A NEW WIND

Wind farms hold the promise of power without climate change-inducing greenhouse gases. But the tall towers and large turbines, especially if perched on mountaintops, change a scenic landscape. The choice then is between two public goods – clean, renewable power and preserving unique areas that are often used for recreation.

Two environmental groups are working to help power developers and regulators balance the two goods. This is worthwhile and needed work as state regulators will soon consider three wind farm proposals with more likely.

Developers have already mapped out the state’s wind potential. As expected, much of the strongest wind blows across mountaintops making the high peaks and ridges of western Maine promising for wind-power generation. These same alpine areas are also home to fragile ecosystems, rare plants and animals, and in some areas, recreational areas such as the Appalachian Trail. This can lead to conflict between environmental groups and developers as seen by the Appalachian Mountain Club and Maine Audubon’s opposition to the Redington Wind Farm near Sugarloaf.

To show they are not opposed to all wind farms, just ones in what they consider the wrong places, both groups are developing criteria to site turbines in areas that won’t harm wildlife or spoil prime mountaintops.

Audubon’s effort naturally focuses on avoiding wildlife conflicts. Along with wind power developers and state regulators, the group is developing guidelines for what areas to avoid and what areas would require further study. Endangered species habitat, for example, should be avoided while bird and bat migrations routes would need more study.

The Appalachian Mountain Club covers some of the same ground but in a different way. The group is mapping areas with good wind potential and overlaying that with information on recreational uses, scenic values and ecological characteristics to identify areas where developers are likely to meet a lot of resistance and areas where they are not.

The idea, says David Publicover of AMC is to narrow the “gray area” where the chances of a project’s success are hard to predict. Sharing this information with developers before they propose a project could direct wind farms to areas where they are most appropriate.

Layering these sets of data – wind maps, recreation maps and wildlife criteria – together, developers, regulators and environmental groups can come to better consensus on where wind projects are most appropriate. This should ease the review process for all parties.

These efforts won’t end opposition to wind farms or guarantee that projects supported by these groups will go forward. But, it should make for better-informed proposals and more thoughtful discussion of their merits and problems.