Two people who helped create the popular Cliff Trail are opposing a wind study being proposed for the site. They are urging residents to vote no at Saturday's Town Meeting on a $10,000 appropriation for the study that could lead to three or four wind turbines being built at the town's highest point. Residents will decide at Town Meeting if Harpswell should pursue the study atop the 200-foot ridge known as Long Reach. The town-owned Cliff Trail leads hikers to that ridge. Tulle Frazer and Robert Bryan were among the volunteers who established the trail in 2000.

The new mountain district zone will include all areas of the mountain ridge comprised of portions of Record Hill within Roxbury, Flathead Mountain, Mine Notch, Partridge Peak, and North and South Twin mountains that are located at or above an elevation of 1,500 feet. The land-use ordinance change was done to resolve gray areas of the document and to prevent wind-energy facilities from being labeled as industrial structures, which were prohibited until Monday night's vote.

State land use regulators are set Wednesday to take up staff recommendations for the approval for TransCanada's wind energy project and a denial for Maine Mountain Power's wind farm, both proposed in northern Franklin County. The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission had deliberated on both projects on Jan. 14 and came up with the split decision they directed staff to draft. Commissioners have several other items on the agenda, including a request from Harley Lee, on behalf of Maine Mountain Power, to withdraw the petition for rezoning and an application for proposed preliminary development plan for the Redington and Black Nubble Wind Farms in Redington Township, and Western Mountains Foundation to amend its application from two huts to one.

A second bid to reinstate a commercial building ordinance has failed. The board of selectmen took no action Friday on resident Jeff Keating's petition to hold a secret ballot vote at next month's town meeting to reinstate the Commercial Development Review Ordinance. ...Residents at a special town meeting in June that was prompted by a petition drive voted to rescind the ordinance, thus opening the door for Competitive Energy to apply for a permit under the much more lenient building ordinance. The company was approved to begin construction last summer, though neighbors, including Keating, recently filed notice with the board of appeals arguing that the project's development has not met the pace required by the building code.

Beaver Ridge Wind, a subsidiary of Competitive Energy, was issued a building permit to construct three, 400-foot, electricity-generating turbines in July. To date, the only work that has occurred on site is the drilling of bore holes to test the soil and bedrock in advance of installing the turbine foundations. The ordinance requires all approved projects to be "substantially commenced" within six months of when the permit is granted, a standard that is not met by merely drilling test holes, Bearor said.

A state task force has drafted a road map that it says will make Maine a major generator of wind power. The group's draft report calls for streamlined regulatory review of wind power projects in most regions of the state so 1,000 or more turbines could be set up by 2020. It also identifies important scenic areas -- places like Baxter State Park, Acadia National Park and the Appalachian Trail -- that would be protected from the visual impacts of wind farms. "This is a major step forward," said Alec Giffen, director of the Maine Forest Service and chairman of the Governor's Task Force on Wind Power. "It's going to put Maine in a position to be a leader in wind power and it's going to preserve Maine's quality of place." ...The final task force report will include a map of the regions where proposed wind farms would get speedier review by state agencies. Studies of wildlife impacts would still be required, but visual impacts would be considered only under special circumstances.

An ordinance repealed by voters at a special town meeting last summer would be reinstated if neighbors of an approved wind turbine project get their way. Jeff Keating, who owns property near the Beaver Ridge site where three wind turbines are to be erected later this year, plans to submit a petition during the Feb. 20 selectmen's meeting asking for a secret vote to reinstate the Commercial Development Review Ordinance voters repealed in June. "We haven't had an ordinance in town since then and (the planning) board claimed they would put a new ordinance in," Keating said Friday. "It's an attempt to get an ordinance in place that was promised." Keating presented a petition with 47 signatures -- 30 were required for certification ...Competitive Energy, which was granted a permit in July, promised to abide by standards in the Commercial Development Review Ordinance.

Editor's note: On March 3, 2008, voters of the Town of Roxbury passed the ordinance 43 yes, 28 no, despite pleas from residents to wait until more information was made available on the proposed wind project.

With nearly 1,000 house lots and an even larger number of resort accommodations, Plum Creek's Moosehead Lake proposal stands as the largest development plan ever submitted to Maine regulators. Yet the 20,000 acres Plum Creek is seeking to rezone for development represent just 5 percent of the total acreage in the company's plan. The remaining 430,000 acres - covering an area nearly two-thirds the size of Rhode Island - would be protected permanently through a combination of conservation deals. ...The current plan has critics, however. ...The 266,000-acre "legacy" easement also would allow wind farms to be sited on the land with approval from both LURC and the easement holder. The wind farm provisions were inserted into the easement at the suggestion of AMC, which is already a major landowner in the Moosehead region. David Publicover, AMC's senior staff scientist, said many sites in the region likely would be inappropriate for wind farms because of impacts on scenery. But AMC has identified a number of sites on Plum Creek land that could be suitable for wind power, he said.

