Sonar Voices

Please read the press release from Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and then consider the impacts which 1800 wind turbines will have on Maine's bat population.

Bat Disease, White-Nose Syndrome, Confirmed in Maine; Not Harmful to Humans, but Deadly to Bats

AUGUSTA, Maine – The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has received confirmation that white-nose syndrome, a disease that has killed more than one million bats in eastern North America, now is in Maine.

Until this year, Maine appeared to be insulated from white-nose syndrome while states and provinces outside its borders were not. However, during surveys conducted by MDIF&W biologists this spring, bats at two sites in Oxford County displayed visible signs of white-nose syndrome fungus on their wings and muzzles. Carcasses collected from one of the sites were sent to the U.S. Geological Survey-National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, for diagnostic evaluation for the disease, and MDIF&W recently received confirmation of the disease in Maine.

White-nose syndrome is associated with a newly discovered fungus, Geomyces destructans, and was given this name because, when first discovered, infected bats had white fungus on their muzzles. WNS was first documented in New York in 2006 and has since spread throughout the Northeast and Canada. Between 90 and 100 percent of hibernating bats in some hibernacula – or caves and mines where bats hibernate in the winter – in the Northeast have died from WNS.

With the addition of Maine, white-nose syndrome has been confirmed in 17 states and four Canadian provinces.

“We are saddened by the discovery of white-nose syndrome in Maine, the final New England state to confirm the presence of this devastating disease,” said Jeremy Coleman, National White-Nose Syndrome Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We will continue to work closely with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and our other partners to support research and management of the disease in Maine and across North America.”

Bat species that hibernate in mines or caves are susceptible to WNS. In Maine, those species are big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), little brown bats (Myotis lucifungus), northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis), tri-colored bats (Pipistrellus subflavus), and eastern small-footed bats (Myotis leibii).


The disease is not harmful to humans, but scientists believe it is possible for humans to transport fungal spores on clothing and gear. In 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service advised cavers and researchers to curtail caving activities and implement decontamination procedures in an effort to reduce the spread of white-nose syndrome. The fungus cannot be killed simply by washing clothing.

“Scientists are still learning about WNS, but the fungus lives in cold, damp environments and we know of no risk to humans from contact with infected bats,” according to MDIF&W Wildlife Biologist John DePue.

According to DePue, Maine has only a few hibernacula, or places where bats hibernate for the winter, potentially delaying the infestation of some bats in Maine. However, the fungus associated with WNS may be passed from one bat to another even in the summer, especially when bats gather in maternity roosts. “It is possible that bats that winter in Maine spent the summer in contact with bats from WNS-infected sites in other states, and then carried the fungus back with them to their winter hibernaculum in Maine,” according to DePue.

Bats play a critical role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and have an enormous impact on pest control. Therefore, bats benefit the economies of forestry and agriculture in the United States. For example, the one million little brown bats that have already died due to WNS would have eaten between 660 and 1,320 metric tons of insects in one year. A recent study published in Science estimates that insect-eating bats provide a significant pest-control service, saving the U.S. agricultural industry at least $3 billion a year.


MDIF&W is partnering with other state and federal agencies, tribes, and non-governmental organizations to monitor bat populations through pre- and post-pup rearing surveillance, and maternity emergence counts.

To help reduce the spread of white-nose syndrome, people are asked to follow these guidelines:

· Do not handle alive or dead bats.
· Do not enter caves or mines in Maine during the winter hibernation months.

Disturbing bats during hibernation causes them to use limited fat reserves and could cause mortality in already health-compromised bats.

· For the most up-to-date cave and mine closures and decontamination procedures, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service White-Nose Syndrome web site: http://www.fws.gov/whitenosesyndrome·

If you have bats roosting in domestic structures, allow them to rear their pups and exit the structure at the end of the summer before closing off any entrance holes. Provide bats with a bat house for when they return next year.

For more information on white-nose syndrome in Maine, visit the MDIF&W website at www.mefishwildlife.com or send an email with your questions to

ifw.webmaster@maine.gov. Or visit www.fws.gov/whitenosesyndrome or www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/white_nose_syndrome.
Photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq/sets/72157626665235455/

Deborah Turcotte
Spokesperson, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
SHS 41 284 State St.
Augusta, ME 04333
C: (207) 592-1164

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Top photo: Bat with white-nose syndrome, Nancy Heaslip, New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation

The Voice of a Wind Developer

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

A Word on Wind with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

What follows are two letters I wrote to the former Commissioner of Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, back in the early days of my involvement in the Wind Energy Plan for Maine. To my relief, the MDIFW has recently stepped up to the plate and written an Agency Comment to LURC about the detrimental impacts the Highland Wind project will have on this area's native animals. I don't know if a change in the Administration in Augusta had anything to do with that, but whatever the reason; many Mainers are breathing a sigh of relief and feeling a ray of hope.
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December 20, 2009

Maine Dept. of IF&W
41 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0041

Dear Commissioner Martin,

I am writing to you from my home on the side of Hutchins Hill in Lexington Township, Somerset County. I am a Maine native, and have been a resident of this area since 1967, when my father was transferred here from Down East in Washington County. For fifteen years, these forests and mountains were a part of his district. He was a Maine State Game Warden, and retired in 1982 after twenty years of service.

