State and county lawmakers shared financial and environmental concerns about the proposed County Line wind farm with concerned Haynesville residents.
Maine Rep. Tracy Quint, R-Hodgdon, and Aroostook County Commissioner William Dobbins pointed to misleading promises by regulators and developers about jobs and financial rewards for people living along the expansive wind farm route.
The lawmakers’ comments further affirmed Haynesville residents’ fears that their quality of life will be affected by the project. In this Aroostook County town of 97, there are no stores and no gas stations — and residents said they like it that way.
“They can all talk about how they are all into the climate, climate efficient, and they can destroy all of northern Maine in order to reach those goals,” Quint said during a packed Tuesday Select Board meeting. “It was never about the rural areas and keeping things beautiful. They want to be carbon neutral and however they have to do that, they are willing to do so as long as it’s up here.”
The wind project, slated to install 150 to 200 turbines along thousands of acres of commercial timberland, is part of the planned Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program.
The exact location has not been publicly released, but residents and the lawmakers speculate, based on previous mapping, that the turbines will be installed from Glenwood Plantation in the Unorganized Territory near Wytopitlok Lake to Island Falls.
In August, the Maine Public Utilities Commission chose Clearway Energy Group LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, for an 800-megawatt onshore wind project that will generate electricity for transmission to the New England grid.
Clearway officials did not respond to the Bangor Daily News request for comment.
The regulators also selected Central Maine Power/Avangrid to develop a 1,200-megawatt transmission line for the generated wind power that will connect northern Maine to the regional grid through substations in Haynesville and Pittsfield.
The 108-mile transmission route’s Haynesville substation and the County Line wind farm already had residents’ attention following the PUCs August bid award.
Subsequently, several Haynesville residents formed the Haynesville Maine Residents MPUC-Avangrid Substation Awareness Group. In a September meeting at resident Alan Trudeau’s home, they signed a petition to temporarily halt new power generation and transmission projects.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Haynesville Town Clerk Aaron Zufelt read the town attorney’s response to the legality of the proposed temporary hold on the project, which Trudeau wrote. According to town attorney Jacob Flewelling, provisions dealing with electrical substations and new transmission lines are unenforceable because the state’s control through the PUC preempts the town’s ability to enact an ordinance.
Nonetheless, provisions dealing with utility-scale solar or wind energy facilities and large-scale data centers are likely enforceable, he said.
“I believe the town has the authority to do so,” Flewelling said.
Flewelling recommended the town develop separate ordinances: one for utility-scale solar and wind energy facilities and the other for large data centers, giving the town more flexibility in responding to such issues.
“Without windmills, they don’t need the corridor,” Quint said. “The whole linchpin here is the windmills and that’s where the fight is. If they can’t do the windmills, they have no need for this project.”
“Why don’t they build their clean energy down in the Berkshires?” one resident asked.
Quint agreed.
“Funny thing is, they are not volunteering for that. It’s definitely for us. We’re a cheap date, unfortunately,” she said. “They have no problem using and abusing that, so talk to your neighbors. A lot of people don’t realize what’s going on.”
According to Dobbins, 11% of the project will be billed to Aroostook County government.
“We’re paying for them to destroy our area and then send that power somewhere else,” Quint said. “That infuriates me, truthfully.”
Several residents asked how the project will benefit the town.
Both lawmakers said power bills will not go down and that promises of 2,500 jobs are not realistic because such projects require skilled technicians.
Zufelt said there will likely be property tax relief similar to the existing Oakfield project.
Oakfield residents who qualify for a homestead exemption receive about $2,000 a year for 20 years toward property tax bills, according to Town Manager Dale Morris.
The County commissioners need to sit down and renegotiate the contract, if the project goes through, so the community gets something from it, Dobbins said.
“We’re not getting a thing out of it at this point,” he said. “The majority of [the public utilities commission] are from southern Maine and they are not interested in us, to tell you the truth.”
During the discussion, a resident asked if the temporary pause the residents are working on will help when negotiating with Clearway.
“If that moratorium goes in and says ‘you can’t do this’ they have to deal with the town at that point, correct?” he asked.
Quint said that the temporary pause would tell the developer that the town is “a little bit hostile” toward the project’s development.
“They prefer to go to places that don’t have moratoriums,” she said. “You can be working on an ordinance while you have the moratorium. It’s giving you time and you’re less than a cheap date that way.”
The Select Board will begin drafting documents to temporarily halt a wind project while they research and develop their own town ordinance related to such projects, Selectman Craig Clifford said.
