Forum organizers wanted to help residents of Fort Kent, a likely site for a large wind development, to explore the pros and cons of wind farms before any applications are filed, said David Soucy, a lawyer who helped organize the event. Texas-based Horizon Wind has been negotiating lease agreements with landowners in the Fort Kent area and in other parts of Aroostook County with an eye toward building a wind farm. "The issue is not whether wind farms are a good idea or not," Soucy said. "The issue is where can they be ideally situated."

Planning board members approved a $500,000 office building connected to a proposed $130 million wind farm, but decided late Monday they needed another meeting to review the turbines. ...The project entails building 40 1.5-megawatt turbines on ridgelines in Burlington, Lincoln, Lee and Winn, with transmission lines in Mattawamkeag. It also needs approval by the other towns, Maine Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The planning board begins its review tonight of a proposed $130 million wind farm that, if approved, would deposit about 40 mammoth windmills on Rollins Mountain in four towns. First Wind of Massachusetts hopes to build 40 1½-megawatt windmills, each more than 300 feet tall, in Burlington, Lincoln, Lee and Winn, creating as much as 60 megawatts of electricity through Evergreen Wind Power, a First Wind subsidiary.

The electricity grid in Maine and much of the country can't reliably handle new generation capacity from wind power and other renewable resources, an influential industry group says. Aside from beefing up transmission lines, the group said, states must aggressively promote energy efficiency and manage electricity use to balance the on-again, off-again nature of wind and solar power. ...The report, issued last week by the North American Electric Reliability Corp., is expected to influence debate over plans to modernize Maine's transmission grid.

Selectman Bruce Cook has asked fellow board members to consider drawing up an ordinance to regulate wind turbines. The request comes on the heels of a proposal late this summer by Wesley Wentworth to place a municipal turbine somewhere on Pike's Hill. ...There was mixed reaction to the local proposal, which so far has not gotten off the ground. "I'd hate to see Pike's Hill covered with these things," said Cook, who had previously expressed concern about the looks of wind turbines there.

Despite having yet gained town acceptance of its proposed wind power project in Roxbury, a Brunswick-based wind developer will convene an informational meeting next week with state environmental officials present. Robert Gardiner of Record Hill Wind LLC and Independence Wind LLC said the meeting will be held from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20 ...In a letter dated Tuesday to Roxbury residents, Gardiner explained that Record Hill Wind isn't trying to bypass an upcoming Roxbury town vote regarding allowing wind power projects on town hills.

First Wind is seeking approval for a 40-turbine wind project on ridgelines in the communities of Lincoln, Lee, Winn, Burlington and Mattawamkeag. The company filed paperwork for the Rollins Mountain project with the Lincoln planning board last week and submitted applications to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection late last month. The company also submitted applications last week to the Land Use Regulation Commission for a 17-turbine wind project outside of the town of Danforth in northern Washington County.

Residents gave town officials the green light Thursday, Nov. 6, at a special meeting, to get more information from companies interested in erecting wind turbines in Jackson. The vote came after extensive discussion and a number of changes to the way the authorization was worded. The special town meeting was prompted by announcements a month earlier that two different companies were interested in putting wind turbines on town-owned land as part of a larger project that would stretch across three communities.

Residents will have the opportunity at the next annual town meeting to decide the fate of a citizens petition seeking a 180-day moratorium on the construction or processing of applications for wind power facilities. ...After the closed-door session ...the council voted to include the petitioners' warrant request at the next annual town meeting and to request that the petitioners submit a draft warrant item and draft moratorium ordinance by Dec. 31, and directed the town manager to assemble a list of people willing to participate in a study group to review the proposed ordinance and report to the Town Council and planning board.

A group of residents again pressed the new Town Council on Monday night for a 180-day moratorium on wind farms as their reaction to a Massachusetts developer's proposal for a $130 million wind farm. ..."There must be a reason why so many towns in the United States and Europe are holding moratoriums on wind farms," resident Joan Goodwin said. "A huge chunk of land within our towns will be forever blighted by this." About 80 people attended the meeting, held at Mattanawcook Academy to accommodate the crowd.

