In a vote of 82 to 25 with 2 abstaining, Monhegan residents voted in favor of continuing a wind power project that could lead to the construction of a single 100-kilowatt wind turbine on the island. The vote took place during a public meeting convened by the Monhegan Plantation Power District (MPPD) on August 12.
In advance of the meeting, the power district distributed 174 ballots to all community members who either pay local taxes or electric bills, as some residents do one and not the other. Many ballots were mailed to eligible voters known to be currently off-island. Of the 174-ballot total, 109 were returned and counted during the meeting.
Of those who voted, 75 percent support the project’s continuation, but this does not constitute a final action for the project. Because it alone directs municipal energy projects, the MPPD Board of Trustees will consider the vote in a forthcoming meeting in which they will decide whether to continue or halt the project.
According to MPPD’s president Matthew Thomson, as of August 13, the organization did not have a timeline for the release of their official declaration of their decision.
Katy Boegel, chair of the Monhegan Wind Committee, and owner of the Monhegan store, said she was “pleased with the outcome of the vote.”
Nearly 70 people gathered in the Monhegan church at 5 p.m. for a half-hour question-and-answer session. Some questions during the meeting included inquiries into turbine impact on bird populations, how much the proposed turbine would offset Monhegan’s carbon emissions from its diesel generators, and how the MPPD would proceed after taking the vote.
Questions about the Monhegan power district’s investigation into the feasibility of other alternative energy systems and the potential noise generated by the turbine, however, were especially prevalent during this question-and-answer session.
Several people at the meeting were concerned that the MPPD had not properly considered establishing solar and tidal energy systems on Monhegan.
Dr. George Baker, vice-president for Maine Community Wind at the Island Institute (which publishes Working Waterfront) and chief advisor to the MPPD on the wind power project, reported that energy studies for Monhegan revealed that a solar energy system on island would only deliver about a third of the energy capacity that the proposed wind turbine would deliver.
As for tidal energy exploration, Baker said that tidal generators must be positioned in 30 feet of water moving at five knots and that no adequate tidal energy generation zone exists around Monhegan.
Baker addressed questions about the sound a 100-kilowatt turbine would produce if it were to be located as proposed on Lighthouse Hill, saying that only on the rare occasions when the wind was blowing at higher altitudes but not at ground level would the “swishing” of the turbine be particularly audible. He also said that the island’s current diesel generator is audible in the low 40s decibal range at the nearest home.
Audience member Beth Van Houten countered that the nature of the turbine’s noise is different from other sounds. Furthermore, she said that because the turbine would be more than 100 feet in the air, it would be especially different from the diesel generator that is housed in a building and surrounded by bushes and trees.
While some audience members did not wish to be interviewed after the vote was tallied, Van Houten identified herself as very skeptical of the project. “I feel that our questions were never adequately answered,” she said, indicating that she was part of a group of like-minded Monhegan residents.
“I assume this project is well-meaning, but I don’t think it, other [energy system] alternatives, or alternative experts have been vetted properly,” she said. “Monhegan is a very special and profoundly quiet place. As a painter, I can work here better than anywhere else…I am very afraid of the noise” the turbine might produce.
Thomson affirmed in a phone interview after the meeting that a turbine’s “noise was a big issue” with which opponents to the project were concerned.
Baker said in an interview after the meeting the he “sensed concern among the community, but not a lot of hard-core opposition” to the project. “I think as the project becomes better specified…a lot more people will be a lot more comfortable with it,” he said.
Baker indicated that he, the project’s advisors, and the MPPD grappled with the dissemination of misinformation. “The hard part in these communities is keeping the accurate information flowing and keeping rumors from getting started because these communities are small and word travels quickly…We worked hard to try to deliver as much accurate information as we could…I am pleased that the community is positive about this project.”
The vote marks the end of Phase One of the Maine Community Wind development model devised by the Island Institute between 2007 and 2008 that has been implemented on Monhegan.
Before such a vote like this one on Monhegan, Phase One consists of preliminary studies of the energy project’s environmental impacts and technical and financial feasibility, as well as public presentations of these studies. Phase Two of the model will consist of more rigorous impact and feasibility studies, environmental and technical permitting, and legal arrangements.
It is possible, therefore, that studies in Phase Two could derail Monhegan’s wind power project entirely. “There’s several major permitting and financing hurdles that the project will have to go through before construction can begin,” said Baker. If the MPPD Board of Trustees decide that Phase Two studies are positive, however, Monhegan voters may get the opportunity to vote on specific financial aspects of the project, according to Baker.
Micah Conkling is participating in the Island Institute’s summer student-reporting program and is the son of Institute President Philip Conkling.