AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A proposed $100 million wind farm in the Downeast Lakes region has suffered a serious setback after the Maine Board of Environmental Protection took a preliminary vote to reject the project.

The Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/1i0j1MH ) reports that the action Thursday on the Bowers Wind project, proposed by a subsidiary of First Wind, sets the stage for a vote next month in which the state would formally reject plans for a major wind energy project for the first time.