MAINE PUBLIC • November 20, 2020
Gov. Janet Mills on Friday announced an ambitious, state-led effort to build as many as 12 floating wind-energy turbines off Maine’s coast. Mills is on the hunt for a location for the array, in partnership with the University of Maine and the big-money investors behind the pioneering Aqua Ventus turbine experiment near Monhegan Island. But that’s got some fishermen worried. The site would be located 20-40 miles offshore in the Gulf of Maine, beyond the horizon line. The platforms would float in water somewhere between 50 and 200 meters deep. “I feel very anxious about this. An offshore wind lease is at minimum a 30-year commitment. It’s a legacy for the fishing industry that cannot be undone,” says Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “That region is extremely important for Maine’s lobster fishery, our groundfish industry.”