In separate decisions Monday, the Land Use Regulation Commission rejected one wind-power proposal but approved another that will be New England's largest wind installation. By a 4-2 vote Monday morning, the commission rejected Maine Mountain Power's 54-megawatt Black Nubble Wind Farm, which proposed 18 turbines on that Franklin County mountain. In the afternoon, the citizen board approved TransCanada's 132-megawatt Kibby Wind Power project, which calls for placing 44 turbines on Kibby Mountain and Kibby Range, both in Franklin County. When constructed, that project will be the largest of its kind in New England, according to TransCanada. Together, the two decisions amount to a mixed bag for the state's fledgling wind industry.

Maine land use regulators voted unanimously to approve TransCanada's wind-power project in western Maine, but rejected a second poject by another group that had been scaled back after being turned down a year ago. The Land Use Regulation Commission voted to allow a 44-turbine project near the Canadian border in Franklin County, saying TransCanada Maine Wind Development's application answered its concerns that roads would be built properly, and birds and bats would be protected. Commissioners also said the developer's project would not present the same kind of intrusion on the highlands scenery as the project proposed by Maine Mountain Power, whose 18-turbine project south of TransCanada's was turned down by a 4-2 vote earlier in the day.

With Maine's spot as New England's largest generator of wind power already well-established, state regulators on Monday will consider two more projects that would produce enough clean power to keep the lights glowing and toasters cooking in more than 70,000 homes. ...Because the record was closed following last fall's hearings on the projects, no public testimony or comment will be accepted Monday, when the commissioners will essentially debate and discuss proposals. While Carroll said no vote is expected at Monday's public session, but a date could be set for a final decision.

The wind in New England blows mainly against big green-energy projects. At least that's the assessment of Matt Kearns, an audibly frazzled project manager for Newton, MA-based UPC Wind. Despite winning final approval last week for the creation of New England's largest wind-energy installation, now under construction on a ridge in northern Maine, Kearns says the regulatory and political barriers to placing major cleantech facilities in the region are high enough to scare off all but the most persistent and well-funded entrepreneurs. "The uncertainty and the costs associated with that uncertainty are pretty overwhelming, frankly, in many cases," says Kearns, who has spent the last several years shepherding UPC's Stetson Mountain wind farm project past the cautious scrutiny of state, county, and federal agencies, not to mention local residents and environmental groups.

State regulators unanimously approved a proposal Wednesday to build New England's largest wind farm on a remote ridgeline in northern Washington County. ...Stetson Mountain is located in a sparsely populated area of Washington County's northernmost border with Penobscot County and Canada. It's a scenic area with rolling, heavily forested hills that help support the local timber industry. Hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and other forms of outdoor recreation are also an important part of both local culture and the regional economy. So UPC's proposal to build 38 wind turbines, each standing nearly 400 feet tall, has not gone over well with everyone. ...Opponents also raised concerns about noise from the turbines, which has been a problem for some homeowners near the Mars Hill farm.

Land Use Regulation Commission unanimously approved the zoning request for a 57-megawatt project on Stetson Mountain, a ridge line that stretches between Danforth and Springfield in northern Washington County. The applicant, Evergreen Wind Power, has already built the region's largest operating wind farm -- a 42-megawatt, 28-turbine project in Mars Hill, Maine, that started generating power earlier this year. Evergreen is a subsidiary of UPC Wind Management of Newton, Mass.

The company planning to put three electricity-generating wind turbines on Beaver Ridge has explored adding more. Andy Price, project manager for Portland-based Competitive Energy Services, said his company explored the possibilities of adding more turbines with an abutting landowner. Price declined to specify whether that exploration will continue in the future. "At this point I want to leave it at the fact we have three turbines approved and we're looking forward to proceeding with that," Price said.

A controversial plan to erect an AM radio station on outer Broadway has prompted residents from both sides of Kenduskeag Stream to join forces in an effort to get the city to put a temporary halt on that project and others like it. The idea is to give the city some time to study the appropriateness of towers and turbines planned for the rural residence and agriculture districts.

The town's Board of Appeals has rejected the latest bid to halt construction of three electricity wind turbines on Beaver Ridge, though the ultimate decision on the project could be made by a Superior Court justice. The board voted unanimously on Sept. 12 to deny an appeal lodged by Steve Bennett, Erin Bennett-Wade and Jeff Keating, all of whom own land adjacent to the proposed site of the $10 million project.

Attorney's representing Portland-based Competitive Energy Service and Ron Price, who owns the Beaver Ridge property where the turbines would be built, spent nearly the first hour of the Board of Appeals meeting arguing that the board did not have the authority to hear the appeal and that two of the four members were biased against the project. ...Citing conflicting language in two ordinances, the board voted 3-0 (chairman Addison Chase abstained) to move forward with the hearing.

The latest appeal of a proposed wind project on Beaver Ridge is set to get an airing tonight. The Board of Appeals is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. at the Congregational Church to hear arguments filed by Steve Bennett, Erin Bennett-Wade and Jeff Keating against Portland-based Competitive Energy Service's plan to erect three, 400-foot turbines.