall of Flags, State Capitol, Augusta, ME

Contacts: Alan Michka; (207) 628-2014 or 860-8714; Karen Pease; (207) 628-2070 or 340-0066

RESIDENTS OF THREE SOMERSET COUNTY COMMUNITIES ASK GOVERNOR LEPAGE TO HELP THEM PROTECT THEIR HOMES AND QUALITY OF LIFE FROM MULTIPLE WIND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.

A majority of the residents of Highland Plantation and Concord and Lexington Townships are expressing opposition to the wind development plans of former Governor Angus King’s Highland Wind LLC and Iberdrola Renewables, a subsidiary of Spain-based Iberdrola SA, and the largest operator of wind turbines in the world.  Highland Wind LLC is backed by the Yale University Endowment.

In an ongoing petition effort, a majority of the voting age residents have, so far, signed petitions stating their opposition to industrial wind development within their respective communities.  In Lexington, seventy-seven percent (77%) of residents have already signed.  Many of the communities’ non-resident property owners have also shown their opposition by signing the petition. 

In 2010, Ignacio Galan, chairman of Iberdrola Group, told the Portland Press Herald that “If Maine signals that it’s no longer friendly to wind power, the global energy company will expand elsewhere.”  Alan Michka, a resident of Lexington says “The Concord and Lexington petitions make it clear that these communities are not friendly to Iberdrola’s plans.  Hopefully, Iberdrola will make good on their threat to expand elsewhere.  Certainly, they’re not welcome here.” 

Many Maine towns have passed ordinances that effectively restrict wind power development within their borders.  Plantations and unorganized townships such as Concord and Lexington, however, have no legal means to protect their communities with such ordinances.

“If 51% of the registered voters in any Maine town came out against a wind development, it would not be permitted,” says Karen Pease, another Lexington resident.  “It simply would not be built.  Period, end of story.  In this case, we have 77% speaking in opposition.  Rural areas of Maine have been targeted for industrial development, and citizens who live here were not allowed to have a say before these Unorganized Territories were rezoned.  Our communities have spoken decisively.  We do not want grid-scale wind facilities to be built within our borders.  We must not be disenfranchised simply because we live in rural Maine.”

At the conclusion of the press conference, copies of the petitions will be delivered to Governor LePage’s office along with a letter asking the Governor to use his executive powers to remove Highland Plantation, Concord and Lexington from the state’s Expedited Permitting Area (EPA), thereby fully restoring the voice of residents and property owners in the future of their communities.  Removal from the EPA does not prevent wind energy development, but requires the developer to secure approval for a change of zoning, an action that allows the residents to weigh in on the proposed change.  Petition results and an appeal for support will also be delivered to key legislators, state agencies and the Somerset County Commissioners in an effort to draw their attention to the residents’ effort to protect their community from the negative impacts of industrial scale wind development.

Voicing My Vexation

Many of you have followed along or participated in the Bowers wind project proceedings.  For that, many other people owe you thanks.  I ask that you continue to stay involved, because the developer is employing new and more devious tactics in an attempt to have its way.

On October 19th, Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission took a 'straw vote' on First Wind's permit application for the Bowers Wind Project.

LURC Commissioners voted unanimously to instruct staff to draw up a decision document DENYING a permit for the project.

Today, First Wind's attorney Juliet Browne submitted a lamentful appeal to LURC, requesting permission to 'withdraw' their application.  Employing the same tactics used last year during Trans-Canada's Sisk wind project application process, Ms. Browne is making an end-run, attempting to circumvent established procedures with deceitful tactics.

