WIND’S RELEVANCE

Last month’s testimony from the National Park Service that global warming is irrelevant to consideration of wind power projects in Maine highlights the difficulty of balancing competing views and goals. It also shows that Maine, through its Land Use Regulation Commission, which regulates development in the state’s 10 million acres of Unorganized Territory, must continue to play a leading role in siting wind power in the absence of federal policy.

LURC will again be the focus of supporters and detractors of wind power this week as it begins consideration of the Kibby wind power project in western Maine. The agency must balance concerns such as noise and visual impact against the larger problem of the state and country’s reliance on fossil fuels to power everyday necessities and conveniences from lighting to DVD players. The burning of oil, natural gas and coal are major contributors to climate change. With the seriousness of this problem, coupled with growing concern that demand for oil will soon exceed supply, expanding alternatives such as wind power makes sense for the country and Maine.

So it was surprising to hear a representative of the National Park Service say that such concerns were “irrelevant” to LURC’s consideration of the Black Nubble Mountain wind project, also in western Maine. Pam Underhill, superintendent of the Appalachian Trail, which passes close to Black Nubble Mountain, said supporters of the project were naive to think spoiling views along a pristine section of the 2,000-mile trail would help reduce mountaintop mining in West Virginia.

While one wind project won’t do much to slow mountaintop removal, building many wind farms will. Maine, with a proven wind resource in rural parts of the state, can play an important role in moving wind power from a fringe concept to an accepted part of the country’s energy infrastructure.

Further, LURC is required to assess the impact of the development it is reviewing. Weighing a project’s potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which pose a real threat to mountain habitats, is certainly relevant.

The Kibby project includes 44 turbines, which would produce an average of 357 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power about 50,000 households. Because the turbines are not proposed to be located in areas that provide habitat for protected species and because the two ranges where they would be located are far from populated areas and public recreation areas, the project is supported by leading environmental groups including Maine Audubon and the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

A much larger project in the same area, by a company called Kenetech, was permitted by LURC in the 1990s, but not built because the company went bankrupt. The Kibby project will be less visible and damaging to the landscape.

This project will enable Maine to move beyond the unacceptable status quo of sticking with oil or gas or coal before upsetting a view or landscape. It is a tough, but necessary, decision.