Last month, residents of Highland, Lexington and Concord went to Augusta with a petition. The majority of the residents in these three communities asked Highland Wind and Iberdrola to abandon their plans to turn the rural communities into a sprawling industrial zone.

We also asked Gov. Paul LePage to use his powers to protect us, the people of these communities.

So far, the silence has been deafening.

Highland Wind and Iberdrola have ignored us, and we haven’t had any positive response from the governor, either. If these communities were organized towns, they already would have protective ordinances in place.

The Legislature, however, has decided that the tax-paying residents of the unorganized territories and plantations don’t have the same rights as every other citizen of Maine.

Apparently, the people of Portland and Augusta are “more equal” than the poor residents of rural areas.

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Now we are told that the Department of Environmental Protection likely will take over the permitting of wind developments in these communities. This same DEP has refused to hold even a single public hearing on such developments.

In 1775, the world was shocked when the farmers of Lexington and Concord, Mass., stood up to the overwhelming force of the British government, which had told them that they had no rights to determine their own future.

We the people of Highland, Lexington and Concord believe that we have the same rights to determine the future of our communities today. And we will fight for those rights.

David P. Corrigan

Registered Maine Master Guide

Concord Township


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