•David

The group Protect Our Remarkable Town (PORT) has collected 300+ signatures of residents who fear the Aqua Ventus Maine windpower project will harm fishing, tourism and property values.

Project involves 2 floating wind turbines to be located about 3 miles from Monhegan Island, which is 12 miles vrom Port Clyde/Tenants Harbor/ St. George.

Project organizers have proposed to bring power generated by the wind turbines ashore at Port Clyde via cable.

Protesters' objection with regard to tourism is essentially that the necessary electrical substation will be ugly.

Response of the Aqua Ventus Maine project to that is:

"If a project is to come into the Port Clyde area, it will be done to the highest standards of engineering and meeting all electrical and building codes​. For example, our team has proposed burying the cable as needed and using existing transmission infrastructure to minimize visual impact."

In a recent URI poll on the impact of the Block Island wind farm, 77% of respondents said the installation isn't harming the island as a tourist destination. How closely that proposed Port Clyde installation would resemble that one is unknown.

Let's hope for a rational outcome.