TJ aka Teej
07-23-2006, 11:00
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/2957863.shtml (http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/2957863.shtml)
BIG IMPACTS TO SPECIAL PLACES
>snip<
J.T. Horn, New England director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, said the Redington Mountain project is the only one his organization is opposing out of several proposed wind power projects near the Appalachian Trail, a federally protected 2,200 mile swath of land stretching from Georgia to Maine's Katahdin Mountain.
Horn said his organization believes that wind power can play an important role in addressing global warming and air quality issues.
But he said other factors have to be considered.
"Not all sites are appropriate and some sites are really fragile and special and remote and scenic," said Horn. Redington Mountain is one of those sites, he said.
To reach the long ridges where the turbines will be constructed, about 12 miles of new road will have to be built up to a 4,000 foot mountain.
When the project is completed, it will be visible from numerous viewpoints along a 50-mile stretch of one of the most remote sections of the trail.
"If you backpacked this section, it would take you over a week to hike and every time you came to a view point, you would be able to see this wind farm," he said.
And he said 15 of the turbines will be equipped with aircraft warning lights.
"Not only will you see them on the horizon, but they will also be spinning and flashing," he said.
Jody Jones, a wildlife ecologist with the Maine Audubon Society, said the project would impact a fragile area that is a core habitat for Bicknell's thrush, a bird that lives only in mountainous regions of the Northeast, as well as the northern bog lemming.
While Lee has moved the proposed road and turbines to avoid the habitat of the lemming, Jones said there are concerns that rain water and snow melt runoff could be exacerbated by the roads and drive the lemmings out of the bog.
There are only a handful of identified locations in the Northeast that are northern bog lemming habitat, said Jones. In all of Maine there are only 14 examples of subalpine fir forest specialized habitat, said Jones. Of those, she said the area in question is one of only five that are rated excellent. "To me it is a grand experiment in the wrong place," said Jones.
>snip<
"Mother nature did not make a lot of mountains like [the Redington Pond Range and Black Nubble Mountains]" -Harley Lee, president of Endless Energy Corp
>snip<
No ****, Sherlock...
BIG IMPACTS TO SPECIAL PLACES
>snip<
J.T. Horn, New England director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, said the Redington Mountain project is the only one his organization is opposing out of several proposed wind power projects near the Appalachian Trail, a federally protected 2,200 mile swath of land stretching from Georgia to Maine's Katahdin Mountain.
Horn said his organization believes that wind power can play an important role in addressing global warming and air quality issues.
But he said other factors have to be considered.
"Not all sites are appropriate and some sites are really fragile and special and remote and scenic," said Horn. Redington Mountain is one of those sites, he said.
To reach the long ridges where the turbines will be constructed, about 12 miles of new road will have to be built up to a 4,000 foot mountain.
When the project is completed, it will be visible from numerous viewpoints along a 50-mile stretch of one of the most remote sections of the trail.
"If you backpacked this section, it would take you over a week to hike and every time you came to a view point, you would be able to see this wind farm," he said.
And he said 15 of the turbines will be equipped with aircraft warning lights.
"Not only will you see them on the horizon, but they will also be spinning and flashing," he said.
Jody Jones, a wildlife ecologist with the Maine Audubon Society, said the project would impact a fragile area that is a core habitat for Bicknell's thrush, a bird that lives only in mountainous regions of the Northeast, as well as the northern bog lemming.
While Lee has moved the proposed road and turbines to avoid the habitat of the lemming, Jones said there are concerns that rain water and snow melt runoff could be exacerbated by the roads and drive the lemmings out of the bog.
There are only a handful of identified locations in the Northeast that are northern bog lemming habitat, said Jones. In all of Maine there are only 14 examples of subalpine fir forest specialized habitat, said Jones. Of those, she said the area in question is one of only five that are rated excellent. "To me it is a grand experiment in the wrong place," said Jones.
>snip<
"Mother nature did not make a lot of mountains like [the Redington Pond Range and Black Nubble Mountains]" -Harley Lee, president of Endless Energy Corp
>snip<
No ****, Sherlock...