AUGUSTA, Maine — Sears Island in Searsport will serve as the staging ground for Maine’s new offshore wind port, Gov. Janet Mills announced Tuesday.
The decision to use about 100 acres of the 941-acre island after years of planning and public feedback was not surprising. The Maine Department of Transportation previously tipped its hand by saying Sears Island was better than nearby Mack Point because it is already owned by the state and will cost far less to develop.
While it is only an initial part of Maine’s broader plan to unlock the potential of offshore wind, the preference for Sears Island has received criticism from some conservationists and an alliance of conservatives and progressives. They argue the port will damage the wildlife, hiking and birding opportunities that draw visitors to the largest undeveloped island in Penobscot Bay.
The deepwater port is key to Maine’s climate goals that include using 100 percent renewable energy by 2040, and Mills, a Democrat, said Maine will benefit from a global offshore wind industry that one study found could attract roughly $1 trillion in investments by 2040. It could become operational by 2029, Mills said Tuesday at a State House news conference.
It will position Maine among a small set of states such as Rhode Island and Virginia with offshore wind projects approved by the Biden administration. The port will require state and federal permits over the next year. The project that Mills first announced in 2021 has highlighted the tricky politics behind the state’s wind and environmental initiatives.
The state evaluated both locations “thoroughly and objectively,” Mills said, adding it was not an easy decision. But she said she “cannot escape the conclusion that the parcel on Sears Island fundamentally makes the most sense and provides us with the best opportunity to responsibly advance offshore wind in Maine.”
Searsport Town Manager James Gillway, who co-chaired an offshore wind advisory group that met between 2022 and last summer, noted the closure of the Bucksport paper mill in 2014 by saying the region has gone through “tough economic times” over the past decade.
“Floating offshore wind will change that,” he said.
Maine Coast Heritage Trust holds about 600 acres of the island under a 2007 conservation easement, with 330 acres previously reserved as a “transportation parcel” for potential use as a cargo and container port.
An alliance of conservation-minded groups argued for using Mack Point because it is already developed and privately owned, with a working waterfront for cargo traffic. But while each site had a development price tag between $400 million to $500 million, the Mills administration said Mack Point would cost more due to its private ownership and additional challenges related to an existing rail line, dredging and sediment disposal.
Rolf Olsen, vice president of Friends of Sears Island, a volunteer-run nonprofit that manages the conserved area, reiterated Tuesday his group feels Mack Point is the better choice for the port. His group is not planning to sue the state, but Olsen said groups including Islesboro Islands Trust and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, may try to challenge it in permitting.
Islesboro Islands Trust “will use every legal means available to us,” Steve Miller, the executive director of the group that conserves land on the islands south of Sears Island, said. Leaders with PEER, a Maryland-based group, added that not using Mack Point may violate the federal Clean Water Act’s requirement on picking the “least environmentally damaging” site.
“This is a classic example of the dark side of green energy,” said Kyla Bennett, PEER’s science policy director who also serves as its Northeast and Mid-Atlantic leader.
Rep. Reagan Paul, R-Winterport, a leading offshore wind critic, called Tuesday’s announcement a “disappointing decision but not unexpected given the power that special interest groups and labor unions wield in this state.”
The state has said it would build massive hulls at the port to steady the tall blade structures and lessen risks from shipping large components out to sea for assembling the offshore port. Though the opposition made plenty of noise, a coalition including environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Council of Maine and labor unions signed a statement supporting Maine’s offshore wind port but not indicating a location preference.
Maine Conservation Voters and Maine Audubon officials were among supporters to speak during Tuesday’s news conference, which also featured a Searsport electrician, Maine State Chamber of Commerce President Patrick Woodcock and Sen. Chip Curry, D-Belfast.
“I and other biologists in Maine and across the globe believe that offshore wind can successfully coexist with wildlife here in the Gulf of Maine and around the world,” said Maine Audubon biologist Sarah Haggerty.