The reason for this letter is to request your assistance. As I’m sure you are aware, there is a large-scale push to build industrial wind turbine developments along the ridges of our unspoiled mountains. There are many, many reasons why this plan is a colossal mistake. It is economically unfeasible, and there are huge health concerns and indisputable ‘quality of life issues’. As well, there will be irreversible environmental impacts—none of which will be positive influences on our ecosystems. I could expound on any of these issues, but I will concern myself with the topic which directly concerns you and your office; the wild animals of Maine.

Commissioner, I am not an expert on wildlife. I am not a biologist, nor a veterinarian. What I am is a woman who has spent her life in the company of animals, both wild and domestic. Before I could tie my shoes I’d bottle-fed a fawn. Before I could ride my bicycle, I was caring for raccoon kits. I have hand-fed fledgling hawks and owls. Accompanied Dad as he relocated beavers. Trapped coons in neighbors’ gardens to bring home and release in my own. I am a small scale farmer, too; as were my parents. I have raised horses, goats, steers, chickens, turkeys and pigs. For forty-four of my forty-six years, I have had dogs and cats in my home.

I know animals.

There is a remarkable dearth of information on the effects of these industrial turbines on our native fauna. Since I discovered Independence Wind’s intention to erect forty-nine 400’-500’ foot tall turbines along eight miles of forested mountaintops in Highland Plantation, I have been trying to discover evidence of exhaustive studies showing what effects these massive machines will have on the wildlife of our state–studies that should have been completed prior to the passage of LD#2283, the expedited permitting law which removes many of the standard restrictions for development of Maine’s rural and unorganized territories. It has become clear to me that these analyses have not been done.

As a woman with instincts of her own, I am appalled that no one seems to be asking the questions that immediately came to my mind. What will happen to our animals? How will the constant noise and change in the atmosphere around these sites affect an animal’s mating habits and its ability to carry its young to term? What will the vibrations sent throughout the bedrock of the mountains do to a hibernating animal’s instinctual need to den up during our harsh winters? What effect will the blasting of mountaintops and the building and maintaining of roads through untouched woodland have on the circuitous hunting and foraging trails of that forest’s wildlife? Wild animals are even more sensitive to changes in their environment than we are. Their senses are heightened. If human beings are getting sickened by the noise, and by the pulsing and thrumming air, and by the disorienting shadow flicker, then what effects will such elemental changes have on our native wildlife? Do we have the facts? We have one. And that fact is: We don’t know!

I am frustrated. It appears that the departments that are charged with protecting our natural resources have not been actively involved in any type of concerted effort to ascertain the ramifications of such massive encroachments into the wilds of Maine. I understand fully that there are powers which have sway over this issue and how our government agencies deal with it. But they shouldn’t have that power or influence. We are all charged with protecting those plants and animals which cannot speak for themselves. And we citizens expect that those in positions of authority will not let ‘big money’ or an administration run amok keep them from their appointed tasks.

Therefore, I am asking that you get involved. That you take a stand. That you vociferously lend your voice to both the wildlife of this state, and to the citizens who are tired of having others run rough-shod over us. Maine’s natural resources are what make this state unique. If we lose those, we’ve lost everything that is special; everything that really matters.

Please use your position to push for a moratorium on any permits issued under LD #2283 until we are sure, beyond a doubt, that these industrial developments will not have a detrimental effect on the wild and native creatures of Maine. Please use your own influence to push for studies (real, unbiased studies, and not those conducted by entities on the payroll of wind developers) to determine what consequences the turbines, and the massive infrastructure involved in their placement, will have on the animals of our forests. Please stand up for those creatures which depend on you and your department for their health and welfare.

I look forward to hearing from you, and if there is any way I can assist you, please don’t hesitate to ask. I have a voice, and a vote, and a willingness to stand up for what’s right. The resident animals of this great state deserve our consideration. It’s time we stopped ignoring their right to live unmolested in this home that was theirs long before we humans moved in.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Karen L. Pease
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And, my second letter to Commissioner Martin:
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January 18, 2010

Roland Martin, Commissioner
ME Dept. of IF&W
284 State St.
Augusta, ME 04333-0041

Dear Commissioner Martin,

I am in receipt of your January 11th response to my letter expressing my concerns about industrial wind development on the mountain ridges of Maine. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

In all honesty, I am disappointed by your response. I am going to be frank, and I hope that you will appreciate my candor and accept it for what it is; an honest woman with some intelligence who hopes to be spoken to in a straightforward and truthful manner.

