Maine Editorial Against Redington Windmills

A well-written op-ed piece by Dain Trafton in the 13 Janaury 2007 Bangor Daily News slices and dices the recent recommendation by the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) staff to the LURC commissioners that recommends going ahead with the wind turbine development at Redington. Trafton's view is that the staff recommendation is painfully one-sided.

"A powerful motive behind the staff (and much of the public) support for the project is the belief that it is urgently needed in order to reduce emissions from fossil fuels and to combat global warming. This belief apparently trumps all other concerns — the law that protects the area from development, the environmental damage that will undeniably result from heavy construction on the fragile ridges, the intrusion of industry close to the Appalachian Trail in one of Maine’s most spectacular mountain ranges, the potential harm to the area’s economy, which depends increasingly on tourism, and so on."

Unwrapping the usually knotty arguments, Trafton points out that "their job is not to answer the question, do we need wind power somewhere, but rather do we need it here in this highly sensitive site?" Indeed!