Ed Latham
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At 8:01pm on January 17, 2010, Ed Latham said…
I run with a lot of skepticism + negativity concerning the control and power industries have over a mostly powerless population. I've looked over some content here + will continue digging. In many cases, a corporation sets these projects up and the corp has to have $ as the central driving force. I wonder if any local initiatives that support only those locals exist. I know society + infrastructure may not be there in most places, but if talk is going on somewhere, odds are much better for energy independent communities ever having a chance.
I heard that Germany is doing many things with solar and wind that are somewhat in line with my thinking. The story goes that the government in Germany will give huge tax breaks to home owners to purchase + set up solar + wind on their roofs and around homes. In addition, the residences that install the minimal KWHs per day set up will have free electric energy completely with no cap. Meanwhile, industries in the cities have an allowance of how many KWH they can use before they get charged with the rates climbing exponentially the more they are over their caps. I have not followed up on these details and would welcome info from anyone who has taken that time to look into that model.

I have 21 years of experience creating the energy my family needs in a location that is not ideal for that to happen. Learning exactly what we really need for energy and living comfortably in those constraints is half the battle. The push for reform seems committed that few companies are in charge + we can't change that, so work is on pressuring companies to be more responsible. A company, especially if it is the only provider in a region, has very little concern for right or wrong, or any of those things real people may care about because the corp only has to make money. Therefore, I continue to search + support efforts for people to learn individual and community energy independence. I look forward to digging more into content here on this site
At 7:25pm on January 17, 2010, Art Brigades said…
Ed- hooray for you and welcome. Folks like Long Islander are not NIMBY. We're flatlanders whose back yards are not threatened. But dammit, the Bigelows are my back yard and Long Islander's and yours. Maine has one of the most precious heritage landscapes in the lower 48, and what makes it extra wonderful is you can get just about anyplace before lunch, and still have time to enjoy this - OUR state. Not since the big hollow horse got wheeled into the gates of Troy has a people been so duped. Please peruse this website and the resources to which it links you. No reasonable person, once aware of the insidious facts, could be a proponent of Indiustrial (yes community too) wind. I was once like many - perhaps most - of the members here: sure...get us off foreign oil...do the green thing...erect wind turbines....
Trojan Horse, house of cards...call it what you will. In just four years Big Wind has commenced a transformational basatardization of our nearly-200 year old state, with its most treasured, timeless and ancient attributes. In just a few years, for a few tax credits and some gold rush stimulus cash, these pillagers have begun to tick off the ghosts of Thoreau, Longfellow, and Baxter. But don't think they play nice. They are ruthless scoundrels, ever-cloaked in white hats, riding the white steed. Well, we're fed up, as Long Islander says, and we're not going to let them trash Maine. We need to fight fire with fire. Please let us know after you've checked us out if you aren't ready to scream bloody m-----.
At 11:12pm on January 16, 2010, Long Islander said…
If you hear about a "Community Wind" company talking with people in your area, be advised that a wolf in sheep's clothing is in your midst.
At 11:12pm on January 16, 2010, Long Islander said…
Ed, welcome.

If you look in the videos section of this website, you will find a couple of videos on the Vinalhaven community wind experience. The folks in Vinalhaven wanted these turbines, but were also told that noise would not be an issue. As you will hear in the videos, the noise is an extremely serious issue.

There is an interview in the Working Waterfront with some of these folks. You can read it at:http://www.workingwaterfront.com/online-exclusives/Opinion/13571/

Here's a quote to give you an idea of what they are going through:

Amongst the participants were many of us who are neighbors of the turbines. Although our group overwhelmingly supported the project, we now live with the daily presence of turbine noise, 24/7. As one of the Fox Islands Wind Neighbors (FIWN) recently noted, "We support the windmills, but not the noise." The noise is as constant as the wind, building in intensity according to wind speed and direction. It can be a low rumbling, whooshing, grinding background noise that one can just hear above the sound of the trees or it can build to an in-your-face noise, like jet engines roaring combined with a grinding and pulsating sound that echoes in your head, keeps you awake at night, and beats on your house like a drum.

As neighbors of the wind turbines, we find ourselves in the midst of an unexpected, unwanted life crisis. When GE flipped the switch and the turbines began to turn, island life as we knew it evaporated.

One of the favorite tactics of the wind companies is to cast anyone who dares complain as a whining NIMBY. Unfortunately, nobody can cast the Vinalhaven folks this way as they wanted this.

Hopefully their experience will provide warning to others as to the debilitating effects of these mammoth, noisy, vibrating industrial machines that are being stuck right where people live. And hopefully, they will tear them down on the island.
At 8:18pm on January 16, 2010, Brad Blake said…
Ed, welcome to the group. I commend your personal use of solar and wind out there in Frenchville. I also like your focus on keeping things local. Sadly, utilization of utility scale wind ends up with all the same problems whether it is a community based project designed for local benefit or a project designed for sending trickles of energy to southern New England and reaping tax subsidies. The recent experience with Vinalhaven shows this clearly.
At 10:37am on January 16, 2010, Ed Latham said…
I have wind, and solar, in the far reaches of northern Maine. I support alternative electricity developments completely, but constantly question why local communities can't produce their own power. There are European countries that are doing locally produced power for communities, why can't the hard working, intelligent people in Maine start up local energy collaboratives. We may lack the sun for massive production, but it could support wind very nicely and there are many large wind tunnels up here and along the coast. Wind projects are going up all over the state and sadly, so much of that energy is going to prevent Brown Outs in the big cities out of state, thus just padding the coffers of the few central producers and increasing their annual bonus checks come June. Very sad to see our resources not even helping those here at home. Of course we have that model with our food production as well, so we have much to learn about keeping things local. Hope there are others that believe we still can provide for each other.
 
 
 

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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