EPA's Bad News for Maine Wind Industry: Maine's CO2 Emissions from Electricity Production Less Than 1/3 the National Average
Maine's 2008 Expedited Wind Law was to large degree predicated on reducing CO2 as summed up by Governor Baldacci's Wind Task Force Chairman Alec Giffen: "Wind power is an essential response to global warming".
But according to the EPA, it turns out that the only CO2 source which wind power would seem to have any effect on, electric power, accounted for only 10.81% of Maine's CO2 emissions in the most recent year for which data are available, 2012. The national average for the same year was 37.49%. Looking at the last five years, 2008-2012, the story is the same - Maine's electricity production plays relatively little role in creating CO2 (12.57% vs. the U.S. average of 38.70% or less than a third of the national average).
Meanwhile, transportation accounts for 50.06% of Maine's CO2 emissions and recently we have seen our speed limits increased, all but assuring even more CO2 to come from Maine transportation. I personally do not object to the higher speed limits. However I find it frustrating that many of those who cite climate change as justification for littering Maine with these grossly inefficient turbines and new wind-required transmission offered no objections to creating more CO2 by our number one CO2 emitter, transportation, when the speed limits were increased.
CO2 avoidance is but one of many foundations of the 2008 expedited wind law that does not stand up to scrutiny. It is clear why the law had to be rushed through - its wind industry authors did not want anyone in the legislature to read it. They didn't and countless Mainers continue to suffer as a result.
CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion by Economic Sector - Million Metric Tons CO2 (MMTCO2) *
Additional data analysis in Excel:
Source:
| http://epa.gov/statelocalclimate/resources/state_energyco2inv.html |
* Greenhouse gas emissions data can be reported either by economic sector, which includes electric power generation as a separate sector, or by end-use sector, which distributes the emissions from electricity generation across the economic sectors where the electricity is used.
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Comment
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Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on January 20, 2015 at 3:43pm
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Questions to ask them, through a LTE for public viewing maybe ???
86% of CMP's Wholesale purchasers of Electricity are out of state, with only 25 Maine entities of the 187. I wonder if the same percentage of Maine's power is going that way also. If So, the 10.81 figure is at 1.5% for Maine, with carbon emission accountability shifting into Maine for outside needs.
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Maine has .43% of the national population and produces only .32% of the nations CO².
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_... (2011 data)
Connecticut and Massachusetts have a lower per capita emissions level than Maine?
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Comment by Long Islander on January 20, 2015 at 10:56am
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Wonder no longer why the average person struggles so hard --- the game is rigged. This is not about party, but rather right and wrong.
CAUGHT! - Justin Alfond and Wind Industry Caught Red-Handed by Main...
and
Press Herald Owner Incubated D.E. Shaw (1/2 owner First Wind)
- Congresswoman Chellie Pingree using husband S. Donald Sussman's Wealth in Deal Making?
- Sussman's fund has incubated several hedge fund trading legends, “such as David Shaw of D.E. Shaw
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Comment by Whetstone_Willy on January 20, 2015 at 9:45am
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Comment by Martha thacker on January 20, 2015 at 8:51am
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It would seem that the crime syndicate known as the Wind Industry/ ME legislature has no reason to push wind farms...except the criminal aspect. Money from rate payers, tax payers and renewable energy credits.
We as Mainers need to start looking at it for what it is. Racketeering run by a mob.We have all seen the movies...give us your money once a week and we'll protect you. Not much different than our state govt. and Big Wind. Just scale. With BDN, PPH and all TV stations knowing better but keeping their mouths shut.
We have no way of knowing whether our media is willing or coerced . No matter..Karma is the great equalizer.
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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