Wind Farming in Maine

The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram staff blog "Down to Earth: Thoughts on Maine's Environment" by John Richardson dated 12 May 2007 opens with these words:

"Maine may have turned a corner this week in its effort to lead New England in the development of wind power.

"First, Gov. John Baldacci decided to create a task force to come up with rules, laws and siting standards for attracting wind energy projects to the right places. And second, the company behind a doomed wind farm plan in the western Maine mountains resuscitated the project by scaling back from two mountain ridges to one and moving a couple miles farther away from the Appalachian Trail."

The new wind farm plan, Richardson writes, "won’t get a free pass. The 18 remaining turbines will still be visible from the Appalachian Trail and could still affect birds and other wildlife. Those kinds of potential trade-offs will come with every wind energy plan."