On August 19, 2024, Governor Mills signed a lease from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for a floating offshore wind research array. Pine Tree Offshore Wind, a partnership that includes Diamond Offshore Wind, a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi company, UMaine’s VolturnUS, and Cianbro Corporation, will manufacture, assemble and launch up to 12 wind turbines. The research turbines will then get anchored in the lease area where the energy produced is transmitted via buried cable to a distribution substation, which carries it to the end user.
The Governor’s announcement of the lease agreement (https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/governor-mills-announces-agreement-federal-research-lease-advance-floating-offshore-wind-2024) included a reminder that Sears Island is the preferred site where the Pine Tree Offshore Wind partnership will “construct and service [the] floating offshore wind turbines.”
In a grant application to the US Department of Transportation (https://www.maine.gov/mdot/grants/infra/), MaineDOT projected a cost of seven hundred and sixty million dollars ($760,000,000) to develop the Sears Island site.
By selecting Sears Island as the offshore wind manufacturing facility site to serve the research array, Maine puts the proverbial cart before the horse. A full and objective alternative analysis comparing Sears Island with other possible offshore wind manufacturing sites does not currently exist. The Public Utilities Commission continues to struggle over cost issues and consequently has not approved a power purchase agreement for the research array. And all available site analysis and engineering undertaken to date shows that a robust offshore wind manufacturing, assembling and launching facility can be built at Mack Point and that the facility there can achieve Maine’s laudable offshore wind objectives.
According to the University of Maine, the research array intends “to evaluate the floating technology, monitor environmental factors, and develop practices for offshore wind to coexist with traditional marine activities” (https://umaine.edu/news/blog/2020/08/05/diamond-offshore-wind-rwe-renewables-join-the-university-of-maine-to-lead-development-of-maine-floating-offshore-wind-demonstration-project/).
Diamond Offshore Wind owner Mitsubishi (https://www.mitsubishicorp.com/jp/en/) has global interests extending far beyond offshore wind (natural gas, mining, chemicals, petroleum). Cianbro is one of the United States’ largest construction companies, operating in more than 40 states and includes subsidiaries Starcon International Inc., A/Z Corp and R.C Stevens.
Given that MaineDOT acknowledges spending $3,616,051 as of May 1, 2024 on “preliminary engineering” to develop Sears Island (see budget https://www.maine.gov/mdot/grants/infra/). Given that the necessary alternatives analysis has not been completed. Given that the Public Utilities Commission paused Power Purchase Agreement negotiations (https://mpuc-cms.maine.gov/CQM.Public.WebUI/Common/CaseMaster.aspx?CaseNumber=2022-00100), apparently caught between Diamond and partners wanting Research Array above-market costs to be borne by ratepayers but the Office of the Public Advocate wants the lowest reasonable cost to ratepayers.
Given the significant financial, political power and other resources behind these entities. And given the fact that all publicly available site analysis and engineering shows that a robust offshore wind manufacturing, assembling and launching facility can be built at Mack Point (https://www.spragueenergy.com/mack-point/), that the facility there can achieve Maine’s laudable offshore wind objectives (https://www.maine.gov/climateplan/the-plan) and that Mack Point is the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative (https://peer.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/4-1-24-Sears-Island-1995-letter.pdf).
All of the above suggests an enormous business and political component to the decision by the State to develop Sears Island instead of Mack Point that overshadows the obvious environmental issues. Yet it is those obvious environmental and climate change issues that drive, or based on State policy (https://www.maine.gov/climateplan/the-plan) should drive this offshore wind initiative. The need for open, transparent public communication could not be greater. Our lives today and the lives of our children depend on it.
Steve Miller
Islesboro Islands Trust
iitsmill@gmail.com
Alliance for Sears Island 