Maine has great – and measurable – potential to reap electricity from the wind. But without a clear set of rules for the wind power industry to consider before proposing projects, that potential may go unfulfilled. Recently, the Land Use Regulation Commission approved one wind power project in the western mountains while denying another. Land use criteria, tied to a consensus understanding of the conditions under which wind farms are not appropriate, need to be developed.

Gov. John Baldacci wisely recognized that the state is at the dawn of a new age when it comes to energy, and convened a task force to study how Maine might realize its wind power potential while also protecting the state’s “quality of place.” The task force issued its draft report last Wednesday, and among its recommendations, it calls for setting a goal of generating an additional 2,000 megawatts of wind power by 2015. That’s equal to the capacity of two Maine Yankee nuclear power plants.

To reach that goal, the task force concludes, the regulatory process must be streamlined. One of several permitting problems the task force identified is that state site law requires projects to fit harmoniously with the natural environment from a scenic perspective. A case can be made, the report notes, “that any utility-scale wind project is so large and visible” that whether it fits harmoniously is open to broad interpretation. Clarification is needed.

Another permitting problem identified is LURC’s rezoning rules. Currently, its high mountain protection districts, designed to protect fragile environments, allow logging and ski areas but not wind turbine towers. Standards need to be clarified in this area of law, the task force concluded.

The task force wisely suggests mapping regions where wind power development can find expedited permitting. For starters, these areas might include most organized towns and portions of the Unorganized Territories on the fringe of LURC jurisdiction.

For now, because of cost considerations and technical limitations, no wind power projects have been proposed off Maine’s coast. That may change, so the task force should continue to be proactive and work toward rule recommendations for such projects.

A subcommittee of the task force is looking at community-scaled wind power, meaning smaller projects that power school buildings and the like. Such projects can win over foes of wind farms, as they get to see the benefits up close.

Another energy task force created by the governor, which is investigating the potential for heating residential and public buildings with fuels derived from Maine’s abundant forests, has just begun meeting. The wood fuel frontier, at least in theory, may be even more promising than wind power. And it could spawn a viable business sector in turning trees into wood pellets and create a manufacturing industry building wood pellet-fired furnaces.

Wind and wood are the silver lining to the dark cloud of declining petroleum resources, reviving hope for a new era of a Maine resource-based economy. State government should act quickly and without equivocation to support wind and wood energy solutions.