First Wind will win. They have the law on their side. The Energy Act of 2005 states that expediency takes precedence over cost, environment and local autonomy. That is the reason Stetson II has all their equipment to start up, costing thousands of dollars to move and LURC hasn't even approved it. Didn't even have a public hearing. No longer necessary ...it is called streamling the process. The profits for the transmission lines will not only go out of state ..they will go out of country. Iberdrola out of Spain has bought Central Maine Power and Maine Natural Gas. They bought Energy East out of Portland Maine. They are funded by Abu Dhabi Natural Energy Co. So the transmission lines Central Maine Power wants built for the little fits and spits of power coming from wind farms all over every little mountain will help a foreign country. We had enough power and transmission lines before First Wind came to town. The estimated cost of transmission lines a few months ago was 400 million. then 800 million...then a billion ...then 1.2 billion. By the time PUC approves ...at this rate it will be 3 billion..the cost of which will be.tacked on to our utilility bills. After we are all bent over...will we let Spain know we are out of power?

Tourism will be seriously affected. A wind farm was proposed near the Appalachian Trail..a popular hiking spot up a mountain was to be gated. A forest ranger supervisor was testifying against. Rep. Darrel Issa from Ca. got in touch with LURC and stated that only cabinet level officials could testify....by order of the president. Her testimony was entered into the record but not heard. Time answers some questions. Mine were why does the president care? Why is Maine going along with it? Guess it's that Abu Dhabi money. But why is LURC approving First Wind wind farms when they are so obviously criminal. They still haven't met state noise law. Despite the fact that they bought and paid for 2 noise tests...which the state accepted. They were sued by surplec for a transformer which was used in Mars Hill but declared "unmerchantable." Surplec lost the case. The NY AG is investigating First Wind for fraud and bribery of public officials. So much bribery is coming to light in Ill. ....wonder if it will here in Maine? Time will tell.

It is really sad Lincoln has to spend $10,000 for a lawyer. But a local businessman ,who has received gifts, was pushing the small community of Lee to loan First Wind $20,000 to hire lawyers. They were to look for tax loop holes for money for wind farms. First Wind being over a half billion in debt...I guess was the reason they weren't paying for it themselves. I personally would not want to lend money to criminals in debt. Seems like someone in business wouldn't either.

I have defended and advocated the wind project from the begining, but this doesn't make sense to me. Why doesn't First Wind pay to come here? Yes we want business in Lincoln, but if all is right it would seem that we wouldn't have to pay someone $10,000 to justify why it's right. Let First Wind Pay or we don't need it.

First Wind/UPC is being investigated by NY AG for bribery, anti trust, and other criminal behavior. They are being sued in NY, where they are trying to get property by eminent domain. I believe they are also being sued over high noise levels that they knowingly lied about in Mars Hill.

The only thing green about First Wind/UPC is the money they plan to make at the expense of tax and rate payers. Without subsidies, tax credits, renewable portfolio standards and the sale of renewable energy credits no one would considered building these inefficent, loud, environmentally destructive eyesores.

Proponents say this project will create 60MW in peak winds. Peak winds don't blow that often. How much power will be produced in the more commomn times of no wind??? Zero.

SCAM!

Well, we ALL know what a mess Govorner Baldacci has made of this state since taking office. Why would pushing these on us all be any different? I for one can't wait till he is back in the kitchen making spaghetti ! I hope the town of Lincoln kicks these guys out! It is too late for us at Stetson Mountain, but not for Lincoln! Fight them for all your worth! I live 3 miles from the wind towers out here, they are just testing a few at a time, but we already hear them when we are outdoor. What will it be like when they are all running and it is summertime with the windows open? The sound of jet planes that never end. My neighbor who is two miles from them, is hearing them inside the house with the furnace and tv running. Their dog is pacing around listening to the noise from them. There is no more peace in Prentiss. Gone forever, don't let them take it away from you in Lincoln. You will regret it. BAD neighbors lease land to wind developers, because they don't care you. Bet THEY don't live near them, now do they? What rights do they have to call us NIMBYS, because we don't want to live next to the towers? I hope they enjoy spending their money from the hurt the inflict on their neighbors ! WE know who the GOOD neighbors are! And don't give us the line " its our land to do with as we please, and your just mad because you aren't getting anything out of it" , It is your land, but when it degrades the quality of life of those living nearby you should not be able to do it. I for one would not want money from these scammers! After all is said and done, when these have to be taken down in 20 years who will pay? Especially if First Wind has gone bankrupt, after all it is the landowner who owns the land, not First Wind, they only lease it. It could get to be pretty costly for the landowner, but then they deserve the mess left behind.

