First Wind eyes Bowers Mountain

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On 2/3/10 at 7:52 AM, deanhornblower wrote:
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We might as well just consider this item below a reality:

Maine cedes the Northeast to First Wind

New State to Be Known as Firstwindiana

March 15, 2010 Augusta, Maine. Maine Governor Baldacci signed a historic measure today ceding a huge portion of northeastern Maine to First Wind Holdings. The law, passed as "Emergency" Legislation by the Maine 124th Legislature, creates the new state of Firstwindiana and cements Baldacci's legacy as one of the biggest buffoons to ever occupy the Blaine Mansion.

"This historic bill accomplishes many things", stated Baldacci. "It recognizes all of the hard work of this administration to keep First Wind afloat. I am so anxious to assist this exemplary business that I felt compelled to ram this through as an Emergency rather than wait for my Task Force to recommend it. Besides, it helps solve the financial mess by shifting all those poor towns to this new state and get them off state assistance from Maine. Since most of the elitists I hang out with don't even know this part of Maine existed, it will not be missed"

A ceremony will be held at the Stetson I site near Prentiss to commemorate the creation of Firstwindiana. Festivities include the inauguration of Governor by acclamation Matt Kearns and a 21 turbine salute. Gov. Kearns will promise a Met Tower for every ridge and a TIF for every town in his inaugural address. He is also expected to announce new contracts with China for turbines and with Brazil for blades. The Obama administration has announced $500 million grant to the new state as a good will gesture from American Taxpayers.

State of Firstwindiana

Governor: Matt Kearns

Statehood: Created in 2010 as "Emergency" legislation by the Maine Legislature

Boundaries: Penobscot River to the Canadian border, from the northern shores of the Grand Lakes of Eastern Maine to Southern Aroostook.

Capitol: Prentiss, centrally located and in honor of Stetson I: "where the revolution began"

State Flag: GE 1.5 MW turbine on a "green" background

State Bird: Clubbed and Mangled Bald Eagle

State Animal: Barotraumatized Bat

State Tree: Whatever is left standing after being run over by a H C Haynes skidder

State Song: "We're in the Money"

State Motto: "Big Wind, Big Lie, Forever!"

CARROLL PLANTATION, Maine — First Wind of Massachusetts is collecting data on Bowers Mountain wind conditions as a first step toward possibly erecting an industrial wind-to-energy site near the 1,127-foot summit, company officials said Tuesday.

The state’s largest industrial wind power producer placed three test towers on the site, two in November and one in December. Company officials will meet town leaders and residents on Feb. 8 and outline what their plans might be, spokesman John Lamontagne said.

“The data we get from those towers is critical to us deciding whether we want to locate a project there,” Lamontagne said Tuesday. “It is close to the proposed Rollins Mountain project, so that is a plus. We have had good relations with folks in that area.”

Topographical maps place Bowers about two miles south of Route 6, about 10 miles east of Lee and 16 miles east of Lincoln near the boundary line between Penobscot and Washington counties.

The Rollins Mountain project is a proposed $130 million, 40-turbine industrial wind site on nearby Rollins Mountain, a range of ridgelines in Burlington, Lee, Lincoln and Winn that has received Maine Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approvals.

The Friends of Lincoln Lakes residents group has an appeal of the DEP permit pending in the Maine State Supreme Court. The court will hear arguments in Portland at 1:45 p.m. Feb. 10.

The attorney representing the friends, Lynne Williams of Bar Harbor, also represents a group of Bowers Mountain-area residents that might oppose any Bowers Mountain development, she said recently.

“We have the luxury of being witness to this from the very beginning,” Williams said.

Williams and the residents will work to ensure that any Bowers project gets thoroughly reviewed, she said.

Beyond the meeting and data collection, First Wind has no immediate plans for Bowers, Lamontagne said. He said he was unsure how many landowners in the area had agreed to allow wind turbines on their properties if the testing proves successful.

“We haven’t decided, basically, on what we are going to do there, so I don’t have the details as how big a project it might be,” he said. “When you build a project, you have to collect many months of wind data to see whether a project can be sustained. This is fairly early in the process.

“It would not be something we would be building in 2010, that’s for sure,” he added.

With headquarters in Boston, First Wind operates the 42-megawatt Mars Hill and the 57-megawatt Stetson Mountain sites. Construction of the 26-megawatt Stetson II project will be completed this spring, while DEP approved the proposed 51-megawatt Oakfield project on Jan. 22.