The WindAction Group (www.windAction.org)
Facts, analysis, exposure to industrial wind energy's real impacts
Library filed under Impact on Landscape from Maine
Harris letter to Roxbury and Byron Maine
Mark and Kate Harris of Mars Hill, ME provided this letter to the residents of Roxbury, ME in hopes the voters would make an informed decision before agreeing to permit industrial turbines on their ridgelines.
Boyd letter to Roxbury and Byron Maine
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.
Wind farm project sparks controversy
Controversy over a proposed wind power project in Byron and Roxbury continues to grow the closer Byron gets to its town meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday. An article in the warrant seeks to amend Byron's building ordinance to allow 450-foot-tall wind towers and turbines to be placed along a ridge between Old Turk Mountain and Record Hill. ...Some information regarding noise levels in those letters and on Record Hill's Web site is being questioned publicly by coalition members Linda Kuras and Sarah Nedeau and others.
Todd letter to Roxbury and Byron Maine
Wendy Todd of 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 Wendy Todd.
Welcome to Mars Hill - Part 1 of 3
This video introduces you to the people of Mars Hill ME who are being driven from their homes due to wind turbine noise. UPC Wind installed 28 1.5 MW turbines within 2600 feet of where these families live. The problem of noise developed almost immediately after the turbines were turned on. Welcome to Mars Hill: Part 1: 9 minutes 42 seconds Part 2: 9 minutes 06 seconds Part 3: 3 minutes 15 seconds Credits: Special thanks to Carol and Paul Brouha, Bobbie Kinnel, Wendy Todd, and Praetorian Productions for creating this video. We also wish to thank Rick Bolton of Environmental Compliance Alliance for converting the DVD to .wmv format.
Green projects generate splits in activist groups
On Capitol Hill, the Audubon Society is leading the fight to increase production of climate-friendly power. So why are Audubon enthusiasts battling a wind farm that could help meet that goal? For one thing, there are trout in nearby streams, which activists say are at risk from chemical and sediment runoff from construction of 30 turbines, each soaring about 400 feet -- taller than the Statue of Liberty. Then there are the bats and hawks, which might be puréed by the giant blades that would catch the wind gusting along the Allegheny Mountains of Western Pennsylvania. "They're enormous," says Tom Dick, a retired veterinarian who founded the local Audubon chapter. "When you start looking at this, it's like, 'hell, this is not right.'"
LURC OKs wind farm
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.
There is another side of the story of wind power project in Freedom
Many people, including the editors of the Sentinel, think that the group of neighbors who oppose the wind turbine project in Freedom do so because they do not want it in their backyard. The issue is far more complicated than that. Here are some of the facts that the Sentinel should have researched if it were to write a legitimate editorial.
The horrible realities of wind power in Maine
Imagine that number of turbines, strung along our mountains from the Maine-New Hampshire border, along the spine of the mountains to the Kennebec River and beyond. Roads up steep slopes will have to be built to each grouping of turbines. New power lines will be strung down valleys to reach grid connections. Blinking lights at night will be visible for a hundred miles or more. This scenario is too horrible for most Mainers to believe, or even visualize. Yet it is being proposed.
Wendy Todd testimony before Maine Wind Task Force
In my opinion [Mars Hill] is some of the prettiest acreage in Aroostook and I was very happy to come home to it, in fact…it was my dream. ... The turbines however, have changed most of that as the land that was once known for its remote nature, wildlife and solitude is now home to an industrial power plant. For anyone to say that a wind turbine facility has a low impact on the local environment… is irresponsible. Yet the industry and the media surrounding it seem insistent on making light of the problems that exist. The problems are real and they are hurting families emotionally, physically and economically. ...
Wind power project faces LURC
The Black Nubble Wind Farm, which calls for 18 turbines on the western Maine mountain, will go before the public Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the Sugarloaf Grand Summit Conference Center in Carrabassett Valley. ... The Black Nubble proposal is a smaller version of the Redington wind farm proposal, which was rejected by Land Use Regulation Commission members in an unusual 6-1 vote in January that went against the recommendation of its own staff.
Mars Hill 2006 (under construction)
All the roads and pads installed; most turbine bases present. The roads measure nearly 100 feet wide, and the cleared areas likely average 4-5 acres per turbine. As much as 1-square mile of forest interior was lost due to the "edge effects" caused by the extensive fragmentation of the Mars Hill forest by this project's infrastructure.
Empty Wind?
The town of Mars Hill...is the test bed for all that is good and not so good about wind power in Maine. ... With the failure of two other wind power proposals - a thirty-turbine project in Redington Township outside Rangeley and a three-unit installation in the town of Freedom in central Maine - the Mars Hill experience raises the question of wind power's future in the state. An energy technology praised as the green alternative to fossil fuels and one of the solutions to global climate change has produced controversies that have split the environmental community in Maine and made enemies of natural allies.
‘Green’ groups support project
Three environmental organizations agreed to back the proposed Kibby Mountain wind-power project in Franklin County after the developer agreed to pay $500,000 to protect several high-elevation acres in Oxford County. According to a late Tuesday afternoon report, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Maine Audubon and Natural Resources Council of Maine negotiated the deal with TransCanada Maine Wind Development Inc.
Neighbors make noise about Mars Hill turbines
In the Aroostook County town of Mars Hill, 28 wind turbines will soon be generating electricity. Even before they begin commercial operation, however, the windmills are generating considerable controversy. The biggest issue is noise.
Mars Hill wind turbine in view
Mountain Road residents Perrin and Wendy Todd say their sleep patterns are disrupted by noise from the line of windmills that loom over their newly constructed house.
Mars Hill tries to get used to new windmills
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.
LURC rejects Redington wind farm
FARMINGTON–The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission voted, 6-1 against rezoning 1,004 mountaintop acres in northern Franklin County for a 30-turbine wind-energy project today. Only commissioner Stephen Wight, of Newry, supported the rezoning request. The commission's staff had previously recommended the rezoning be approved.
Mars Hill- Map of Turbine Locations
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Dan Boone created this image using the digital USGS 7.5-minute topographic map mosaic for Aroostook County, ME (from NRCS Geospatial Data Gateway) and incorporated the turbine and met tower locations according to lat-long coordinates provided in FAA's 7460-1 database for this facility - e.g.,
https://www.oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaaEXT/searchAction.jsp?action=displayOECase&oeCaseID=454417 .
Note that the 28 1.5-MW wind turbines are under construction during the last months of 2006 by Evergreen Wind Power, LLC; according to FAA they are slated to be 389 feet in overall height (from ground level to highest point of rotor).
As indicated, the photo of Mars Hill Turbine #9 is available via this link:
http://www.windaction.org/pictures/5919 ;
which provides a south-looking view of the north end of Mars Hill.