Alliance for Sears Island

The Alliance for Sears Island formed this past year out of concern about and frustration with the Maine Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) promotion of Sears Island as the United States’ East Coast offshore wind manufacturing, assembling and launching hub. The Alliance supports the development of an offshore wind facility at Mack Point but opposes developing that facility at Sears Island, if any such facility is to be built in Penobscot Bay.

Several groups and individuals in the Penobscot region immediately began meeting after release in November 2021 of a MDOT report proposing “a marine terminal on Sears Island as a centralized hub” for manufacturing, assembling and launching offshore wind turbines to be located in the Gulf of Maine.

This core constituency increased to include 8 (and growing) allied organizations and hundreds of individuals, all sharing a common purpose: to repurpose a portion of already industrialized Mack Point and preserve undeveloped Sears Island, if an offshore wind hub is built in Penobscot Bay.

2023 Highlights

• The Alliance sponsored the first public offshore wind port informational meeting. More than one hundred people turned out on May 20 for A Wind Port for Searsport? in the Searsport Community Center. Sentiment expressed during the open discussion period overwhelmingly favored protecting Sears Island and locating renewable energy industrial development on Mack Point.
• Alliance members, allies and supporters brought well-considered questions and concerns to a MDOT informational meeting held all day on October 25, 2023 in the Searsport Community Center. The Alliance circulated a fact sheet (available here) that describes the advantages of locating any offshore wind facility on Mack Point and the key Sears Island disadvantages.
• Three of the Alliance allied organizations participated in six meetings of the Offshore Wind Port Advisory Group (OSWPAG) coordinated by MDOT over the course of 18 months in 2022 and 2023. During those proceedings, new information about the proposed offshore wind facility emerged that further supported the common-sense view that Mack Point should be the location. At the final meeting on June 26, Sprague Energy presented an offshore wind facility plan for Mack Point, later refined even further, clearly establishing that Mack Point is the better economic and environmental choice. The Alliance supports the Sprague Alternative; see here and here.
• During a June meeting of core allies and individuals, the Alliance agreed to raise modest funds for expanding public outreach, including engaging a program assistant. Since then, Tiffany Wolff, with volunteer help from several individuals, created the Alliance website (https://allianceforsearsisland.org/), a social media page (https://www.facebook.com/people/Alliance-For-Sears-Island/61552194446511/), an Alliance for Sears Island weekly newsletter (sign up on the Alliance web homepage).
• Alliance allies and friends wrote a plethora of letters to various Maine media and newspapers. See some of these here. The offshore wind port, as MDOT calls this facility, became much more broadly discussed, albeit sadly still often misunderstood, during 2023.
• Alliance allies and supporters worked independently and in cooperation to maintain Sears Island and Penobscot Bay’s ecological integrity. In November, for example, Islesboro Islands Trust announced retaining counsel to assist in state and federal permit applications associated with the offshore wind facility.
• The Penobscot Bay and Sears Island offshore wind proposal encapsulates the multifaceted challenges of responding directly, positively and thoughtfully to the global climate emergency. We expect MDOT to publicly announce its preferred location for the wind port early in this new year. Stay tuned!

The Alliance for Sears Island Governing Team includes Susan Bartovics, Gregory Biddinger, Matthew Cannon, Scott Dickerson, David Italiaander, Stephen Miller, Peter Nichols, Rolf Olsen, Beverly Roxby, Janet Williams, Susan White and Tiffany Wolff.

Alliance allies currently include Friends of Sears Island, Islesboro Islands Trust, Sierra Club Maine Chapter, Friends of Harriet Hartley Conservation Area, Friends of Maine’s Seabird Islands, Upstream Watch, Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

If Maine pursues building an offshore wind facility in Penobscot Bay, Mack Point is the preferred alternative because that location is best for business, best for the environment and best for the State of Maine.

Help us move the best decision forward. Get in touch – allianceforsearsisland@gmail.com