To the editor:
In answer to Linda Griffith’s letter in the April 16 Star-Herald, I challenge her to locate for me on a map, the “pristine farm and wilderness land” of which she writes. Excepting Aroostook State Park and a few acres of Maine Public Reserve Lands, there is no part of Aroostook County which is not working land at one time or another. Property owners do have a right to sell or lease their land for use for building tall structures — radio and cell towers already dot our landscape. If I were to build a 50-story glass and steel office building on my property, would that be disallowed because it would be “visual pollution”? I doubt it, because skyscrapers have been around enough to become acceptable. If you’d like to build an atomic reactor on your property — go ahead, you’ve that right.
Out my front window, I can see Mars Hill, and I find the Mars Hill towers quite pretty actually, day and night. I’ve also parked several times at the windmill nearest to the public road while it was operating, and found no evidence of the noise reported by nearby residents.
Wind farms have brought nothing but good to our county, in my opinion, and hardly compare to the scarring of the landscape by coal mines, as per your example. Wind farms, backed by storage technologies like pumped water storage ponds, are among the best ways to meet the power needs of the county. Electricity is easier to export than many other products, not requiring trucks or trains and their expensive fuel to transport. Finally, windmills require usage of very little of the landscape that we all enjoy, and when their useful lifetime is through, may be replaced or taken down with little additional impact or cost.
Presque Isle
