Merry Christmas, from Your Friendly Neighborhood Wind Developer

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. 

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/business/2011/12/21/eleven-circles-receives-10000-patriot-renewables-l/1130779

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.   

Speaking from Experience--A Voice of Freedom

What follows is a Letter to the Editor which appears in the May 28, 2011 editions of the Morning Sentinel and the Kennebec Journal. Steve and Judy Bennett, along with many of their friends and neighbors, have lived with the effects of industrial wind turbines for approximately three years. They can't get any relief, and few have stood up for their rights. Their health and quality of life have been adversely impacted, and their properties have lost value due to the intrusive sound and shadow flicker which has resulted from the placement of three 40 story turbines near their homes. Please consider contacting your Legislators and asking them to stand up for these citizens. The 'powers that be' haven't helped them, so it's time that everyday citizens (like you and me) take a stand.


MAINE COMPASS:

Freedom wind site neighbors 'not entitled to equal protection'
by Steve Bennett

Steve Bennett of Freedom is a retired teacher. He owns an insurance
and financial services business "Freedom Financial Group" in Unity. At
one time or another, he has been a town selectman and a member of the
town's budget committee and planning board.

Beaver Ridge Wind in Freedom is the only non-regulated industrial wind
site in the state of Maine and the only one not approved by the
Department of Environmental Protection.

In 2008, the DEP decided, I believe, that a three-turbine project in
Freedom was too small to be concerned about. We tried many times to
get the DEP and the state of Maine to do their jobs, but it seemed as
if we were up against too much money and the influence that is gained
by that money.

I continued trying to get someone at the state level to pay attention,
however, and on a sunny September day last fall, I convinced Dr. Dora
Mills, who at the time was director of the Maine Center for Disease
Control, to visit Freedom.

Mills, along with Andrew Fisk of the DEP and John Piotti, our state
representative at the time, came to listen to about 20 Beaver Hill
neighbors talk about our experiences living with the noise from the
turbines and the blade flicker that invades our homes.

Sitting on Jeff and Stacey Keating's front lawn about of 1,700 feet
from the turbines, they also experienced the noise firsthand.

Before that visit, Mills had repeatedly been quoted by wind developers
as saying that because no peer-reviewed reports regarding the ill
effects of industrial wind exist, concerns about the health impact of
noise from wind turbines were greatly exaggerated.

At this legislative session, Rep. Ryan Harmon, R-Palermo, at my
request, submitted L.D. 711, which would have required the noise
control rules within the Site Review Law be applied to Beaver Ridge
Wind. These are the same noise rules that have been in effect in Maine
for more than years, and the same noise rules that apply to every
other wind site in Maine.

At least 20 people from Freedom and elsewhere in the state testified
in favor of the bill at the hearing before the Energy Committee. Many
others, including Mills, testified in writing. Her testimony, in part,
reads:

"While I believe wind power adds an important and needed
diversification of our energy resources, I feel that state noise
regulations should be the statewide minimum for all wind power
projects."

When she visited the site last fall, she said, several homes appeared
to be within 1,700 feet of the turbines, and "from reported
measurements and from the experience we had visiting there, it
appeared the state noise standards, as set by Maine DEP regulations,
are often exceeded." Because of the project's small footprint and lack
of a municipal ordinance, " a simple building permit was all that was
required of the wind project developers."

Mills said she had "visited other wind project sites that are in
compliance with state regulations" and studied the issue. She said, "I
believe all wind projects, no matter how large or small their
footprint is, should be in compliance with the minimum standards as
set by state DEP regulations. I believe L.D. 711 tries to address this
issue. I also hope that the Beaver Ridge project can be included
retroactively."

I thought, given the testimony, that L.D. 711 had a chance. But then
Beaver Ridge Wind requested a behind closed-door meeting, first with a
member of the administration and then with the co-chairman of the
Energy Committee. Pressure apparently was applied, and L.D. 711 was
the first of the committee's wind measures that was killed.

So, once again, we are told that the people in the Beaver Ridge
neighborhood are not entitled to equal protection. Once again, it's
apparent to me that money, not people, has the deciding influence in
Augusta.

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Top photo: Tina Shute
2nd photo: Rick Harris
3rd photo: Kaz
Bottom photo: Steve Bennett