Court upholds permits for two wind farms
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled against two appeals of wind farms in Roxbury and Oakfield.
The court yesterday upheld the state Board of Envirionmental Protection's decisions that both the Roxbury wind farm in western Maine and the Oakfield wind farm in northern Maine met state standards for permits and sound requirements, according to a press release from Portland law firm Verrill Dana. Justice Ellen Gorman found the BEP was right to reject an appeal from Concerned Citizens to Save Roxbury and concluded that the project did not "generate unreasonable adverse health effects." The 22-turbine wind farm in Roxbury is being developed by Record Hill Wind LLC, a joint project of former Gov. Angus King and former Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. director Robert Gardiner's company, Independence Wind, and Lyme, N.H.-based Wagner Forest Management. Earlier this month, the project received a $102 million loan guarantee from the federal government.
Justice Gorman also rejected an appeal of First Wind's 34-turbine wind farm in Oakfield on the same grounds. Last January, the Martha A. Powers Land Trust appealed the DEP's approval of the wind farm. Both developers are represented by attorneys at Verrill Dana.
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