Maine Audubon Announces Support for Major Wind-Power Project Proposed in Washington County

UPDATE: November, 2007:

Pending final approval from Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) and Department of Environmental protection, construction will begin this winter on a 57-megawatt wind power project on Stetson Mountain in Washington County, Maine. On November 7, 2007, LURC commissioners unanimously approved a zoning change and preliminary plan for the 38-turbine project.

FALMOUTH, Maine, July 17, 2007—Maine Audubon will not submit testimony it was expected to file by today’s deadline to intervene in an upcoming Maine Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) hearing on a wind-power project proposed for Stetson Mountain in Washington County.

Instead, Maine Audubon will support the Stetson project, after working with its developers to substantially reduce risks the project posed to wildlife. Maine Audubon filed a request with LURC yesterday to withdraw a petition to intervene, which the organization submitted in May.

Stetson Mountain is about seven miles southwest of Danforth, Maine. Evergreen Windpower V, LLC, the project developer, plans to erect 38 turbines that could generate enough electricity annually for about 27,500 Maine homes. The company is seeking rezoning of approximately 4,800 acres as well as a preliminary development permit for a 57-megawatt facility.

Maine Audubon also supports a 44-turbine facility proposed in western Maine on Kibby Mountain. Proposed by TransCanada Maine Wind Development, Inc., it could generate electricity for 50,000 homes in Maine annually.

“In total, Maine Audubon supports proposals to build 82 turbines that could generate enough clean-energy to power 77,500 Maine homes every year,” said Maine Audubon executive director Kevin Carley. “We support these projects because their developers have worked with us to substantially reduce the ways their projects could harm wildlife and natural areas already threatened by global warming. Stetson and Kibby are wind-power projects that can be long-term clean-energy solutions in Maine, because they will be done right.”

Based on discussions it began earlier this year with Maine Audubon, Evergreen Windpower has agreed to submit to LURC changes to improve its proposal from a wildlife-conservation perspective.

They include but are not limited to: extensive study in both spring and fall of the habits and patterns of birds and bats migrating near the site at night; specific documentation of impacts such as the extent of “cut and fill”—how much of the site will be dug out and filled in; and a detailed decommissioning plan holding the company responsible for removing and paying for removal of all above-ground structures should the project no longer produce energy.

Maine Audubon wildlife ecologist Jody Jones said that unlike an 18-turbine project proposed for Black Nubble Mountain—a revision of a project LURC commissioners voted 6-1 to deny earlier this year—the Stetson Mountain project site that Evergreen has selected does not include rare or declining wildlife habitats and is not located in a large, unfragmented high-elevation area zoned as protected.

LURC zoning standards classify areas above 2,700 feet as protected mountain areas. The Stetson project would be constructed at elevations of 600 to 1,000 feet along Stetson Mountain’s ridge, where permanent roads already are nearby and within commercial forest.

Evergreen Windpower has already conducted preconstruction migration studies of birds and bats in the area, and has agreed that when the project is operating it will conduct further studies to determine the extent of bird and bat mortality in the vicinity of the turbines. Jones said that because 400-foot turbines are a new technology, post-construction studies are essential to understanding wind-power projects’ impacts on migrating species.

The company also has agreed to mitigate for adverse impacts on species it might find are being harmed by turbines.

“In 20 years, we want the people of Maine to look back at the decisions Maine made about wind power projects and say, ‘We got it right, when we had the chance,’ ” Jones said. “Like all major development proposals LURC reviews, its decisions about wind-power proposals will set precedents for how Maine conserves valuable, vast, spectacular landscapes.”

Carley also said that TransCanada, the developer of the wind-power project Maine Audubon supports for Kibby Mountain, collaborated with Maine Audubon from the project’s inception and was diligent in the assessment and design of its project. He said TransCanada amended its application to LURC to include additional measures to reduce potential harm to wildlife and habitat and the recreational, scenic, and other natural-resource values that make high-elevation environments so special.

Carley also noted that Governor Baldacci’s new Task Force on Wind Power Development is set to hold its first meeting this week. The task force will review regulations that affect the development of wind-power projects in the state, toward the goal of assuring that Maine has a balanced and efficient regulatory framework for evaluating proposed projects.

Jones, a long-time wildlife ecologist who has reviewed wind-power proposals and worked with wind-power developers for more than 10 years, has been appointed to the task force.

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