I recently attend a Board of Environmental Protection public hearing in Augusta concerning a proposal to increase the noise restrictions emitted from industrial wind turbines.
The purpose of the proposal was to protect nearby landowners from excessive noise and negate potential health problems from projects planned in close proximity of residences.
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Once the lawyers and consultants on both sides of the issue completed their arguments the public had the opportunity to comment.
Several people who live near completed wind projects told of the BEP members of the stress that they live under from the constant noise from these machines.
Although more restrictions on noise would not help them, they would help protect other Mainers from the same fate.
Representatives of the wind industry spoke as to why BEP should not place more restrictions on the placement of the turbines. This was where it got interesting.
The one-note mantra of those who spoke against any further noise reduction requirement was to ignore possible harmful effects to nearby residents and frame their talking points as to present the proposal as effectively killing the wind industry in Maine.
The safety, health and right to tranquility in one’s own home was something that is only seen as an impediment to constructing wind projects and that anything more to protect the landowner than what was already on the books would cause the industry to fold their tent and move elsewhere.
Bunk! They aren’t going anywhere. As long as there are taxpayer subsidies to build turbines, wind developers will make it work in Maine.
The wind industry needs to respect the rights of those who by happenstance live nearby.
People have the right to an environment that is not compromised in terms of health and property value devaluation because of excessive noise from these machines.
The more conservative noise levels should be approved by the BEP.
Norman Kalloch
Carrying Place Town Twp.
Good job! In the June 26 Telegram, a front page story about Washington County’s guides complaining about the possibility of a wind farm destroying their fishing experience included a statement from visitors who said, “ we can see industry in Massachusetts.”
Then in the Outdoors section there was a piece about fishermen in front of the Upper Dam At Mooselookmegundic, an industrial view that doesn’t seem to be too bothersome to humans or fish.
Offering conflicting points of view is good journalism, in my opinion.
Dave Shaw
Sidney
The recent letter to the editor suggesting that flaming shards of wind turbines would ignite forest fires (“Real danger to forests is broken wind turbines,” July 17) is so misleading and uninformed it cries out for a response.
Everyone knows that most forest fires are caused by lightning strikes, campfires and carelessness.
According to NOAA, lightning strikes land about 8 million times a day across the globe. Eight million times.
There are about 57.5 million square miles of land on Earth and Maine’s land area is about 30,850 square miles. Using the worldwide averages, Maine is struck by lightning about 1.7 million times each year and each of these strikes could start a fire.
There are about 175 commercial-size wind turbines operating in Maine now.
Not a single one has caught fire or thrown flaming turbine shards into the woods. And there is no evidence to suggest these modern turbines are prone to doing so.
The truth about wind projects in Maine is that when the project is built, the local fire and rescue teams are given specialty rescue equipment and training to deal with any real turbine problems should they occur.
So far no broken turbines and no forest fires — just a bunch of clean, low-cost renewable energy produced in Maine.
Kirk Wood
West Gardiner
State, individuals not doing their parts for livability here
I drove down Route 3 recently and noted both rest areas (Vassalboro and Searsmont) closed, locked and overgrown. When I was a kid, my folks looked for those picnic places to let us out of the car to run around.
How expensive is it to mow, set up the port-a-john and empty the trash cans?
Then, I was standing in the checkout line at the local market when a man came in to buy something. He wordlessly parted the line, as the man in front of me talked with his friend. “Hey! You didn’t say, ‘Excuse me!’ “
I thought that they must know each other and were joking. They weren’t. It almost came to fisticuffs.
One man immediately left after being cursed at. I was dumbstruck. The remaining man went on talking as if he’d done nothing wrong.
What type of nation are we becoming? Our tax-paid rest areas are closed. Even people suffering from lack of work, kids moving back in, unpaid bills and medical issues don’t have the right to act rude.
If the waysides must be closed, explain with a posted sign. Vandals? Lack of funding? Unsafe? When can we expect them open? And please remember, good manners are a pleasant social lubricant, never to be followed by cursing.
Behave as if Maine really is the way life should be. Otherwise people will leave, taking their families and their money with them to where they are welcome.
And if that sounds good to you, think it through again. We all will lose.
Heidi Chadbourne
Manchester
Same-sex marriage draws support and opposition
Like the song says, “all we really need to do is live and die.” We create government and laws to ensure that we are able to live and die in a manner we see fit without bothering other humans too often.
Our founding fathers created a government where all men are created equal and, while most of the founders were of the Christian faith, the constitution itself is not a Christian law. The Bible is.
Therefore, at times, our laws may not be consistent with God’s law or any other faith for that matter. This is the reality that citizens of the United States must realize. In the United States your religious laws come second to our country’s laws. Period.
That is why our form of government has worked for over two centuries through wars and depressions, with 310 million Americans living in relative peace and harmony.
Marriage has evolved over time and through different cultures in a diverse way. Sometimes marriage is when two people develop an emotional bond or sometimes they are arranged by family, and you may marry a person you have never met or at times you may simply live with a person and never marry at all.
There is no final definition of marriage worldwide. So the question arises that with such a large diversity of people throughout this country when a man builds an emotional bond with another man what should these men do? We must look to the laws of our country first and our religious beliefs second. This is not a religious question. It is a legal question.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
Brad Wolverton
Presque Isle
Regarding Steve Meyers’ July 10 Telegram political cartoon in which neighboring states are surrounding Maine with crowds and placards clamoring for it to “join the party” and adopt same-sex marriage: I wonder how the artist feels about peer pressure and bullying?
Despite the irregularities of legislative and judicial arm-twisting in some areas, American voters have rejected same-sex marriage in every state where the matter has been put to a vote — 31 states in all.
Pat Query
Gorham
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