Opponents of a soon-to-be-started wind farm in the Aroostook County town
of Oakfield took legal action Tuesday in a last-minute attempt to stop
the project.
They filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Bangor, aimed at a
50-turbine wind farm to be erected by First Wind of Boston through its
subsidiary, Evergreen Wind II LLC. Initial road construction is set to
begin before winter on the 150-megawatt project.
A key focus of
the complaint, reviewed by the Portland Press Herald, is that the
dredging and filling associated with the 59 miles of transmission lines
needed to connect the wind farm to the regional power grid would degrade
streams that support Atlantic salmon and violate the federal Clean
Water Act. The complaint names the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the
U.S. Department of the Interior as defendants.
A spokesman for
First Wind, John Lamontagne, said the company hadn’t yet reviewed the
complaint. But he noted that the Army Corps and U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service thoroughly reviewed the $400 million project and its impacts,
and concluded that it complied with federal laws.
“We believe
this project will be able to deliver significant economic benefits to
the region and the town of Oakfield while generating clean renewable
energy that will power thousands of homes,” Lamontagne said.
The
Oakfield lawsuit mirrors a legal tactic used last year by wind power
foes who are trying to block an expansion of the Kibby Mountain wind
farm in northwestern Maine. That case is still pending.
Nearly
seven years since Maine’s first wind farm went up on Mars Hill,
controversy continues over the visual, noise and environmental impacts
of power production around the state’s rural lakes and mountains.
Opponents have been increasingly frustrated by plans for larger wind
farms, a result of changing technology and new, long-term contracts for
renewable energy with utilities in southern New England. In Oakfield and
at TransCanada’s planned expansion on Sisk Mountain in Franklin County,
they see a potential legal path to challenge permits in federal courts.
“Part
of this shifts (opposition) from the turbines to the water bodies,”
said Lynne Williams, a lawyer representing Oakfield opponents.
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