Oakfield vote advances $300 million wind project in Aroostook County (Maine)

[jpak]

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/11/22/news/aroostook/oakfield-vote-advances-300-million-wind-project-in-aroostook-county/

OAKFIELD, Maine — Residents on Monday evening voted to forge a tax increment financing agreement with a First Wind subsidiary on a new $300 million industrial wind project.

The decision was made after residents attended a two-hour special town meeting and voted 81-22 in favor of the TIF agreement.

Town and wind industry officials said the move would provide the town $16.5 million in benefits over 20 years. The project is anticipated to result in approximately $200 million of new taxable development within the town, according to information distributed during the meeting.

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In January 2010, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection approved an environmental permit application for Evergreen Wind Power LLC, a subsidiary of First Wind of Massachusetts, to erect 34 1½-megawatt wind turbines in Oakfield and a neighboring township. The company amended its permit application, however, to erect 50 3-megawatt turbines along the ridge lines of Sam Drew Mountain and Oakfield Hills, 40 of which would be in Oakfield. The change nearly triples the generation capacity of the proposed project, which would create enough energy to power 20,000 or more homes, the firm has said.

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[Scuba]

1. Wind powered potato-diggers can't be far behind. n/t