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Poll results

A planned 30-turbine wind farm in Washington County could add (renewable) fuel to a fire that has long simmered in Maine.

The $270 million, 126-megawatt development is expected to break ground late next year in the town of Columbia and several unorganized areas. The state already has 17 wind facilities online, generating over 900 megawatts of "clean" power, Mainebiz reported in 2018.

But onshore wind facilities have drawn criticism that they detract from Maine's natural beauty, threaten the tourism industry and endanger wildlife. The developer of the Downeast Wind project in Washington County, Apex Clean Energy, says it's trying to mitigate those risks.

Is development of wind farms like the Downeast Wind facility a good thing for Maine?
Yes (41%, 88 VOTES)
No (59%, 128 VOTES)
Poll Description

A planned 30-turbine wind farm in Washington County could add (renewable) fuel to a fire that has long simmered in Maine.

The $270 million, 126-megawatt development is expected to break ground late next year in the town of Columbia and several unorganized areas. The state already has 17 wind facilities online, generating over 900 megawatts of "clean" power, Mainebiz reported in 2018.

But onshore wind facilities have drawn criticism that they detract from Maine's natural beauty, threaten the tourism industry and endanger wildlife. The developer of the Downeast Wind project in Washington County, Apex Clean Energy, says it's trying to mitigate those risks.

  • 216 Votes
  • 15 Comments
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15 Comments

  • January 24, 2020

    Someone here said do your research and then only talked about birds. Another talked about fossil fuels - well please do your homework!! Each one runs on 400 gallons of oil. Last I checked that was a fossil fuel- and the damage is much more than to birds, which is yes awful- humans become ill from the low frequency noise - some do, some don’t but when they do it increases cancer and heart disease and can lead to death- they are made out of fiberglass and their carbon imprint is awful for manufacture and transport. They are extremely destructive - 50 acres of oxygen giving trees and habitat for plants and animals are destroyed PER turbine. And so much more - they are inefficient, intermittent and require backup. Frankly nothing good about them.

  • January 23, 2020

    I find it interesting that the majority of the comments here are against wind, for good reasons that are in fact back up by a fair amount of studies. Even 2-3 birds per turbine amounts to around 160,000 - 250,000 birds a year. Some of those are bald eagles. I find it incredible that if someone kills an eagle, it's $5000 fine and up to 2 years in jail, but the Obama Admin brokered a deal that allowed wind turbine operators to take up to 30 a year. Do that math on 81000 wind turbines in the country (and that was 2017). Maine doesn't have desolate deserts where the environmental impact of installing a wind turbine is less. We have mountains, covered with trees. So after all this destruction of oxygen producing vegetation (where are the treehuggers when you need them?) and beautiful vista as mountain tops are decimated, wind only generates 6%, don't you have to look at this with an open mind that maybe this isn't such a great alternative? And as one person commented, where is the calculation of the carbon footprint in making these towers? There is nothing green in that production. Nor is there in solar panels. But, this will get jammed down our throats because of the noisy, speech silencing minority who are slowly eroding the liberties we used to enjoy. At the end of the day, it is about money and power. This push is coming from outside of Maine money.

  • Frank Heller
    January 23, 2020

    Once upon a time, wind power was favored and subsidized, since it rarely recovered the investment and operational costs. Then people started building larger and larger and really gigantic turbines, and taking entire wilderness mountain tops and ruining expensive view lines...and the hidden costs of large amounts of intermittent power switching on and off, and long transmission lines became unbearable. Subsidies withered away, and once hidden environmental costs, became evident. When all the negative factors are added up they easily offset the positive ones. Maine's views MUST remain near wilderness since our tourist economy depends it.

  • January 22, 2020

    Wind power is the most destructive power there is . please don't talk to me about this being a green power. The mountains are trashed , in the guise of saving carbon going into the air? The ocean will be compromised already more than it is. The amount of carbon already released making and putting these up and getting the electricity to shore won't equal what carbon it will offset in the projects' lifetime. It is a waste of resources.

  • January 22, 2020

    Wind energy, like solar energy, requires a large investment for not so much energy. It is expensive, and taxpayers foot the bill through federal and state subsidies, as do ratepayers through higher ulitity rates. The wind does not always blow and the sun does not always shine, and so backup energy must be there at the ready. In New England that backup is natural gas. Nothing much is saved fossil fuel-wise, but the wind developer does very well and the utilities also do well trading renewable energy credits on the market. The birds and the bats and any people living nearby do not do so well. The beautiful mountains are scarred by giant roads, tons of concrete, and giant spinning blades. It makes no sense. The only sense it makes is money. So follow the money. Maine's forests help protect the earth, so we must protect the forests.