Tuesday, December 10, we learned that the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) failed to receive a $16 million grant for an offshore wind manufacturing facility on Sears Island. This marks the fourth MDOT grant application failure since 2023 for the Sears Island development. It’s past time for the Mills Administration to cut our taxpayer losses and focus on more modest improvements to Mack Point in furtherance of the floating offshore wind research array.
The four failed grant applications include a Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) request for $8 million in 2023, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency $130 million request, a federal Department of Transportation $456 million grant request and most recently another PIDP request for $16 million.
The application for nearly one-half billion dollars revealed that, as of May 1, 2024, MDOT spent $3,616,051 in their attempt to develop Sears Island. We cannot continue to throw Maine taxpayer money at a proposal that federal officials continually reject.
Instead, the Governor should listen to Chris Wissemann from Diamond Offshore Wind, the state’s partner in the ten-turbine research array, when he said, “[t]he state should scale back to a facility that serves that project, but could expand for future commercial customers.”
According to a Sprague Energy spokesperson, making comparatively modest improvements at or near the Sprague Energy and Maine Port Authority Mack Point piers might make the Research Array possible.
Such modest improvements would position Mack Point for consideration as a commercial-scale floating offshore wind facility in the future.
Yet in the face of repeated funding failures, MDOT said it will continue to advance the port and look for other funding opportunities, which begs the question of whether the State is truly behind Offshore Wind or is this just another futile attempt to develop an industrial port on Sears Island.
The well-known aphorism, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” comes to mind. The renewable energy development we need to see in response to climate change requires adapting actions and not simply repeating the same behavior expecting different results. MDOT’s offshore wind funding challenge highlights the importance of learning from mistakes and making adjustments.
Steve Miller
Alliance for Sears Island 