The letter Ms. Browne sent to project manager Fred Todd will most likely be posted HERE in a day or two.  In the meantime, here is my response to First Wind's request:

**********************************

November 8, 2011

Fred Todd, Project Manager

Land Use Regulation Commission

Augusta, ME 04333

Dear Fred;

As a citizen of Maine, I am writing this letter in response to the request LURC has received from First Wind’s attorney, Juliet Browne, of Verrill Dana LLP.  In regards to FW’s (Champlain Wind LLC’s) permit application #DP4889 for the Bowers Wind Project, Ms. Browne “respectfully requests that (First Wind) be allowed to withdraw its application for the purpose of reconfiguring the project…”

The applicant also generously offers to “extend the deadline for the Commission to issue a final decision…through January, 2012…”

Confronted with an imminent “deny” decision, the applicant is playing fast and loose with the state’s resources and is gaming the system.  Juliet Browne was a member of former Governor Baldacci’s wind task force which designed LD 2283, the so-called “expedited wind permitting law”—aka the “Maine Wind Energy Act”.  Due to the passage of this law, citizens in 2/3 of the state of Maine have been disenfranchised.  Our communities were rezoned without our input, and our right to “have a say” was sharply curtailed.  In addition, citizens were suddenly required to abide by a law wherein a tight time-frame was mandated in which our regulatory agencies must make decision on wind development applications.  DEP and LURC must ‘expedite’ these applications, and deny or approve within 6 months if there is no public hearing; and within 9 months if a public hearing is granted.  You have no options, and the public has no option—we must abide by the law.  And yet, First Wind, a company from another state, is graciously granting a Maine state agency an extension of time?

The unmitigated gall!

I have never been in favor of LURC’s taking of a ‘straw vote’, as (in my opinion) it is an invitation for an unscrupulous developer to do exactly what First Wind is doing.  It gives them a ‘heads up’ that they are not going to receive their permit and opens up this new avenue in an already difficult and expensive process.  Ms. Browne’s tactics were somewhat successful when she pulled this same rigmarole for Trans-Canada in the Sisk application process in the summer of 2010.  After taking a straw vote wherein Commissioners voted to deny the project, LURC later proceeded to approve an altered application for Sisk.   Whether or not the process was properly administered is now under debate and LURC and Maine citizens are waiting for a Law Court verdict on the appeal of that decision.

While I am not a fan of the Wind Energy Act, I (and each Maine citizen) have been obliged to abide by it until such a time as it is repealed.  First Wind and every wind developer looking to build grid-scale wind energy plants in this state must do the same.  They cannot have it both ways.  They cannot expect to benefit from their own law when it suits them; but then bend those rules, or expect special dispensation when that same law works against them.

I urge you to deny Ms. Browne’s request to withdraw First Wind’s application.  Additionally, I urge you to send a strong message to the developer.  LURC is not theirs to manipulate, nor is the DEP.  And our laws must be obeyed, whether they work as the wind industry planned, or not.  If First Wind would like to lead the charge in repealing the Wind Energy Act, with its tight time constraints and less stringent standards for development, many Maine citizens will step forward to offer them their support.  Until that time, they’ll have to play by the rules they set in motion.

If First Wind is allowed to withdraw from this lengthy process at a point where it has almost reached its conclusion, you will do a huge disservice to the people of Maine.  And if you allow withdrawal and First Wind is allowed to reapply for a wind project permit in Carroll Plantation or Kossuth Township in the future, I urge LURC to require an additional application fee of $100,000.00 above and beyond that fee which is normally required.  Intervenors such as PPDLW have spent tens of thousands of dollars opposing this project, and that money was raised one dollar at a time by individuals who were committed to doing what they believed was right—and who were constrained by the Wind Energy Act’s mandates and stipulations in how they could oppose the project.  Additionally, the hundreds of citizens who took part in this process must be reimbursed, as well.  Many Mainers lost several days’ pay, and spent money for gas, food and lodging as they traveled to the various LURC meetings and public hearings.  We do not have the resources that large corporations such as First Wind have, and if this developer is going to be allowed to game the system, they must pay for the privilege.  They must reimburse the People of Maine.

First Wind lost.  The system is designed so that those who are unhappy with a decision have the right to appeal.  I request that LURC Commissioners not allow themselves to be swayed by the applicant.  I urge LURC Commissioners to stand firm and sign a decision document on December 7, 2011, denying First Wind’s Bowers Mt. permit.

Ms. Browne can appeal LURC’s decision in the very same way Maine citizens can, or she can recommend that her client move on, recognizing that Bowers is one of those places in Maine which is worthy of being protected from industrial development.

Thank you for your time and attention.  Please feel free to call me with any questions.

Sincerely,

Karen Pease

Lexington Twp., Maine