You indicate that it is accepted as a ‘given’ that Maine’s mountaintops will be sacrificed to benefit developers of industrial wind complexes. You consider it a ‘done deal’. Our federal and state administrations decided that they were going to fast-track ‘big wind’, and I imagine they charged the departments under their authority to stay out of the way and not create any waves. Not any real waves… just a token few to placate a public that might have some serious concerns about these encroachments and their impact on this land and its inhabitants. At the state level, LD#2283 was designed in part by developers and endorsed by the Governor’s Task Force on Wind, and the people’s own representatives voted unanimously for that ‘emergency’ bill without debate—some without ever having read it. LURC’s normal discretionary powers were, for the most part, removed so that these developments could be permitted. Maine’s residents had their powers and their rights as citizens greatly curtailed so that we could not stand in the way of this industry.

However, LD#2283 and the issues surrounding its passage and implementation are matters that are beyond your control, and are ones that our senators and representatives must answer to and rectify. Instead, I will once more implore you to put politics aside and make the wildlife of Maine your primary concern. I do not know what you have been charged with. I am not privy to the orders you receive from ‘above’. But, Commissioner Martin, you are in effect saying that industrial wind developers will be allowed to build myriad roads through the forests and along the hillsides of Maine. You concede they will blast the bedrock and level the summits to build their concrete pads. They will strip the vegetation from the peaks and the transmission corridors, and they will control that vegetation with herbicides. They will erect monstrous towers which create incessant noise and disorienting shadow flicker. And while you recognize that all these massive changes to the habitat of our native species are imminent, all you can promise is that you will ‘request’ that the developer ‘conduct investigative studies to assess potential risk’.

That is not acceptable on many levels. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife shouldn’t request, they should demand! And it should not be Independence Wind’s consultants who these conduct studies. There is a direct conflict of interest when a consultant is being paid by the very businessmen whose development he is investigating. The developer should pay for the assessments, yes. But that money should be placed in a trust account managed by a third party, and the scientists conducting the studies should not in any way ‘answer’ to the entity whose actions are being looked into.

I do not believe it is responsible or prudent to concern ourselves only with those species with ‘special conservation needs’. If we do not take care of all the species in this state, we will find the list of those with ‘special needs’ growing by leaps and bounds. Even if only one or two species are adversely affected, that may very well impact the entire food chain with a domino effect.

I gather from your response that you believe these developments are inevitable. Your policy seems to be that once one is in place, we will wait and see what consequences it has on the wildlife in its environs. And then, we will use the data gained at their expense to mitigate the damage caused by the next wind energy plant.

Please let me say again: This is not acceptable. It shouldn’t be, should it? We have always placed the needs of mankind over the needs of the other species on this planet. We shouldn’t be deciding what level of impact is ‘acceptable’. The animals have no need for electricity, and yet, we expect them to sacrifice for our needs. As well, Maine itself produces more power than we consume. Why should our mountains, forests and wildlife be sacrificed to provide for those in southern New England with greater electrical needs?

I am looking for people who are willing to stand up and do what’s right. I’m not looking for lip service or placation. It’s time we started acting like the stewards we are supposed to be. Please take a stand on this issue and do what your integrity tells you to do. I am willing to do what I can to assist you, but I need to know that for Maine’s Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife, the fish and wildlife come first. As the daughter of a Maine State Game Warden, that is what I was taught. I would hate to discover that it was all a farce.

Please feel free to call me at the above number, or email me for expediency’s sake. I look forward to working with you to protect our wildlife from the advent of intrusive wind turbines in their natural homes; our unspoiled regions of Maine.

Sincerely,

Karen L. Pease

P.S. If you have not had the opportunity to research and study all the facets of wind turbine developments, there is a plethora of information available. There are answers to many of the questions that the general public hasn’t even thought to ask. I hope you are concerned enough to search for the truth instead of buying the party line. A good place to begin is this website, www.highlandmts.org, and there are links there to help you expand your search. Thank you, sir, for your time.
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Photo of Patty Porcupine (with cat "Stevie" in the rear)taken by Josie Pease on our porch, May 2010.
Photo of cow and calf moose taken by Karen Pease in Mayfield, June 2010
Photo of osprey and fledgling taken by Karen Pease in Abbott Village, July 2010
Photo of Canadian geese taken by Karen Pease in July, 2010