Dear Editor,
I have listened to the developers’ promises and justifications and have a list of questions and one suggestion.
Can you keep our headwaters clean? What happens to our sport fishing operators if the streams become clouded and the trout and salmon flee or die?
Can you coax the game animals back? It is reported that all the larger animals have fled from Mars Hill and Kibby. Apparently they can’t tolerate the sound and sub audible vibration of wind turbines either.
Can you ensure that neighboring citizens can sleep at night? Vinalhaven is experiencing problems. How about Highland Plantation? What will happen when you line up 48 four hundred foot high turbines along the ridges above this valley? How much permanent tax relief will locals really get? How much property value loss will they endure?
What about places that still figuratively snooze in quiet safety? Phillips, Avon, Strong and Kingfield all have planning board activity related to wind power generation. Maine is noticing that this new industry is here, is well funded, and is not all it is cracked up to be.
A solution…? Let’s put a state wide moratorium on all industrial wind power permitting for 5 years. During that span of time industry may find ways to locate complexes while causing minimal environment(al) harm. The engineers may design turbines and blades that don’t drive nearby residents out of their minds and homes. Or they won’t… We, the people of Maine will have time to see if the existing complexes live up to their promises of lowered taxes, cheaper power and local employment over a longer haul. Potential investors will learn if these complexes dependably generate the amount of power advertised, or are cranky money pits to be avoided.
And in 5 years, if TransCanada and First Wind scream ‘proprietary information’ and won’t share the data…well, we just extend the moratorium another 5 years. These mountains will be here long after TransCanada, First Wind, etc are long gone.
If and when we get the factual data that proves wind generation is viable and effective and truly reduces the number of fossil fueled plants we can allow more projects to be built. And if this proves not to be the case we get to keep our high mountains intact and our quiet valleys remain inhabitable by those of us who can’t cope with the noise and pulse of urban existence.
Sincerely,
(Mr.) Lauri Sibulkin, Phillips, ME
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Piscatiquis Observer, April 2010
I’ve always been patriotic and taken an interest in the world around me. I vote every chance I get. I make an attempt to educate myself about the issues and the candidates on each ballot, for I don’t want to vote in ignorance. That’s worse than not voting at all.
As involved as I’ve been in participating in the ‘process’, I’ve never been an ‘activist’. I’ve never been a woman who campaigned for change, or who tried to educate the public in order to influence their opinion. But there comes a time in every person’s life where they have to step outside their comfort zone and take a stand for what they believe is right.
When industrial wind came blowing at my door, I began to research the issue. The facts I discovered were startling.
Many Mainers believe that since wind is ‘free’ and renewable, industrial wind turbines must be ‘good’. Good for the environment, the economy, the people and the planet. In this abbreviated space, I can’t relay the tremendous number of negative impacts grid-scale industrial wind turbine plants are creating and will create. Instead, I invite readers to research this issue before buying the lines fed us by wind developers and our administration. A good place to start is
Petitions and activism go hand in hand. Getting petitions signed and turning them in for verification is as ‘grassroots’ as you can get. It’s one of the few remaining ways in which Americans can directly affect change.
Holding a petition drive is a difficult task. Proud Mainers are unaccustomed to asking for anything; be it help, money, or something as simple as a signature. It takes courage to ask strangers for their support. It involves having an understanding of the subject matter we are asking potential signers to back. It requires a stout heart; for often, the people we approach are apprehensive of affixing their signature to anything. We even need to have a tough shell, because sometimes the request for a signature triggers verbal invective.
Unless I find the subject matter of a petition personally offensive, I’ll sign one when asked. I do this for several reasons: I wish to bolster the individual who is brave enough to ask; for I know the courage it takes. I want to show support for an American institution and aid in the survival of such an elemental right. And most importantly; I believe that those who are campaigning for change probably know more about the topic of their petition than I do. To get to a place where they are asking me–a stranger–for the honor of my signed name, they have to have done their homework. They have to feel passion for their cause. Chances are, they are in a much better position than I am to know what they are talking about.
I may disagree on an elemental level when reading the petition’s heading. Often I’ve felt that I knew how I would vote on a certain issue, only to subsequently learn different aspects or viewpoints on the topic, thus causing me to change my mind. So I won’t dismiss a petition outright, for my one signature probably won’t tilt the scales too sharply. However, by NOT signing, I’d be undermining a fellow American’s attempt to work within our democratic process.
I’ll sign. Absolutely. Even if I’m not sure I agree with the principle espoused on the petition, I’ll support another citizen’s right to try to change our world, or–their effort to keep it the same.
If you are approached by a petitioner, please consider signing. Know that the petitioner has looked deeply into the issue at hand and he may know more about the subject than you do. That person feels a passion for his cause. In some countries passion, drive and hard work count for nothing. In some places on this planet, a group of average citizens have no power in the shaping of their destinies.
But in America, thanks to ordinary citizens’ hard work, we still have the freedom to try to make changes when we feel those in charge have made mistakes. Please consider signing our petition when we politely request it.
www.highlandmts.org.