Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
Maine offshore wind port planners now acknowledge the projected construction cost to develop a manufacturing, assembling and launching facility at either Mack Point or Sears Island in Penobscot Bay are essentially the same. And the dredging needed to develop such a port at Mack Point, once projected to be significant, is now understood to be nominal. This limited dredging can be undertaken with little or no impact on water quality, while clear-cutting trees, filling wetlands and harvesting more than a million cubic yards of soil on Sears Islands are necessary to develop the facility there.
At the final meeting of Maine Department of Transportation’s Offshore Wind Port Advisory Group, held on June 26 in the department’s headquarters, participants learned that, by redesigning plans for a floating offshore wind facility at Mack Point, very little new dredging would be necessary. The department also reported that the total project cost for construction is very similar for both Mack Point and Sears Island.
Building a Maine offshore wind facility will almost certainly require trade-offs, if the facility moves forward in the highly competitive offshore wind development environment. Yet, if such a facility is built in Penobscot Bay, I think the overriding taxpayer and environmental benefits of building at Mack Point are clear, compared with fundamental disadvantages at Sears Island. If Maine pursues building an offshore wind port facility in Penobscot Bay, I think Mack Point is best for business, best for the environment and best for Maine.
Stephen Miller
Executive director
Islesboro Islands Trust
Member
Offshore Wind Port Advisory Group
Islesboro