Bring on the wind farm - it will benefit far more people than the tourism industry. Too bad they're spending money to try to stop this type of development.

Wind power is sprawling across Maine because Balducci formed a Task Force last session that resulted in "emergency legislation" paving the way for wind. A reading of the Task Force documents reveals that LURC's position was that Maine's "sense of place" needed to be protected. Maine's Public Utility Commission took no position on the advisability of wind power and pointed out that the numbers of turbines required to generate 2000 MW would drastically alter Maine's landscape. Steve Bennett, Selectman from Franklin, site of Maine's first wind farm, warned of unscrupulous tactics and the vulnerability of towns who are unprepared to deal with such huge industrial projects. The Task Force was not able to reach concensus. Then Balducci sent them a letter, demanding that they reach consensus quickly and support the pre-detemined result that he expected. Rob Gardiner, of Independence Wind, testified that the final report needed to say that wind power is necessary to reduce global warming, essentially muzzeling scientific proof that wind power has no effect on global warming due to the presence of spinning reserves. Gardiner also testified that aesthetic issues with wind turbines should not be considered. The legislation that was drafted included Gardiner's requests. There were no public hearings by the Task Force. The emergency legislation was rushed through with little opportunity for public input. The old boy network was working overtime. Balducci has convened a second Task Force for this session. Angus King of Independence Wind is a member. He wants to remove decisions about wind power from the towns completely and allow the wind industry to put turbines wherever they please. The Task Force documents can be found here: http://www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/windpower/briefing_material.shtml

What other industry is there in Maine ? Energy East sold to a corporation we fondly call Ebola. They are utilities. Apart from that ..manufacturing? Thanks to NAFTA little countries have the manufacturing jobs. $ 1.00 a day is enough for essentials. Free market did not work. The banks got billions and don' t have to account for it. Automobile manufacturing can't get money due to the unions wanting a living wage for their members. If something works in the US..it will be tinkered with. Regulated utilities were a hard won fight by , I think , socialists. Regulation means you have to abide by laws. When your electricty bill is several hundred a month and the rewards go out of country...it will be too late. The lawyer for Friends of Lincoln Lakes is the lawyer for the state of Maine. Our attorney general is no help.

iF the ^Town of Lincoln had followed a fair , unbiased, citizen process, there would have been a moratorium for fact findng and perhaps, the appeals process would have been unneccessary. The modus-operandi of Big Wind is to rush the process, obfuscate, hide, deceive, with the host towns blessings, for a cut of tax money. These Tax P:iggies require a deceptive, hidden process to get in to the host community.They know they cant exist in a fair process with citizen input being heard. For what , no power to Mainers directly, increased electric costs, and a quasi-legal expedited process that should be tested in court for its legality. And our great governor fell for the heavy lobbying by Big Wiind .This is a travesty of civil process, even if you agree with the Tax Piggies theoretical elctricity scheme. Firstwind and others play the system with YOUR tax dollars. Bring this process to the light of day, and it will be seen for what it is. Big Wind is a Tax SCAM, ruining communities, for little gain. Health, Electricitiy effeciency be damned. THIS IS A GREEN SCAM. THis is not renewable energy, it is TAX HEDGING by Corporate America. They are laughing all the way to the next hedge scheme. Blow away First Wind. Go offshore where you belong!

How can First Wind have all these wind farms in the planning stages.....all the turbines moved in for Stetson II....when the SEC report says they are so broke ;they may have to sell off assets. Wonder just what our attorney general's office thinks is worthy of investigation. Huge scam going on in Maine. Are we going to make news like Ill. for wide and far reaching graft?

