FARMINGTON - Protesters gathered outside with signs including one that said "Leave Our Mountains Alone" as a state panel prepared for a final vote Wednesday on a proposal calling for 30 wind turbines in the state's western mountains.

The seven-member Land Use Regulation Commission gathered at the University of Maine at Farmington to decide whether to accept or reject a recommendation by its staff to approve Maine Mountain Power's application to build the $130 million project.

The LURC staff reviewed a 3-foot stack of documents before recommending approval of the plan to rezone about 1,000 acres to build the 90-megawatt project on Redington Pond Range and Black Nubble Mountain in Redington Township.

On Wednesday, an attorney representing Maine Mountain Power told commissioners that the location represents the "best reasonable site" for a wind power project because it's near transmission lines and logging roads in a working forest.

"This is not a remote, pristine part of the state," Jeffrey Thaler said, prompting hushed moans from opponents who filled the meeting room.
Discussions were to continue through the afternoon.

Developers said the turbines would generate the equivalent energy needs for 40,000 homes, with enough clean power to avoid the need to spew out more than 800,000 pounds of air pollution per day from existing power plants.

But Maine Mountain's project drew opposition from some residents of the western Maine area as well as outdoors and environmental groups, who said the windmills would spoil scenic views from the Sugarloaf USA ski resort and the Appalachian Trail and pose a threat to rare species of plants and animals.

Opponents, including Maine Audubon and the Appalachian Mountain Club, even claimed earlier last week that the LURC staff's recommendation was illegal because it set standards that were too low for development in a remote area, and set a bad precedent for future projects.

Maine Mountain's project was put together by a subsidiary of California-based Edison International and Endless Energy in Yarmouth.

A separate application by the Alberta-based TransCanada, proposing 44 wind turbines on 2,900 acres on Kibby Mountain and Kibby Range, has recently been submitted to LURC. The $270 million project near western Maine's border with Canada would provide 132 megawatts of power.

In northern Maine, a 28-windmill, $85 million project on Mars Hill Mountain has been completed. The 42-megawatt wind farm is producing some power and is expected to be completely online by the end of the month.