John,

Where is the substance here ? You provide no explanation as to why NRCM or others oppose or support these different sites. Why does NRCM oppose some sites and support others? Pete Didisheim of NRCM is a huge windpower supporter and has forced the group to grapple with accepting windmills on remote mountains, why and how ? How has Pete Didisheim done this ? That is the news story. How does Bob Kimber of Temple feel about this ? He is a longtime NRCM board member and a very vocal opponent of disturbing the Western Maine mountains. When will you or the PPH give us some good reporting on this stuff ? P.S. What you are doing is good, and thank you.

John, I agree with Mr. Watts.

Your coverage of this issue is shallow; you should at least surface and prioritize the issues and then apply them to this and other sites:

>>Who owns the generating plant and where will the power go...is Maine getting its habitat raped for the rest of New England or Canada once again when so many other options go unused, i.e. hydro and tidal.

>>What are the guidelines for site prep., access roads, transmission lines, and propeller blade size as relates to habitat and viewlines?...Yesterday morning, you couldn't see most of Sugarloaf because of the fog.

>> What kind of wind testing prior to installation has gone on? Have small portable windmills as a prelude to the giantic ones been running through a full year to provide the hard, real time data upon which a decision on the application can be made? ...Yesterday's wind ranged from nothing to thundersqualls. Were I reviewing the application, instead of shuffling site permits to the area with the least resistance; I'd be basing a decision on the actual ability to produce power using real time data from a test facility.

Time to dig a bit deeper John; you can do it, just ask the tough questions or else we're left with political decisions, not energy ones of benefit to Maine.

I urge people to read the studies done in the U.S. and around the world about the impact of these wind plants.All say they have had little or no reduction in co2 emissions.
Wind power is so unreliable and uncontrollable. Conventional power plants have to stay online for backup. The truth is when coal-fired turbines are frequently and rapidly ramped up and down to compensate for wind variations they emit more CO2. The Electric Power Research Institute in California says, “It is technically incorrect to assume that wind energy will displace fossil generated power and decrease CO2 emissions on a kWh for kWh basis.”
The really bad part is the NRCM and others want to cover Maine and the U.S with these things.
The only thing they will do is line the pockets of the developers with our tax dollars.For this they want to blow our mountains to bits.
I only sak the people of Maine and LURC and NRCM to read the studies out there and get the facts on wind plants.
These things will be here forever,and will do nothing to slow golbal warming,or shut down one fossil fueled power plant.
Keep our mountains protected for our kids and the future of Maine.

What would be the environmental impact of large scale wind farming? What happens to weather patterns when you remove large quantities of energy?