From snowmobile clubs to fire departments to historical societies, and from fuel assistance funds to youth programs to libraries; the wind industry in Maine has a long history of spreading its money around the communities wherein it hopes to build grid-scale industrial wind facilities.
The latest example of a wind corporation’s ‘largesse’ here in Maine can be found in the River Valley. Patriot Renewables (PR) is the owner of controversial wind projects at Beaver Ridge in Freedom and Spruce Mountain in Woodstock. This same developer is hoping to build additional wind turbine developments in area communities, including Dixfield and Carthage. So it came as no surprise to read in the 12/21/2011 edition of the Sun Journal that Tom Carroll, PR’s project coordinator, was handing out hefty checks to local organizations.
Still, I was stunned by the blatant nature of the largest contribution made last week. Eleven Circles, a youth action group, is no doubt a worthy recipient for a $10,000.00 donation. But the impartiality of Maine’s town governments and town officials is crucial as we watch communities struggle to remain cohesive through the process of writing ordinances and considering the development applications submitted by large and wealthy corporations. Should we not have serious questions when Patriot Renewables ‘supports’ a business owned by the daughter-in-law of a Dixfield town selectman?
Other area recipients of Patriot Renewables’ bounty were Ludden Library, the Webb River Snowmobile club, the Poodunk Snowmobile Club and the Carthage fuel assistance fund.
Corporations like to call this ‘being a good neighbor’. Patriot Renewables said they were looking to ‘help to fill a void in the area’.
Let’s not kid ourselves. First Wind, Patriot Renewables, Trans-Canada, Iberdrola and other wind developers looking to build facilities aren’t passing around tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars because they care about our youth, or our poor, or our winter recreation enthusiasts. They target communities which will be deciding whether or not to approve their development permits. The people of Dixfield and Carthage are being ‘romanced’, just as the citizens of Mars Hill, Danforth, Stratton, Woodstock and Lincoln were. If Dixfield and Carthage had already passed ordinances restricting the placement of industrial wind developments, the odds are that deserving non-profits in the area would not have been the beneficiaries of those much-needed donations.
A bribe is a bribe. Towns such as Dixfield and Carthage should design and institute ordinances that take into account the health, property values and quality of life of their citizens. Then they will see how quickly a wind developer decides that there are other towns which need a ‘good neighbor’ or have ‘voids’ to be filled.
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