Over reach and greed often lead to demise. Go Baladaci and Angus King. We are right up there with Ill. It is a matter of time before the whole story comes out. When several state agencies are covering for corruption and the gov. as well.....Sadly at present the whole process is legal due to the Energy Act of 2005 which says local autonomy takes a back seat to expediency. All the Lincoln Lakes lawyer has to prove is spits and spurts of wind power do not equate expediency. First Wind in being investigated in NY for anti trust violations. Maybe ME. state govt. should be too.

Steve Thurston is the driving force behind opposition to the wind turbine site in Roxbury, Maine, over near Rumford. He posted this very succinct analysis of why we are dealing with this issue in Lincoln. While the second half of this piece contains information that is unique to Roxbury, much of this is good background for all of us to know and understand in the Lincoln fight. We are up against powerful forces with lots of resources, but David did defeat Goliath! And we are right! Industrial wind power is good only for those (like Haynes and First Wind) who are profiting from it, at the cost to all of Lincoln and surrounding towns.

Some background on Maine's push for wind

According to background materials provided to Gov. Balducci’s 2007 Task Force on Wind Power, wind power is not economically feasible without subsidies. These subsidies add to the cost of electricity but allow wind power to be sold at a guaranteed profit for less than the true cost of generation. (http://tinyurl.com/a9b6ry)

In its report to the task force Maine’s Public Utility Commission took no position on the advisability of large scale wind deployment, but pointed out that wind power relies on 2 cents per kw in tax credits and 3 to 5 cents per kw in the sale of Renewable Portfolio Standards credits to be competitive, and that the large numbers turbines required to achieve 2000 MW of generation would significantly alter the landscape of the state.

The PUC also pointed out that wind power requires constant, simultaneous generation capacity to be maintained to accommodate the intermittent nature of wind. The electricity from grid scale wind turbines is therefore largely redundant and inconsequential to the grid. As more wind turbines are brought into service, gas fired plants must be built to provide the reserve capacity required or the grid will experience instability. This redundancy of generation is a fatal flaw of wind power that cannot be overcome unless and until an economical grid scale storage system is invented. It means that all the claims made by the wind industry about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and curbing global warming are false. Meanwhile, the wind industry has lobbied Congress and state governments for taxpayer subsidies and fast track permitting as if the storage solution is at hand when it is not.

Wind power requires the construction of new transmission lines to allow the full capacity of the wind farm to be absorbed, even though the turbines achieve full capacity a small percentage of the time. Both too little wind and too much wind reduce the output of wind turbines. Because the wind in New England blows in opposition to the yearly demand curve of the grid, (more in winter and less in summer) the effective capacity that wind power contributes, according to a New York state study, is only 10% of the nameplate capacity of the turbines, not the 30% capacity factor that might be the case if grid demand and wind supply were in sync. (http://saveroxbury.org/page/3)

The cost of new transmission is not calculated in the cost of wind generated electricity, but Central Maine Power wants to spend $1.4 billion of it’s customers’ money to build new transmission lines to accommodate wind. (http://www.mainepower.com/library.asp#puc)

Angus King has been quoted as saying that wind power is necessary to prevent the transfer of wealth to foreign countries by reducing our dependence on foreign oil. (http://tinyurl.com/4vd9kz) This statement is false. King knows full well that oil is not used to generate electricity so reducing our dependence on foreign oil has little to do with wind power. However, wind power will cause billions of dollars of our wealth to be transferred to Iberdola of Spain which owns Central Maine Power and Energy East, with no benefit to the environment or to its customers.

King and Gardiner have chosen Clipper Wind 2.5 MW “Liberty” turbines for their Roxbury project. These turbines have only been manufactured for 2 years and first few installations have seen gearbox failures and blade problems that cost Clipper $135 million in warranty repairs last year. (http://tinyurl.com/7l9znz) Clipper’s major investor, One Energy Partners, has taken control of the company, replacing the CEO with one of its own employees, (http://tinyurl.com/544mdf) and Clipper’s stock price has fallen from $10 to $1.25 since September. Given such problems, why have King and Gardiner chosen this turbine when Vestus and other more experienced manufacturers have thousands of reliable turbines in operation around the world?

