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Disclaimer: This discussion in no way implies how the Commission may act on any of the wind power proposals currently before it.

Governor’s Task Force on Wind Power Development in Maine

December 7, 2007

Land Use Regulation Commission

Perspective on Appropriate Locations for Wind Power

  • Governor’s Executive Order establishing task force says in part, “Create guidelines and related information that would assist wind power developers in identifying areas in the State of Maine that are more appropriate for wind power development, and avoiding areas that are not appropriate for wind power development, due to legal, natural resource or public value constraints.” [emphasis added]

  • The North Woods of Maine is a special place.

  • “Maine has always been proud of it wildlands…More and more, as northeastern U.S. develops, the Maine woods are becoming an almost unparalleled resource… But who is to come forward to say that this resource must not be squandered?” Portions of Legislative Report on the Wildlands, 1969.

    • Legislative purpose of LURC states in part …”prevent inappropriate … uses detrimental to the proper use or value of these areas;….” 12 MRSA, §681.

  • “Remoteness and the relative absence of development are perhaps the most distinctive of the jurisdiction’s principal values, due mainly to their increasing rarity in the Eastern United States”. Commission’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), 1997, p 114.

  • “Accessible wild places and tranquil country farms, human-scaled Main Streets and working waterfronts: these are what differentiate Maine from other places and in many respects drive its economy. Yet these assets are at risk. And so Maine should protect these assets and invest in them as sources of economic advantage.” Charting Maine’s Future, 2006, The Brookings Institution.

  • “The largely unbroken, forested landscape of the Unorganized Territory is a magnificent heritage of inestimable value, and LURC today faces challenges of historic proportion.” People, Place, and Prosperity, Governor’s Council on Maine’s Quality of Place, 12/4/2007, p. 17.

  • Wind power is an appropriate use in portions of the North Woods but not everywhere.

    • “Provide for the environmentally sound and socially beneficial utilization of indigenous energy resources where there are not overriding, conflicting public values which require protection.” CLUP, 1997, p. 136

    • “While many of the jurisdiction’s mountain areas have excellent wind energy resource, wind turbines and associated infrastructure have the potential to compromise the values of the [high mountain] zone is designed to protect.” CLUP, 1997, p. 58.

    • “…the most reasonable approach to wind power siting issues may be to conduct a comprehensive study of where they are most and least appropriate or perhaps a broader study to indentify high mountain resources with particularly high resource values which are not appropriate for most development. The Commission believes such a study is best conducted as part of a statewide effort.” CLUP, 1997, p. 59.