Look north; look south; look east and west. Everywhere we look, we see one threatening environmental crisis after another. Species extinctions, PFAS contamination of soil and water, microplastics in human breast milk, ocean acidification and, of course, global warming and climate change.
Sears Island, on right in a 1997 aerial photograph, remains undeveloped, and its ecological diversity has been called “exceptional” and “uncommon” by federal agencies. David A. Rodgers/Staff Photographer, File
Conservation and renewable-energy development directly address a good portion of these environmental threats, providing reason for optimism. But, as defined by the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development (now known as the Brundtland Report), truly sustainable renewable-energy development must “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
The future – our children and grandchildren – ought not to face, as a result of our actions today, a seriously reduced range of options and choices, as they try to adapt to the environment they face.
In order to maintain options in the future, and for a plethora of other good reasons, natural places, things and processes must be preserved. For at least the past 75 years, we have been degrading and eliminating the natural systems on which humans and all life depend. Future economic and social opportunities are under threat from continuing environmental destruction, decreasing biodiversity and climate change. The economics of climate change, and our response to climate change, cannot be divorced from considerations of intergenerational justice and ethics.
This dilemma of growth and development – the desire to maintain economic stability and the need to remain within ecological limits – is nowhere better highlighted than in discussions about Maine’s ambitious offshore wind hopes.
Offshore wind offers highly desirable renewable-energy development. In order to pursue research and development of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine, however, the 800-foot-tall and massively heavy wind turbines need a place to be manufactured, assembled and launched. Under the direction of the Maine Department of Transportation, several potential locations for such a facility are under review, chief among them Mack Point and Sears Island in Penobscot Bay and Estes Head Port of Eastport.
Consultants to Maine DOT concede that any one of the three locations mentioned above could accommodate the offshore wind facility. Yet Maine DOT actions and internal documents show a strong preference for developing Sears Island. Meanwhile, port operators at Mack Point and Eastport are eager to host such a facility and information about both of those sites indicates that the necessary criteria – acreage, deep water, unobstructed access to the Gulf of Maine – for supporting the facility are present.
Even a cursory appreciation of these three sites will quickly notice that Sears Island remains undeveloped, providing a wide array of ecological services almost too numerous to count, whereas Mack Point and Eastport are already developed.
Sears Island’s ecological diversity, called “exceptional” and “uncommon” by federal agencies, contributes to the productivity, economy and enjoyment of Penobscot Bay. The working ports at Mack Point and Estes Head have the capability and desire to expand.
Maine can (1) ensure that the least environmentally damaging plan for an offshore wind facility is pursued; (2) favor adapting outdated, underutilized locations, and (3) avoid damaging intact, undeveloped and ecologically significant locations.
The sustainable development choice is clear. Developing a substantial offshore wind facility at Mack Point or Eastport would eliminate almost no or very few natural functions and largely repurpose those ports without restricting current uses. Developing such a facility at Sears Island would cause environmental destruction, decrease biodiversity and exacerbate climate change.
We have a choice. Let’s make the right choice, the sustainable choice, for today and for the future.
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