Peru Wind Power Committee to host DEP's Jim Cassida on Feb. 9

Wednesday, February 9

6 p.m.

Peru Town Office

[Sun Journal coverage here, meeting notes here]

Jim Cassida, the licensing coordinator for Maine DEP's Division of Land Resource Regulation, will review existing state regulations for grid-scale wind-power development. The Town of Peru currently has no local ordinance for regulating such development. Thus, the Department of Environmental Protection would be the sole permitting authority for any application that might come forward for a wind-power site in Peru.

A local committee has recently formed to consider whether the Town needs tighter standards than what the state allows. The committee, chaired by Planning Board Chairman Stephen Fuller, met for the first time on January 25 (meeting notes here). There are still openings on the committee for any Peru residents who would like to get involved. Wednesday night's meeting is open to the public, and Mr. Cassida will be answering questions from those in attendance.

Further reading:

DHHS paper on neuro-acoustical issues with wind turbines

Citizen petition to BEP for new noise-control standards