Fox Islands windmill sound recording – Monhegan’s future?

Monheganers can now contemplate the sort of sound that would accompany an on-island windmill,  should one be built on your fair isle.  Just listen to a  podcast of an hourlong unedited recording of Fox Islands Windmills’  sound on Vinalhaven.    Recorded midnight January 1st 2010, when sound meter registered 49-49 dBa.   Recorded on porch of a […]

UMaine prof on Monhegan wind test site, offshore windpower’s future & the end of land-based windmilling. Audio.

At a Maine Wind forum May 20, 2010 at the Rockport Opera House, locations  as varied as Ragged Mountain, Vinalhaven, Monhegan and waters 20 to 50 miles offshore were discussed. The key speaker University of Maine’s Habib Dagher, PhD, leader of the DeepCwind Consortium said that the conflicts over the siting and effects of land-based and nearshore windfarming […]

Ocean Wind Bill: divided we stand.

LD1810, the Maine Legislature’s bill LD 1811,to authorize offshore wind leasing seems to be coming apart interestingly. Instead of filling state waters with windmills – a plan that enraged Maine’s fisheries, a new plan has emerged. By Tuesday night we’ll know if it has been adopted. It would be something like this: 1. State Waters: Rather […]

LD 1810 ocean windmills bill worksession: Monhegan R&D site to be only windmills in state waters? Meeting again Tuesday 1pm

On March 18, 2010, Maine Legislature’s Utility and Energy Committee held a  2 hour work session on LD 1810, the bill to implement the recommendations of the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force.  Scroll down  this page to listen to the speakers and legislators at this worksession. Read the Maine Lobstermens Association’s March 15, 2010 letter to […]

Key Maine legislators tell committee: No windfarms in state waters – bad for fishermen. Monhegan discussed

Thursday March 11th, the Legislature’s Utility and Energy Committee held its  public hearing on LD 1810. Listen to the legislators and testimony  to them by MDEP,  DMR, Neptune Energy & other would-be wind industrialists, and opponents and supporters of the same. Lance Burton describes  to legislators his life on Monhegan and in Castine and what […]

Monhegan’s possible wind futures.

A gentleman  living on the shore of Lake Michigan ,who loves that  great freshwater sea, sent these surrealistic possible futures of Monhegan and Manana, should they becomes a locus of Maine wind generation.  After all, if one or two windpoles have ‘no significant impact’, why should 3 or 4?  Or…more?   Take a look at what […]

Not just Monhegan

I agree that there’s a serious possibility that alternative energy will impact the quality of natural beauty, not only on Monhegan, but many, many places that alternative energy is introduced. Living in Vermont, I accept that. We will have to sacrifice some vistas, mountaintops. But for me, cell towers and telephone lines already pollute the […]

The “thirty pieces of silver” bill.

Some here have wondered about what sort of economic benefits Monhegan might gain from becoming  “host community” to the University of Maine’s wind turbine research operations. What wergild, if any, would be acceptable? Today at the Maine Legislature,  there was a work session of the Utilities and Energy Committee on LD 1504, which has been […]

Front page of petition sent to Maine Superior Court re monhegan offshore wind test area. R&D center. Jan 25, 2010

Maine Superior Court asked to suspend 12/14/09 designation of Maine Offshore Wind Research Center.

Legal Action. Until new state wind rules are set and enforced during decision making, Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands has no business selecting and designating  Maine offshore wind energy test areas. Local media coverage: Herald Gazette and Maine Public Radio News That’s what conservation activist Ron Huber wants Maine Superior Court to confirm.   […]