Maine's Wind Power Goals: Is the Medicine Worse than the Illness?
Some much needed perspective on the terrible bill of goods that was sold to the legislature in 2008 by the Enron-spawned wind industry.
In 1988 Stephen Rice wrote "Some Doctors Make You Sick: The Scandal of Medical Incompetence." In the book, Rice explored the concept of iatrogenic illness, which roughly translates to "the cure is worse than the disease."
We all want clean energy that is useful, necessary, sustainable and affordable. But that does not dictate an "all of the above" so much as an "all of the sensible" approach. This week's update explains one more reason why Maine's wind power goals are iatrogenic: a prescription possibly worse than the illness it seeks to cure.
In 2008 the Maine Legislature made it the state's policy to aggressively pursue a staggering amount (2700 megawatts) of grid-scale wind power. On a typical day, our entire state uses less than 1500 megawatts. The law eliminated barriers to industrial wind development, and even forced regulators to approve projects simply because the applicants can show how they are fulfilling the statutory goals.
Now that we know how ineffective and unnecessary all that wind generation would be, we have submitted legislation asking the Legislature to reform the policy that is so adversely impacting Maine's people, environment, and economy.
Please continue reading this must read piece here.
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Comment
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Comment by Penny Gray on March 6, 2013 at 12:36pm
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Can this be condensed into a one page newspaper ad?
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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