Reversing the turbines on Maine's mountains

The opening page of a brochure I picked up recently, produced by the Friends of the Highland Mountains, asks if 300 miles of industrial wind turbines on rural Maine's mountains are a good idea?

Good question.

It goes on:

"Highland Plantation, just east of Carrabassett Valley, is the proposed site of a large industrial scale wind turbine complex slated for construction in 2010. This project, if granted a permit will: Cover over 8 miles of mountain ridgeline with 48 40-story wind turbines and clearcut over 500 acres of mountain forests; add up to 35 flashing red lights to our nights sky; blast and excavate over 1.6 million yards of mountain to build miles of new ridgetop roads and concrete foundations - the wind industry's version of mountaintop removal."

Doesn't sound very appealing, does it? Much less environmentally friendly.

Puts this concerned citizen right back at square one I'm afraid.

Wind power or no?

For me, I'm back to no. And plan to remain there.

Consider the recent review by Trevor Butterworth of the book Power Hungry by author Robert Bryce :

"Once you've carpeted your tract of wilderness with turbines and gotten over any guilt you might feel about the thousands of birds you're about to kill, prepare to be underwhelmed and underpowered. Look at Texas, Mr. Bryce says: It ranks sixth in the world in total wind-power production capacity, and it has been hailed as a model for renewable energy and green jobs by Republicans and Democrats alike. And yet, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which runs the state's electricity grid, just "8.7 percent of the installed wind capability can be counted on as dependable capacity during the peak demand period." The wind may blow in Texas, but, sadly, it doesn't blow much when it is most needed-in summer. The net result is that just 1% of the state's reliable energy needs comes from wind.

If using a huge amount of real estate to generate a tiny amount of energy from an intermittent energy source sounds deranged, consider, too, that we haven't yet found the Holy Grail for storing wind-generated energy. Wind is either an instant energy snack or a famine. It must be used when it's there or immediately replaced when it isn't."

Yikes.

And isn't that what we're doing here in Maine? Sacrificing huge swaths of remote mountaintops for a veritable pittance of sometimes unreliable energy that is many miles from where it's needed?

First it was Mars Hill. Then Stetson Mountain. Then the Kibby Range. And I'm sure I've missed a few.

Only by vehement and vigilant opposition was the MATC able to beat back the attempt to put wind turbines center stage in the view shed of the Appalachian Trail.

But the wind energy people are relentless. They see a welcome market here in Maine. Lots of remote mountaintops that supposedly produce plenty of wind, in places far enough away that most people couldn't care less about them. Especially when there is a tidal wave of public opinion against oil - foreign and domestic - and high gas prices, rogue states who control much of that oil product, and our own excesses of petroleum use.

Yes, green energy is in. It's vogue. But at what price?

Next time you go hiking the AT over the Bigelows - a place that Mainers fought hard to preserve in 1976 - will you really appreciate the towers, turbines and blinking lights right across the way on the Highland Mountains?

Yep, you got it. This monster project will be right in the view shed - right smack in the middle of a pretty quiet piece of country that just happens to hold a good chunk of the Appalachian Trail, the Bigelow Range, the Carry Ponds, Flagstaff Lake, Sugarloaf, the Crocker Mountains, Burnt Mountain, the new Maine Huts & Trails system including two huts and soon a third... you get the picture.

But do you and me really?

The first time I saw the wind turbines lining the long ridge of Mars Hill in Aroostook County I thought it was pretty cool. And every time since that I've traveled up that way.

Except the last.

That was when I hiked up the mountain, intending to follow the route of the International Appalachian Trail, see the turbines up close and personal, get some views. The usual.

I reached the summit of Mars Hill after passing beneath two huge towers, my first close encounter. On top, rising above the IAT lean-to, there were two more towers, huge turbines whizzing around, sounding a roar not unlike a jet engine as they swooshed overhead.

Still cool, I thought. Kind of. Sort of.

I mean, I knew we needed the green energy and this had seemed like a reasonable alternative. Maybe not in view of the AT, but why not here, in view of Presque Isle.

I left the summit and hiked north. I soon found that the route of the IAT has been obliterated by road construction and tower construction. Along the entire five mile length of the mountain. I know because I hiked every foot of it, all the way out to the road near the US-Canada border crossing. Passing 37-some wind towers.

It was an ugly experience to say the least. I mean, for goodness sakes, the mountaintop had been bulldozed all to hell. Huge areas cleared out for the towers. Then the 300-something foot towers themselves and the whirring blades by day, the flashing lights by night.

It was disturbing, but I somehow accepted that this was how it needed to be. And that there needed to be more of it. And that we would just have to accept it as we found our way to bridge the gap between now - the peak oil age - and whenever we could shift to cleaner, greener power for our vehicles, homes, businesses, industries.

No more. I'm done with it.

The Kibby wind project irked me. The Highland Plantation scares me. We're giving up a lot. And we can't get it back.

If destroying mountains is the best we can do, then the deal is not in our favor. The pay off doesn't even come close to the price.

Reverse the wind turbines in Maine's mountains. Start with the Highland Plantation project.

What, some will say, will we then do as an alternative to wind in Maine? I don't know. But the environmentally destructive wind is not the answer. I mean, it's a fact that conservation can net us the same in energy savings as wind energy can produce. And that's at no cost to our environment.

There has to be another way to go. But wind is not one of them. At least for Maine's mountain environment.

To learn more about the Highland Plantation industrial wind energy complex planned by Highland Wind LLC, check with the folks at Friends of the Highland Mountains online.