Having attended the Maine Dept. of Transportation presentation of the proposed Port for launching Offshore Wind Turbines that the Mills administration and thus MDOT is planning to build on Sears Island earlier this week (Aug 13), we feel compelled to register our shock.

First, that this is the first presentation that has been offered by DOT to the Searsport Select Board ( no direct discussion in three years?) on such a huge proposed project, and second, the sheer scale of this project, the size and building of which is such that the Town of Searsport, not just Sears Island, will be forever changed. Something that the Select Board, the towns' people, and indeed all of us in the adjacent Midcoast region should be fully apprised of.

It made us wonder just who the Port was being built for, what  industry is pushing to use Sears Island rather than Mack Point, or even Eastport, which has the deepest natural sea port in the entire U.S. and no dredging at all would be required. 

Searching the internet we found that the University of Maine is partnering with Diamond Offshore Wind, and when we dig deeper we found that they are in collaboration ( ? a subsidiary of) with Mitsubishi, Japan's largest trading company.

We already know that Central Maine Power is owned by a Spanish corporation (which takes the profit out of the U.S.), Iberdrola.

Now we find that most of the 119 wind farms already launched around the world are owned by a few very large multinational corporations, working hard to consolidate worldwide ownership and major consolidation of our power grids for their profit. 

This is really big, folks.

We need offshore wind, but we need to be thoughtful about it. And it feels like the DOT spokesperson was disingenuous when he could not answer questions, such as "what will this development do to the lives of Searsport citizens" and "will the electricity produced stay in Maine?"

Even about the lighting — think about it. A port this size will certainly need lighting and activity 24/7, 365 days a year, but DOT's representative could not or did not answer this question.

Questions?

Oh yes. There are many many more questions, in a brand new industry that is still working out the kinks — Iberdrola (CMP parent company) also owns the wind farm off Martha's Vineyard, which recently has had a shattered windmill blade ( 300 feet in length) that has shot shards of fiberglass onto local beaches, which have to be closed. 

There is a lot to talk about, and we appreciate very much the Select Board inviting the public to attend and to ask more questions. I hope the Board has the DOT return very soon, to continue this conversation, because citizens have a right to know the whole story and why our opinions do not seem to matter.

We will never see an island like Sears Island again. Ever. Why not Mack Point? or Eastport? Please!

Meredith Bruskin and Donna Short live in Swanville