After attending the Maine Department of Transportation’s presentation earlier this week (August 13) on the proposed offshore wind turbine port that the Mills administration, and by extension MDOT, plans to build on Sears Island, we are compelled to express our dismay.
First, this is the first presentation the Department of Transportation has offered to the Searsport Select Board (no direct discussion in three years?) on such a large proposed project, and second, the sheer magnitude of this project, so large and so vast in size that it will forever change the town of Searsport, not just Sears Island, is something that the Select Board, the town’s residents, and indeed all of us in the adjacent Midcoast region should be fully informed about.
We wondered who the port was actually built for, what The industry is pushing to use Sears Island instead of Mack Point or even Eastport because it has the deepest natural seaport in the entire United States and would not require any dredging at all.
When we searched the internet, we found that the University of Maine has a partnership with Diamond Offshore Wind. Upon closer inspection, we found that the company is working with Mitsubishi, Japan’s largest trading company (a subsidiary of).
We already know that Central Maine Power is owned by a Spanish corporation (which withdraws its profits from the United States) called Iberdrola.
We now find that most of the 119 wind farms already operational around the world are owned by a few very large multinational corporations that are working hard to consolidate their global ownership and our electricity grids for their own benefit.
This is really big, guys.
We need offshore wind, but we need to think about it. And it seems the DOT spokesperson was being disingenuous when he asked questions like, “What will this development mean for the lives of Searsport residents?” and “Will the electricity generated stay in Maine?”
Also, as for lighting, think about it. A port of this size certainly needs lighting and operations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but the DOT representative could not or would not answer that question.
Questions?
Oh yes. There are many, many more questions in a brand new industry still working out its finer details – Iberdrola (CMP’s parent company) also owns the wind farm off Martha’s Vineyard that recently had a 300-foot blade break and sent fiberglass shards flying onto the surrounding beaches, which now have to be closed.
There is much to discuss, and we are very pleased that the Select Board has invited the public to participate and ask questions. more questions. I hope the DOT will rejoin the board soon to continue this conversation because citizens have a right to know the full story and why our opinions don’t seem to matter.
We will never see an island like Sears Island again. Never. Why not Mack Point? Or Eastport? Please!
Meredith Bruskin and Donna Short live in Swanville
