It seems few in this town of about 1,500 people can agree on UPC Wind Management’s newly completed $85 million project, which makes the unassuming potato-growing and truck-brokerage community home to New England’s largest wind farm. But there’s one thing everybody can agree on: The place sure looks different. Long before a visitor arrives at Mars Hill, the towers become visible along what used to be just another mountain. The total height from the ground to the tip of the blade is 389 feet. Each tower has three blades, which spin in winds whipping west to east toward Canada just a few miles away.

The Boyds Mars Hill, ME provided this letter to the residents of Byron and Roxbury, ME in hopes the voters of both towns would make informed decisions before agreeing to permit industrial turbines on their ridgelines. This letter is published here with the permission of Boyds.

The Fletchers of Mars Hill, ME provided this letter to the residents of Roxbury, ME in hopes the voters of Roxbury would make an informed decision before agreeing to permit industrial turbines on their ridgelines. This letter is published here with the permission of Shirley and Richard Fletcher.

The costs are “the loss of the mountains,” said Dr. Dain Trafton of Phillips, Maine, speaking for the friends group to the Original Irregular newspaper. “Is it worthwhile introducing this huge industrial plant into these beautiful mountains when, in fact, very little power will be produced, very few emissions will be avoided, and very little economic benefit will come to the area?”