Since First Wind LLC changes their name about every 6 months ...and then they are no longer liable for debt etc....there are numerous lawsuits out against them . The NY attorney general is investigating them for bribery of public officials , false instruments, (lying in public documents) ....they hope they can builld Stetson II....they are breaking state law in Mars Hill on noise ...

Their SEC Report last fall, in their own words, we are over 500 million in debt and may have to sell of assets. We may have problems with the IRS because we don't have enough accountants. We may have lawsuits from enviromentalists because we build wind farms in migratory bird paths.

There isn't any room on the New England Grid for Stetson . Mars Hill power goes to Canada.

Every problem in Maine can be solved by a wind farm according to Gov. Baldaci.

The banks aren't lending. Larry Summers through D E Shaw Group funds First Wind. Republicans and democrats want him to resign for helping the banks steal money from tax payers to pay the CEO's millions.

Do all these deliberations on just how to get the wind farm in Lincoln seem bizarre?

I saw in Portsmith Rhode Island that they had a huge windmill and they provide electricity to all of the cities buildings, schools, library, police, etc. and saving the taxpayers a lot of money. We all should be looking into it.

Hey Lincoln Town Council memebers, don't take a check....

First Wind absolutely does not need a TIF. They will still build the wind farm, and will make lots of money off it. Lincoln town Selectmen, keep the tax money and be fair and equitable to your town and surrounding communities.

All wind turbine projects should give small flat rate to towns tax payers who have thm before they are allowed to sell any either south or north. Gulf of Maine projects should any occur should power maine first and only then be allowed to sell to away. Tax payers in the state either income or property tax payers should get low flat rates. businesses who buy property here or pay taxes here who could be assured of low energy costs would would want to stay and grow.

The Town of Lincoln is poised to provide a massive, unnecessary subsidy to First

Wind for its “Rollins” project by the proposed Tax Increment Financing (TIF). TIF is

a useful economic development tool when used in a proper way. Right here in

Lincoln are two of the finest examples of TIF used properly. The expansion of LP &

T for its new tissue machine assisted the mill to be more competitive and provided

a good number of new union-scale jobs. The proposed development of the

downtown area where the great fire was addresses blight and expands needed

low-income housing. These were worthy TIFs.

The TIF for First Wind is another matter. Unlike LP & T, which is an expansion of an

existing business that is the economic mainstay of the region, and unlike Lincoln

competing for a desirable business to locate here instead of another community,

TIF should not be used to help First Wind. There are no communities in Maine

actively seeking a sprawling industrial wind site, so Lincoln need not compete to

lure First Wind to locate here instead of elsewhere. There are many reasons why a

large number of Lincoln residents believe First Wind should not locate in Lincoln

Lakes Region at all. If you read the Lincoln News every week or you visit

www.friendsoflincolnlakes.org, you should be familiar with all the problems

associated with an industrial wind site.

First Wind is a company whose business model depends on subsidies and market

manipulations to make money. They already have tremendous advantages from

double declining balance 5-year depreciation for writing off infrastructure and

equipment costs. They can write off windmills quicker than the mill can write off a

tissue machine! They have 2.1 cents per kilowatt-hour production tax credit, which

will reap them more than $4 million dollars per year from this project. They have

the ability to sell the same kilowatts as “green tax credits” to polluting industries.

Through Renewable Portfolio Standards, they have guaranteed access to the New

England electricity market whether the electricity is needed or not. These investors

are laughing all the way to the bank at taxpayers and ratepayers expense! This is

a financial scam of major magnitude!

Now they come to the Town of Lincoln and “negotiate” (by paying Lincoln?s portion

of the bill from Eaton Peabody) a TIF that further subsidizes them on the local level.

What kind of “negotiation” occurs when First Wind pays for two attorneys from the

same company to create a TIF? It is collusion and conflict of interest, not an

adversarial negotiation whereby the Town looks out for getting the best deal

possible. The terms of the TIF are ludicrous and I encourage everyone to go to the

Town of Lincoln website and study it. The term of the TIF is 30 years, yet GE, the

manufacturer of the turbines, estimates the useful lifetime of the turbine to be 20

years. The split of the taxes is 60% subsidy for First Wind and only 40% for Town

of Lincoln; we should be at least 50-50 to be fair! The number of new jobs created

is 5-10; come on, which is it? First Wind kept saying over and over at public

meetings it was at least 10. These are just some

examples of the problems with the TIF. By letting First Wind dictate the terms, your

elected and appointed town officials have not represented the best interests of the

residents of the Town.

Actually, the Town officials have things completely backwards as they deal with

First Wind and it is a result of the desire for development at any price. The price

Lincoln residents pay by allowing First Wind to develop its industrial wind site is a

great one. It is one that is difficult to put a price on. Blasting away the ridges of

Rocky Dundee and Rollins Mt., fragmenting wildlife habitat, ruining people?s lives

with the well known noise and vibro-acoustic health effects, the visual blight of 389

foot steel towers and composite blades, the loss of property value all lead the litany

of negative impacts of this project. The damage far exceeds the pittance of TIF

money First Wind will generate to the town.

What the town should do is no TIF for First Wind. Tell First Wind to pay its full share

of taxes just like every other business in town. Furthermore, a hefty “impact fee”

should be levied every year to offset the loss of state subsidies due to higher

municipal valuation and to provide real property tax relief for the residents of

Lincoln. A good source of that impact fee would be a percentage of the Production

Tax Credit earned by the 18 turbines located in Lincoln. After all, the electricity and

the profits all go to Massachusetts and we get stuck with ugly turbines. First Wind

should pay for the damage done to the natural resources of the Lincoln Lakes

Region and for being allowed to change the area in such a dramatic and pervasive

way.

A renegotiated TIF? No way! Pay your full share Firstwind, you TAX PIGGIES.

Impact fees, a cut of the electricity (if you ever produce any), and a cut the the REC's

you make for your hedge scamming credits...OR GO AWAY!

TIF negotiations are PUBLIC negotiations, which discuss use of public monies, for public use. EXECUTIVE SESSION utilization for such a purpose is clearly ILLEGAL under Chapter I, MRSA 405(Executive Session), as confirmed by Eaton Peabody's lawyer at Open forum prior to the illegal session. Excuse us, our Eaton/Peabody lawyer. Isn’t he the Town lawyer too? HA HA.

The entire TIF process must now be declared tainted, and illegal. How much has Firstwind offered the town to help in the suits that will follow? We know…Look, our business plan does not allow us to function in a fair, open market environment.We will always distort it in our direction, any way we can.

Executive session use throughout this project has been illegal. We know that. FOIA breaches abound.We know that. Lincoln has just started feeling the bite of real ethical process in town government. The weight of the law in public process will be utilized to its fullest extent we are told. Sure.!

Watch your budget more closely Lincoln, you are about to have more issues under certain line items. But we will milk your tax breaks that we will try to get(and don’t need). Remember, that is how we function! Hedge, Scam, Intimidate, Social Marketing in our favor, Lie, Decieve. All in an expedited process to avoid detection if we do it quickly enough, and dupe simple Lincoln folks…Oh well…