Maine’s ongoing efforts to develop an offshore wind industry based out of the midcoast are a central issue in the race between two candidates seeking to represent the Searsport area in the Legislature.
Rep. Reagan Paul, R-Winterport, is a conservative Republican running for re-election in House District 37, in part based on her opposition to offshore wind development around Searsport.
Her challenger, Democrat Scott Cuddy of Winterport, formerly represented that area in Legislature for two terms. An electrician by training, he has been involved with the Maine Labor Climate Council, a group that has been pushing for the development of offshore wind infrastructure in the midcoast by unionized workers.
The Mills administration’s offshore wind efforts have support from many business, labor and environmental groups, as well as town officials in Searsport, who all believe that a Maine-based offshore wind industry would create well-paying jobs while helping the state cut its reliance on fossil fuels.
But the effort has spawned an odd coalition of opponents, including tribal representatives, conservatives who oppose offshore wind energy because they argue it would threaten the fishing industry, and area residents who aren’t necessarily opposed to offshore wind but want to conserve the island that the Mills administration has proposed to become the project’s staging area.
Given that division, the outcome of the race between Paul and Cuddy could offer some indication of how much local support — or opposition — the state’s efforts have gained in Searsport, as well as in the neighboring communities of Stockton Springs, Prospect, Frankfort and Winterport that are also part of the district.
The results will also matter because the winner will be one of many legislators that the Mills administration could have to call on for help in moving the offshore wind project along. The federal government recently denied Maine’s request for $456 million to fund it.
In an interview, Cuddy said that he’s seeking to return to the Legislature primarily to take on climate change and help the state transition to clean electricity for buildings and transportation. He pointed to the storms that devastated many Maine communities last winter.
“This is just the very beginning of what we’ll see from climate change,” Cuddy said. “If we do not tackle it now, it will just get worse and worse and worse every single year.”
Cuddy also highlighted both the climate and economic benefits that he thinks would come from developing floating wind turbines in the Searsport area and deploying them in the Gulf of Maine.
“The support in Searsport would be the largest economic development construction project that the midcoast has ever seen. We’re looking at $750 million just for the construction of the port, and then billions of dollars spent over the next 30 years building turbines,” Cuddy said.
However, Cuddy did diverge from the Mills administration on where the staging area for the offshore wind development should go. While the administration is trying to develop it on the state-owned and mostly undeveloped Sears Island, Cuddy said his preference is that it instead go on the privately owned cargo port at nearby Mack Point, whose owners have made a bid to host the project there.
“I haven’t seen a significant amount of information that would lead me to believe that Sears Island makes more sense than Mack Point does, so I am a supporter of putting it on Mack Point,” Cuddy said. But he added, “If for some reason it can’t go on Mack Point, I would support it on Sears Island.”
His opponent, Paul, has also made common cause with some of the Searsport-area residents who are fighting the Mills administration’s proposal to build the wind staging facility on Sears Island. She has participated in various events that they have hosted over the last year and sponsored legislation meant to preserve the island.
But unlike some of them, Paul is more generally opposed to any attempts to put wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine, given the risk that it could disrupt the region’s fishing industry.
Paul declined to do an interview, instead sending a statement that raised concerns about the impacts of the wind turbines on fisheries and marine life such as whales — though there is so far no scientific evidence whales are being harmed by them — and their larger economic benefits. Paul also appeared to reference the recent decision by the federal government to lease out a separate section of the Gulf of Maine for another offshore wind project.
“Leasing the Gulf of Maine for $50 an acre for 33 years to foreign corporations is not sound economic policy, especially when our heritage fishing industry and coastal communities stand to be irreparably harmed,” Paul said. “Maine’s pursuit of a billion-dollar offshore wind facility risks burdening taxpayers with failed technology and skyrocketing electricity rates. Offshore wind promises little local benefit, with only minimal Public Benefits Agreements that hardly compensate for damage to Searsport’s environment, fisheries, and community. ”
Even though Paul is very conservative on other issues such as abortion rights and gun control, it’s possible her outreach to the opponents of developing Sears Island could earn her some votes from more moderate or left-leaning residents.
Rolf Olsen, the vice president of the Friends of Sears Island, said that he has voted for Cuddy, in the hope that more Democrats will take office at the local, state, and national levels. But he said that other like-minded citizens have put their liberal beliefs aside to support Paul in the race.
“[Paul] has used preserving Sears Island very effectively in this campaign,” Olsen said. “I’ve had emails from a couple of folks who said, ‘Oh my gosh, Reagan Paul stopped in and I had quite an extensive chat with her, and I feel so optimistic about Sears Island now.’ She’s done a good job.”
