A new bill seeks to roll back sand dune protections as a way to allow construction of a proposed wind port project on Sears Island.
The bill is emerging as the first source of debate over Gov. Janet Mills' selection of Sears Island as the preferred site of a wind terminal on the Midcoast, which faces an extensive permitting environmental assessment process.
The legislative proposal from the Mills administration would grant an exception to the state's sand dune protections. Specifically, the bill would allow the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate an application for the offshore wind terminal, which would be located on a coastal sand dune on Sears Island.
But the bill is reigniting concerns from those who are opposed to offshore wind development entirely, and to the proposed port on Sears Island.
Jill Howell, the executive director of the Belfast-based advocacy group Upstream Watch, said she believes the concerns about the Sears Island sand dune system illustrate why a potential wind port should be built at nearby Mack Point.
"It's well documented that coastal dunes and wetlands are the first line of defense in mitigating climate impacts," Howell told state lawmakers Monday during a public hearing. "And while addressing the climate crisis has to take many forms, it must begin with preserving the ecosystems and places that are already providing resilience in the face of climate impacts."
Some opponents also said the request is premature, because an environmental analysis and permitting for the Sears Island project hasn't been completed.
The Maine Department of Transportation, which owns the Sears Island parcel, said the dune in question is man-made, and the proposed changes would only apply to the dune located on the proposed wind port site.
Megan Russo of the Maine DOT said the department wasn't aware of the sand dune implications until recently, when local dune maps were updated.
"The impact to this small sand dune is real, but we think it needs to be balanced against the huge potential environmental and other benefits of this proposed wind port project," she said.
State lawmakers are planning to propose an amendment that would protect two other sand dunes on the island by enrolling them into a conservation easement.
Environmental groups are split over the proposal, with the Natural Resources Council of Maine encouraging state lawmakers to support the bill, but the Sierra Club of Maine urging the opposite. Others, including the Maine Audubon and the Friends of Casco Bay, raised similar concerns about sand dunes as a source of protection from flooding and other climate impacts but see the proposed offshore wind port as a crucial step in securing the state's transition toward renewable energy sources.