Turbines have been controversial in recent years, with recreation organizations and nature groups opposing large-scale private wind farms in western and northern Maine. Publicly owned, single turbines have been less controversial. Although they [backyard turbines] can save homeowners 30 to 80 percent on their electric bills, it can take up to a decade - sometimes longer - to recoup the cost. Experts say turbine owners won't be happy with wind power unless they're pursuing it to help the environment as well as save money.

The goal of any new laws would be to protect the property values of residents who may not want wind towers close to their homes, Village President Roger Day said. "Ecologically, they're a good thing," Day said. "They just have to be out of the way of where people are and where growth is happening." Boone County's quintessential wind farm case dates back to October 2005, when the Boone County Board first voted down a special-use permit for a 15-turbine project on farmland near Quail Trap and Ramsay roads. The no vote set off a back-and-forth legal battle that didn't end until July 2007, when a judge upheld the board's third and final vote - a rejection of the wind project.

There's nothing on the books about wind energy in York, but by next year that could change. The town hopes to get public input this month about a draft ordinance on small residential wind turbines during the first of a number of workshops, said Town Planner Christine Grimando. ...you don't want it to have a bad impact on the environment or the economy, the local tourism.

Following 90 minutes of discussion at Wednesday night's Planning Commission meeting, the only decision made by its three-member board was to reconvene discussion on Nov. 12 and continue it to Nov. 13 if needed. The commission comprised of planners Barry Bunten, Mark Henry and Randy Orr was tasked by selectmen with drafting an amendment to the 1993 comprehensive plan addressing renewable energy to allow wind power facilities in Roxbury.

A citizens group that opposes a proposed $120 million wind farm on Rollins Mountain has acquired a headquarters, a Web site and is in talks with an attorney, leading members said Wednesday. The Friends of Lincoln Lakes hopes to use the Web site, friendsoflincolnlakes.org, as a magnet for others statewide and nationwide who oppose or want to learn about wind farms such as those proposed by First Wind of Massachusetts.

Jo Dunphy, first assessor welcomed everyone. Dunphy issued a special welcome to former governor Angus King and Robert H. Gardiner, who own Independence Wind LLC of Cumberland, and have joined forces with Wagner Forest Services (who own some one million acres of land in Maine) to construct some 40 windmills in Highland Plantation on Wagner land. ...King noted that once the wind towers were operating they might be able to pay the first 500 kilowatts of electricity in each household in Highland each month and that 90 percent of the taxes of those living in Highland would be paid by the Independence Wind Company.

The first draft of land-use rules to allow the installation of wind turbine towers was introduced to the planning board Oct. 15. The standards in the draft ordinance were set with the aim of making wind energy production possible for home and business owners ...Some board members said they would likely favor greater setbacks, largely because of potential noise generated by a turbine.

[T]here are some negatives associated with the increasingly popular form of alternative energy, according to a University of New Hampshire expert. But the cons - mainly noise and vibrations from the rotating turbines - are generally things people can live with, UNH assistant professor of geography Mary Lemcke said. In South Berwick, a 300-foot-high ridge across from Marshwood High School is being eyed as a possible location for a wind farm. A Cape Neddick-based alternative energy company is conducting a yearlong wind study there with the hopes a wind farm would be viable. For Wisconsin resident Gerry Meyer, however, the sound of five 400-foot-tall wind turbines located within three quarters of a mile of his home is simply unbearable.

The Planning Board doesn't believe a moratorium on wind farms, or new regulations regarding massive wind turbines, are necessary, but other Maine and upstate New York towns disagree, a news survey revealed Wednesday. ...Board members readily admitted that they hadn't any experience dealing with wind turbines, but said it would be their responsibility to learn. Lincoln's land-use laws are comprehensive enough to make further regulations regarding wind farms unnecessary, Ireland said.