Monhegan resident group calls foul on offshore UMaine wind project
Not everyone on Monhegan Island is keen on the proposal to have the two Aqua Ventus wind turbines be placed in water three miles offshore of the community, with one group saying they didn’t know that the project would grow into a full-scale wind operation.
Travis Dow, a spokesman for the group Protect Monhegan, told Maine Public that many of Monhegan’s residents didn’t know that the project would grow from a small, temporary project demonstration into a 12-megawatt offshore wind operation. Dow added that he and several other residents believe that the construction of the project’s 600-foot turbines would hurt the community’s tourism economy and should be moved.
“We have a solid tourism industry,” Dow told Maine Public. “It carries this town. There’s no question that we’re a huge bird migrating stop. It’s probably the most important stop on the North Atlantic flyway for migrating birds. It’s not the right site. Maine has 230 miles of coastal waters and 3,000 miles of coastline. There’s got to be a better place than right next to Monhegan Island.”
As Mainebiz reported in May, the Aqua Ventus offshore wind project is led by a University of Maine-led consortium that includes Cianbro Corp. and Emera Maine.
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