County commissioners unveiled a draft agreement Thursday for a tax-increment financing district that could bring the county up to $4 million over 20 years to use for economic development in unorganized territories. ...But Carrabassett Valley Town Manager Dave Cota said the draft agreement would shift more of the county tax burden to organized towns and let the company get away with not paying its fair share of taxes. Mitchell said the purpose was to reach a balanced agreement that would benefit all of the county directly and indirectly. The TIF would capture 75 percent of the new tax revenue for the first 10 years and 50 percent for the latter 10, with the county keeping 40 percent and TransCanada getting 60 percent. The remaining tax revenue gained would go into the state's unorganized territory fund.

The company's $220 million effort near the Canadian border will be in the spotlight at 6 p.m. upstairs in the Franklin County Courthouse on Main Street. The details of the tax-increment financing program will be unveiled by the county's consultant, Gregory Mitchell of Eaton Peabody Consulting Group. The public is invited to comment and suggestions could be incorporated into the draft proposal, said Commissioner Gary McGrane of Jay. A formal public hearing is set for May 29. The TIF proposal presented Thursday will include the percentage of the wind farm's annual $1.1 million property taxes that would be returned to the company for reinvestment into the project for the next 20 years.

The town's energy committee wants a little more time and information before it makes any recommendations to the Town Council about how to proceed with plans for municipal wind power. The committee has been studying two proposals for wind turbines in town and had been scheduled to make a recommendation to the council last week. "The committee didn't want to make any decisions until they went to see the two facilities in Saco," Town Manager Roger Raymond said Tuesday. The two wind turbines in Saco are similar to the two the committee has been researching for the town, Raymond said.

Barring any legal challenges, installation of the Beaver Ridge wind turbines could begin this summer. First Selectman Ron Price, owner of the land where the $12 million wind farm will be located, said the devices have been ordered and delivery is expected to take place in July. The three 400-foot-tall windmills planned for the site are similar to those in place at Mars Hill, he said. They are projected to produce 4.5 megawatts of power annually. "They have been approved, they are moving ahead," Price said Wednesday. ...Bennett said that without an ordinance the town has no protection from noise and there were no setback requirements. He said the turbines would be located 350 feet from abutting property lines. "We don't even have a fall zone, much less the safety setback recommended by turbine manufacturers," he stated.

The Board of Appeals has turned down a request to revoke the building permit for a $12 million wind power project on Beaver Ridge, saying the development had met a requirement to "substantially commence" within six months. Beaver Ridge Wind was issued a permit for the project last July, a few weeks after Freedom residents threw out the town's Commercial Development Review Ordinance, which had set various standards for the project. ..."The building ordinance is very explicit that, if the work permitted by the application has not 'substantially commenced' within six months, the permit is void," said Bennett. "There are only three test borings up there to see how deep the soil is. You don't need a permit to do test borings."

Regarding the wind facility moratorium, it would enact a 180-day moratorium on wind turbine development with the possibility of extending that for another 180 days. That would give planners a chance to prepare appropriate municipal ordinances to better regulate wind turbine development. However, argued Anne Simmons-Edmunds, at town meeting, voters overwhelmingly rejected an ordinance change that would have allowed wind towers to be built on Byron ridges by increasing the maximum allowed heights. "This, to me, is like a moot point," she said. "How can you have a moratorium on something we don't have?" Others argued that a moratorium is needed.

Chairman Kurt Adams of the Maine Public Utilities Commission is stepping down to work for a national wind development company. Adams will leave the state's utility regulatory panel on May 16. He's to become senior vice president for transmission development at First Wind, formerly UPC Wind.

A public hearing on several proposed articles for a special town meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 1, in the Coos Canyon Schoolhouse off Route 17. ...Article 4 seeks to establish a wind turbine project development moratorium ordinance.

The first city in Maine to erect a municipal windmill is considering what may be the first zoning ordinance in the state regarding residential wind turbines. The Saco City Council is considering a set of rules to establish standards for placement of small windmills of the sort that could power a home. With the city taking a leading role in wind power by putting up two turbines of its own in the last couple years, Saco City Councilor Eric Cote said many residents are inquiring about erecting their own windmills. ...The ordinance under consideration by the Saco City Council would limit residential windmills to those with a capacity of 10 kilowatts or less.

Aroostook County residents voiced their fears, frustrations and suspicions toward state regulators Sunday during a meeting on potential changes to land use policies in Maine's vast Unorganized Territory. The Land Use Regulation Commission is seeking feedback on proposed alterations to the planning document that guides policy decisions within the roughly 10 million acres of unincorporated regions of the state. ...Many of those who spoke expressed strong concerns about language within CLUP as well as a powerful mistrust of the state agency charged with regulating the region.

Construction could begin on the $270 million Kibby Wind Power project in August, assuming the economics fall into place, the developer said. Half of the 44-turbine plan could be completed by the fall of 2009. The other half of the Franklin County project should be done in the summer of 2010, said Nick Di Domenico, of TransCanada, director of the Kibby project. But while the development appears likely to move ahead, both TransCanada and state officials say wind power faces plenty of short-term challenges even as the longer term future remains bright. ...The high cost of construction and the volatility of energy costs is what makes the long-term viability of a project a difficult thing to predict.

As governor, Angus King liked to pitch a big idea, like giving laptop computers to all seventh-graders. Now, as a wind energy entrepreneur, he's floating a whopper. King said Tuesday that the state should launch a massive research and development effort to create a $15 billion network of offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine over the next 10 years. Only something as ambitious as 1,000 turbines spinning 26 miles off the Maine coast will be able to break the state's reliance on oil and prevent an economic catastrophe, he said.

