Canton Mountain

[macmac]

NOTICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL MEETING AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE
NOTICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL MEETING AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE

Please take notice that Canton Mountain Wind, LLC (“CMW†), an affiliate of Patriot Renewables, LLC, with its principal offices at 549 South Street, Quincy, MA 02169, (617) 890–0600, intends to concurrently file both Natural Resources Protection Act and Site Location of Development Act permit applications pursuant to the provisions of 38 M.R.S.A. §§ 480–A et seq. and 38 M.R.S.A. §§ 481–490, respectively, and regulations thereunder. CMW will also be seeking a Section 401 Water Quality Certification pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 1341. The application will be filed on or about December 21, 2011.

In connection with this application, CMW will hold a public informational meeting at the Canton Municipal Building, 28 Cross Street, Canton, Maine on Thursday, December 8th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The purpose of this meeting is for CMW to seek public comment on the proposed Canton Mountain Wind Project.

The application is for the construction and operation of the Canton Mountain Wind Project in the town of Canton, Maine. The proposed wind project would consist of eight wind turbines, an access road, a ridgeline crane road, an operations and maintenance building, a below–grade electrical collection system linking the turbines, and an above–grade electric transmission line delivering the electricity to the regional market.

A request for a public hearing must be received by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in writing, no later than 20 days after the application is found by the Department to be complete and is accepted for processing. A public hearing may or may not be held at the discretion of the Commissioner. Public comment on the application will be accepted throughout the processing of the application.

The application will be available for public inspection at the Department of Environmental Protection’s office in Augusta during normal working hours. A copy of the application may also be seen at the municipal office in Canton, Maine.

Written public comments may be sent to Maine Department of Environmental Protection, 17 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333.


Again, like the meeting Patriots had in Canton before, their engineering support teams assembled in various areas to answer questions. The sound man was there, the shadow flicker woman was there, the visual man was there and the bird man was there.
A few, maybe 15 people, from the public was there and mostly abutting landowners. It was obvious most of them had been approached by Patriots and were persuaded to believe the project was a done deal.
There are nonparticipating property owners who are within the area between the sound levels of 40 to 45 decibels. As in the Saddleback project, some residences are not on their sound map.
One interesting point made by the bird man was in regard to the Highland project which he did the avian study on. I asked him his feelings whether Angus could produce a way that would get around the avian study to receive approval. The bird man didn't see how he could.
There are several residences that will experience shadow flicker as Tetra-Tech's computer modeling revealed.
I expect the DEP will be conducting their first informational meeting sometime in March. Between now and then, Peru will be writing a wind ordinance. A wind ordinance for Dixfield will be presented. An ordinance in Weld is near public hearing. Carthage will have a DEP hearing appealing it's approval. Sumner will have a wind ordinance up for vote. Keep up the good work, everybody, the River Valley of Western Maine is becoming active.