Could it be that King and Gardiner, who have no experience in building or operating a wind farm, are merely pawns in the game? First Wind has existing contracts with Clipper Wind for 387 megawatts of turbines for its current wind farm projects and is in bed with Clipper whether they like it or not. (http://tinyurl.com/a6qkdl) First Wind representatives have been to many of the informational meetings King and Gardiner held in Roxbury and said publicly that First Wind is interested in building turbines from Roxbury down to Rumford. Are King and Gardiner using their political connections to first influence legislation and then their name recognition to obtain the first permit for wind turbines in the Western Mountains, after which they will sell their permit to First Wind and open the door to the “gold rush” in wind power that will invariably follow?

The voters of Roxbury will not only vote for the future of Roxbury on January 15th. They will be voting for the future of the entire landscape of Western Maine. If the desecration of Roxbury Pond’s pristine landscape is of no concern to the wind industry, is any ridgeline safe from their self proclaimed “appetite for tax benefits”?

Angus King is also a member of Governor Balducci’s second “emergency task force” on wind power. At their first meeting last week King urged streamlining the permitting process. “Let’s establish what the rules are going to be but not bog ourselves down with endless interveners,” he said. “We’re in a crisis. I think we’re wasting our time if we don’t come out of this with something that readies the process.” (http://tinyurl.com/4qx6ed).

Clearly King is frustrated that his first foray into wind farming has met with obstacles such as Roxbury’s Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance which he tried to circumvent by convincing the town to modify a few words in its zoning ordinace without following the open meeting laws of the state. It is apparent that King and the wind industry have no patience for due process or the rights of communities to control their own fates. It appears King’s “crisis” is the crisis surrounding the rush to cash in on ill-conceived legislation that has made wind “farming” so tantalizing. Only so many pigs can feed at this trough and King and Gardiner do not want to be left out.

Last year the Governor’s first “emergency task force” on wind power resulted in legislation declaring the entire state an “expedited permit area”. Criteria normally used to evaluate projects much smaller than behemoth arm waving industrial machines on mountain ridges, criteria such as impact on the character of the area, are presumed to be met.

At Rob Gardiner’s urging, visual impacts of turbines were declared to be “off the table” as was any argument against the “well established fact” that wind turbines will reduce global warming, even though Maine’s “sense of place” was acknowledged to be one of its most valuable assets and even though wind power’s negligible impact on green house gas emissions has been well documented by the industry’s own marketing studies.

After many meetings there was lack of agreement by the Task Force to recommend grid scale wind power in Maine, as evidenced by Governor Balducci’s letter chastising them for not reaching consensus on the predetermined outcome which he had mandated when he appointed the committee. (http://tinyurl.com/18r). Skeptics were silenced.

If Angus King gets his way, this year’s Task Force will recommend that the state declares eminent domain over the towns and allow the wind industry to put turbines wherever they please. The state of Maine is under siege by the wind industry with the full blessing and support of Governor Balducci. Roxbury is looking down the barrel of a gun that promises to irreparably alter the landscape of the state for the benefit of no one but the industrial wind developers, the foreign company that controls the electric industry in Maine and the few entrepreneurs like King and Gardiner who hope to get in on the action. Will Roxbury voters join with their neighbors in Byron and refuse to allow this assault? For the sake of future generations who deserve the opportunity to appreciate Maine’s magnificent unspoiled vistas,

I was just on a website about the wolfe Island wind towers being put up. The person who made the website summed it all up for me, here is what they said: There is a Toyota commercial that sums up the way I feel about the environment, and frankly I don't understand why others are unable to see it this way too:

"The best way to have an impact on the environment is to have no impact at all".

Iberdrola S.A. is NOT funded by Abu Dhabi National (not Natural) Energy Company. Ibderdrola S.A. is the 4th largest electric company in the world.

Their friendly acquisition of Energy East based out of New Gloucester (not Portland) for $4.5 billion was mostly a cash transaction, in which they funded.

The relation with Abu Dhabi National Energy Company is a proposed co-investment joint venture to pursue other alternative energy sources and that is it.

So, for the individual whose comment begins 'First Wind will win', please get your facts straight. To misinform people is WRONG!

I'm just a little pip squeek farmer in Lincoln that will be pocketing a couple of bucks from First Wind........ and be real glad to do it! :)