Maine Governor John Baldacci is expected to sign this week a bill that creates fast-track review of wind farms and sets a goal to develop 3,000 MW of wind energy by 2020. The legislation requires that the state limit project review in the fast-track zone to no more than 185 days, unless a public hearing is necessary, which extends the cut off to 270 days. In contrast, state regulatory review for some Maine wind projects has taken years.

The Maine Power Connection, as it is called, could allow Aroostook County to become a renewable energy center for Maine and the rest of New England, Maine Public Service CEO Brent Boyles said in a telephone interview Friday. The Maine Public Service system now is separated by a 25-mile gap between its lines in Houlton and the Maine Electric Power Co. line that travels from Haynesville to southern and central Maine. Maine Public Service has transmission requests for more than 800 megawatts of potential wind generation projects. Connecting Maine Public Service to the New England grid with a 345-kilovolt transmission line would support those projects, Boyles said. ...But the Maine Power Connection was not developed initially to accommodate wind power. Instead, it was proposed as a possible solution to the lack of electricity generation competition in northern Maine, Boyles said. ...Maine Public Service also is analyzing the feasibility of a third 345-kilovolt transmission line to eastern Canada. ...The Maine Power Connection project relies heavily on the support of ISO-New England and its member utilities. If ISO-New England believes a project will enhance electric power reliability, then it allows the cost of the project to be divided among ratepayers. But if Maine pulls out of ISO-New England, Boyles said the project will be difficult to fund.

Regarding the three-page petition, based on legal advice, Touchette said the board had to accept it. However, he added, the petition doesn't demand a revote of the March 3 town meeting ordinance amendment vote that OK'd the creation of a wind farm district. Essentially, the petition is a proposed land-use ordinance that seeks to ban wind power development in Roxbury as of March 3 until the town can create and adopt zoning and land-use ordinances. It requires planners to regulate wind power development "to minimize its deleterious effects on public health, safety and welfare." ..."We've also been advised to do a revote on the (March 3) ordinance, because there were a few gray areas involved," Touchette said. "We had a public informational meeting instead of a public hearing.

Town ordinances in this coastal Washington County community only allow structures shorter than 50 feet, or 35 feet if the property falls within the designated shoreland zone near the Pleasant River. But Thompson said she felt that the debate over alternative energy sources such as wind power was one worth having, even in her small town. So, after failing twice to get a variance from the town's planning board, Thompson explored the process of amending the municipal height ordinance to allow taller towers. Thanks in large part to her tenacity on the issue, the Addison Board of Selectmen voted unanimously on Wednesday to put the question out to voters. "At least it will go to the voters. That's all I wanted,"

The goal is not only to link Maine Public Service with the regional power grid but also to provide capacity for proposed wind power projects totaling 800 megawatts, five times Maine Public Service's existing load. Aroostook's existing 42-megawatt wind power project on Mars Hill sends its electricity to Canada. The northern Maine power grid's isolation has been a barrier to competition. In December 2006, the Maine Public Utilities Commission's standard offer solicitation attracted only one bidder. ...The line, between 150 and 200 miles long, would cost between $400 million and $500 million, but it would be economically feasible with the participation of ISO-New England and its member utilities, officials said.

A Texas company is courting Aroostook County landowners as it moves forward with plans for several large wind farms that could transform the landscape in some areas of northern Maine. Horizon Wind Energy's long-term plan envisions up to 400 turbines spinning in the farm fields and forests of Aroostook County. Company officials say they are focusing on a forested area west of Bridgewater. But Horizon officials are keeping mum on additional locations, adding only that most are agricultural or forested sites in eastern Aroostook County. ...Horizon, which is also operating locally under the subsidiary name Aroostook Wind Energy, has been quietly working on the project since 2005. ...Dawe said Horizon has received positive feedback from many landowners but that the company strives to be upfront and open about the project. "A wind power project is a large undertaking," he said. "Turbines are neither silent nor invisible."

Residents of Roxbury will get another opportunity to vote on changes to the town's ordinance that were passed at the March 3 town meeting, giving the go-ahead to developers to put up a series of wind towers on a mountain ridge in the town. The Concerned Citizens to Save Roxbury have since gathered 89 petition signatures for a moratorium on wind power development in town. Many of the citizens opposed to the wind towers, according to Linda Kuras of the Concerned Citizens, felt they were not given an adequate opportunity to address the negative aspects of the wind towers at the town meeting. ... The citizen's group has sought legal counsel from attorney Frank M. Underkuffler. ...Underkuffler noted several errors in the zoning ordinance amendment. "It does not allow, it actually forces your planning board to abdicate its land planning responsibilities just when the largest, most controversial project comes to your town," he wrote. "Large projects requiring DEP review are exactly those projects local planning boards most want to review."

Harley Lee stood before lawmakers on the Utilities and Energy Committee at the State House on Monday, once again making the case for a Redington Township wind farm permit. ..."We've put over a decade in this and over $5 million so it's been a huge effort to try to save the planet here in Maine," said Lee, president of Endless Energy Corp. of Yarmouth. The debate over developing wind power in Maine was renewed during a public hearing before the legislative committee. The hearing focused on legislation to streamline and expedite the regulation process for wind power developers. The bill is based on the recommendations of Gov. John Baldacci's wind power task force, which released its official report in mid-February. ...Several people stood in opposition of the bill, including Dain Trafton of Phillips. Trafton said the bill's emphasis on streamlining the permitting process would weaken environmental protections already in place.