Commercial landowners challenging wind power exemptions
More than 20 communities in the unorganized territories of Maine have stepped forward to opt out of fast-tracked commercial wind development, a request that has some forest product companies asking for verification on the petitions submitted so far.
Under a new law that went into effect early January, residents of the unorganized territories now have the ability to request an exemption from the fast-tracked wind permitted area that was created by Maine’s Wind Energy Act of 2008. If any companies or individuals wish to challenge the communities’ petitions, they must submit the challenge to the Maine Land Use Planning Commission within 45 days of the initial filing, according to The Portland Press Herald.
Monday brought the first deadline for challenges to the initial round of exemptions requested and three commercial landowners, in addition to a private citizen, have challenged the requests of seven communities, Samantha Horn-Olsen, planning manager for the Maine Land Use Planning Commission, said.
“There are places that are being considered for wind energy development where people are more likely to be interested and then others where that might not be so much of an issue,” Olsen told MPBN.
The companies challenging the first round of exemption petitions are the timber companies Frontier Forest LLC, Lakeville Shores Inc. and Plum Creek, the Seattle-based forestry company.
Rep. Larry Dunphy of Embden, who sponsored the initial law allowing the petitions, told the Press Herald that he believes the challenges are due to landowners wanting to lease their land to commercial wind developers.
“A lot of these wind developments are on high ridges that probably don’t get harvested a lot anyway. They simply lease that land, they make a ton of money and retain the rights to the land,” Dunphy said.
Dunphy added that the requests for opting out aren’t about wanting to prevent commercial wind development in the territories, but allowing communities within the territories to have more input during the process.
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