Baldacci names 16 to task force reviewing wind power policies

AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci has named the members of a 16-person state panel that will review Maine’s policies on wind power and set goals for expanding the clean energy source through 2020.

Created by executive order in May, the Governor’s Task Force on Wind Power Development in Maine will recommend changes to the state’s review process that would be “beneficial for assuring that Maine has a balanced, efficient and appropriate regulatory framework for evaluating” projects, according to the group’s purpose statement.

The panel also will create guidelines intended to help would-be wind project developers identify appropriate locations for turbines that minimize legal issues and conflicts over natural resources and scenic views.

Alec Giffen, director of the Maine Forest Service, will head the task force.

Other members of the Baldacci administration serving on the panel are: David Littell, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection; Kathleen Leyden with the State Planning Office; John Kerry, director of the Office of Energy Independence and Security; Patrick McGowan, commissioner of the Department of Conservation; and Steve Timpano with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Four members of the Legislature were appointed to the panel. They are: Sen. Philip Bartlett, D-Gorham; Rep. Stacey Fitts, R-Pittsfield; Sen. Walter Gooley, R-Farmington; and Rep. W. Bruce MacDonald, D-Boothbay.

The remaining representatives named to the panel are: Juliet Browne of the law firm Verrill Dana; Pete Didisheim with the Natural Resources Council of Maine; Judy Dorsey of Gardiner; Jody Jones of Maine Audubon; Milton McBreairty with IBEW Local Union 567; and Dave Wilby with the Independent Energy Producers of Maine.

The panel is not intended to “delay or interfere with” projects already in the permitting process, according to the purpose statement. But the governor hopes the group could improve the regulatory review as well as guide future projects.

Only one major wind farm, located in the Mars Hill community of Aroostook County, now operates in the state. Three major projects are pending with the Land Use Regulation Commission and more have been proposed for other areas of the state.

One proposal, a 30-turbine wind farm in the mountains near Sugarloaf/USA, was defeated after groups expressed concern about the project’s impact on wildlife and views from the ski resort and the Appalachian Trail. The project developer, Maine Mountain Power, has since eliminated the most controversial portion of the wind farm.

The Mars Hill project also has raised concerns about noise levels from large wind farms.

Two other wind projects pending with LURC – a 38-turbine farm on Stetson Mountain in northern Washington County and a 44-turbine farm on Kibby Mountain in northern Franklin County – have generated far less opposition so far.

LURC is tentatively scheduled to hold a public hearing on the Stetson Mountain project in Lincoln on Aug. 8.