More than two dozen picketers from small towns across Maine staged a protest in front of the Augusta Civic Center Tuesday over what they say is a flawed and unfair process to develop industrial wind projects in the state. Inside, Governor John Baldacci and other state officials were hosting a daylong wind energy conference.  Protestors say they want to put the state and wind developers on notice that they won't stand idle any longer.

Governor John Baldacci may have made it a central goal of his energy policy...but for some residents of western and northern Maine...wind development has become a four-letter word synonomous with scam.

"It's not being driven by ecological sense.  It's being driven by dollars and cents."

Jonathan Carter of the Forest Ecology Network says he is not opposed to windpower in general...but he'd rather see it based off-shore.  In the meantime, what he doesn't want is the destruction of some of Maine's most ecologically sensitive areas:  the tops of mountains....which could be adorned with 1500 turbines over the next decade if Baldacci's windpower goal is achieved.

"It's really windpower mountaintop removal in order to foster the bottom lines of many of these big corporations.  And these corporations have gotten so they own the process."
 
As an example, Carter and others point to TransCanada, the developer of the Kibby Mountain wind farm in Franklin County near the Canadian border.  Nearly completed, the project and its 44 turbines will be the largest in Maine, producing nearly twice as much power as the Stetson Ridge project in Washington County.   But Bob Weingarten, president of the group "Friends of the Boundary Mountains" says TransCanada is already seeking to expand in western Maine.

"TransCanada had promised there would be no more turbines built in the Boundary Mountains...Now they're proposing to put 14 more turbines on Sisk Mountain which is in beautiful Chain of Ponds Township right next door to Kibby.  This is also a mountain that is not developed.  It's a beautiful mountain - and they want to destroy it."

On top of that, Weingarten says  TransCanada is asking the Land Use Regulation Commission to expand the designated area in which expidited wind permitting is allowed.

Bob Weingarten says, "this would be the most amazing precedent because it means either LURC or DEP can make any area expedited on behalf of a developer."

A spokesman for TransCanada did not return a telephone call by airtime.  But LURC's executive director Catherine Carroll says the expansion petition is still under consideration, and will likely involve input from lawmakers who wrote the original bill to allow for expedited permitting, from experts and from members of the public.

Catherine Carroll says, "at this point I think they want to have a very thoughtful, comprehensive thinking on how to review these requests for expanding the expedited areas."

Carroll points out that LURC is an independent board whose seven members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature.  She says its role is to apply state rules and regulations to development applications in unorganized territories and not to conform to the governor's stated public policy goals.  Still, some windpower opponents question what they perceive as a "cozy" relationship between development companies like First Wind and the governor's office. 

Brad Blake says, "so why do you think Baldacci loves First Wind so much?'"  

Brad Blake is a member of the group "Friends of Lincoln Lakes" which opposes First Wind's plans for a wind farm in the region and has filed suit to try to prevent it from moving forward.

Brad Blake says, "Because Kurt Adams, who was his legal counsel for three years and then was appointed by Baldacci to be chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission for two years last September resigned to become executive vice president for development of First Wind. "

A spokesman for the governor says Maine is a small state, players in any field are limited and past relationships with the governor are no guarantee that a project will be sited.  Blake also points to the connection to Juliet Browne, an attorney for both First Wind and TransCanada who formerly served on the governor's windpower task force that helped draft the expedited windpower permitting law.  Browne's husband John Hinck is also co-chair of the Legislature's Utilities and Energy Committee.  Browne was among those attending the wind energy conference.

Juliet Browne says, "I wasn't representing any of the companies while I was on the task force.  I think what was helpful was to bring a perspective to the task force of somebody who has been involved in permitting projects in the state.  So I think I could bring a regulatory perspective that other folks might not have."

Critics also charge that windpower developers are receiving  subsidies from the government - money that could be better spent to help homeowners make their homes more energy efficient.  Dylan Voorhees, clean energy project director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine says both wind and weatherization are necessary.  And he does not believe the process has been unfair.

Dylan Voorhees says, "We agree with the administration that we need a vision of clean energy in the state and coming to conferences like this and talking about renewables is part of that.  We also think that the regulatory process needs to be fair and unbiased and we think that it is..."

Wind opponents say they plan to attend LURC's next meeting and to closely monitor wind developers' actions every step of the way.