Bristol voters deny UMaine wind project grid link

Most of 300 Bristol residents who voted at a special town meeting Oct. 1 chose not to allow the University of Maine’s offshore wind project to connect to the town’s electric grid.

According to The Lincoln County News, the Bristol Board of Selectmen warned that the vote regarding Maine Aqua Ventus I is likely nonbinding. The vote came as a result of a petition.

Early feedback from town counsel and an attorney with the Maine Municipal Association indicated that the ban is outside the scope of the town’s regulatory authority, Board of Selectmen Chairman Chad Hanna told the newspaper. However, Hanna said Bristol would conduct a thorough legal review if voters passed the ban.

The UMaine project will consist of two floating wind turbines in a test site some three miles south of Monhegan and 12 miles southwest of Bristol. Those turbines would deliver electricity to the mainland using an undersea cable.

The opposition was to the cable between the turbines and the mainland, especially by fishermen claiming the cable would negatively impact fisheries, notably shrimp draggers. Others opposed it for aesthetic reasons and out of concern for birds.

However, the UMaine-led partnership currently lacks the funds to move forward to construct the turbines, so the controversy might be moot, the newspaper noted.

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