Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

EUT Tune-In - If there is dead air, click FULL SCREEN and sound should come on

A Heinous Bill to Supercharge the Heinous Expedited Wind Law of 2008

EUT Web Tune-in alert:

"The Baldacci Bill" - EUT Work Session Today (Mar 3, 2016) at 1:30PM

Listen live on the Web at 1:30PM today at:

http://legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Audio/211

Once at this page, click on START as shown in the image below, and turn up your speakers. If they start late or take a break, there will be dead air. Hang in there with your speakers on.

The EUT work session on LD 1513 is re-scheduled for today at 1:30. While it's only a work session, it would be powerful if citizens turned out to sit in the EUT Committee room. At a minimum, the EUT should feel our presence and know they are being watched. We also may have an opportunity to answer questions which could arise from the Committee. So if you are just seeing this now and can get to Augusta today - they are scheduled for several hours starting at 1:30.

The following time is approximate and the order of the bills can always change:

Work Session, Tomorrow at 1:30 PM for about 4 hours (Cross Building, Rm 211)

HP0305, LD 466 An Act To Increase Competition and Ensure a Robust Information and Telecommunications Market

HP1036, LD 1513 An Act To Clarify Laws Relating to Affiliate Ownership of Electric Generation

A Heinous Bill to Supercharge the Heinous Expedited Wind Law of 2008

For a very long time, transmission/distribution companies such as Iberdrola have been forbidden from owning wind projects or other generation. This is why Iberdrola, the 2nd largest wind generation company in America presently owns no wind projects in Maine. LD 1513 is special interest legislation which would allow such companies to get into the wind business by setting up an "affiliate" for the sole purpose of avoiding such a conflict. In the case of Iberdrola, the affiliate, which is called "Avangrid", was set up in December (2015) at which time ex-Gov John Baldacci became its Vice Chairman. So not only does Iberdrola have sock puppet private concierge service in the legislature which executes whatever requests Iberdrola makes of them, but they also rent ex-Governor John Baldacci, now "Handmaiden Baldacci".

Iberdrola, with a straight face, contends that there is an adequate "wall" set up between Iberdrola and Avangrid, preventing the two companies from talking with each other and mutually and monopolistically benefiting. This is total bull - for one, the two companies have the same Chairman, Ignacio S. Galan. How stupid do they think we are? How stupid are they? ("It's the Stupidity, Stupid".)

If LD 1513 becomes law, it is a guarantee that wind project applications in Maine will explode. There are reasons that transmission companies should not own generation. If LD 1513 becomes law it will become infinitely easier and more profitable for a company such as Iberdrola to desecrate Maine with both wind factories and new transmission. Passing this law for them takes extraordinary brass, even by the standards of our extraordinarily brassy legislators who believe they can get away with just about anything. At a minimum, we need wind warriors in the room keeping close vigil.

Baldacci Declared LD 1513 a Priority Back in 2009 While Governor After Meeting with Iberdrola in Spain

Please see the red colored text in the excerpted article below from September 2009.

There was also an article in the PPH back then where upon his return from the Iberdrola-hosted trip, Baldacci told reporter Matt Wickenheiser that "I need to look into changing the law on owning generation and transmission". The statement below in red font implies that the state is planning on making the change when in fact, the PPH story made it sound much more like Gov Baldacci was going to personally look into it on behalf of his friends in Spain.

No Allegiance to Maine

Companies like Iberdrola are treating Maine like a third world country as they come in with the help of politicians, paid off environmental groups and the media and extract our country's greatest natural resource these days - STUPIDITY (in the form of tax credits, REC's and legislature-ordered mandates all under the guise of a bogus "virtuous argument", just so the scoundrels have some cover). And we're the poor third worlder's living in the shantytowns, trampled. But far from beaten. Unlike others, we have allegiance to Maine and America.and we don't get paid for this. This is why we will win.

Excerpts from 2009 Article: Horizon 'close' to going ahead with huge Maine wind farm

EDP-owned US wind developer Horizon is close to giving the go-ahead for a huge project in Maine, Governor John Baldacci tells Recharge........Baldacci was speaking in Spain during a trip to Europe to promote deals with wind developers and equipment manufacturers.......He held meetings in Madrid with companies including EDP, Iberdrola, Acciona and Gamesa, and visited Iberdrola’s CORE control centre in Toledo before moving on to Zaragoza...... However, the project suffered a blow in February when a proposed solution to grid restrictions fell through after Horizon declined to invest in a transmission project proposed by Iberdrola-owned Central Maine Power that would have linked northern Maine to the New England power grid.......Baldacci also says the state is planning to change local regulations to allow Spanish renewables giant Iberdrola Renovables to invest in wind farms there.

Iberdrola is unable to invest in generation because of the transmission and distribution assets it owns in the state through Central Maine Power; however, Baldacci says legislation being proposed in the state legislature would change the rules for renewable generation. He says Maine has introduced a simplified permissions system for wind farms, based on a number of designated zones for wind farm development. This means that once the application is made, construction could be under way in “less than a year”.

“We have zones defined where there is expedited permitting,” the governor says. “By getting together with the environmental community and forging an alliance, we have created areas where you can just go in and develop, instead of fighting.”

Published: Friday, September 25 2009 | Last updated: Tuesday, October 6 2009

http://www.rechargenews.com/business_area/politics/article192595.ece

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Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on March 3, 2016 at 7:02pm: It seems we are now able to have more input on LD 1513 and this mess. Though never specifically

stated as being related to LD 1513 it was somewhat clarified that these line expansions are subject

possibly to the passage of t his bill.

Tuesday 1:00 is the tentative schedule of A"More" Opponent input to the committee.

If you listened to the work session I think you will find there were some upset committee members

possibly due to Hendrik's Letter supported by STEWC steering committee and the Map that was

sent along with the letter.

I hope to have the video up by late - saturday or sunday - shooting for tomorrow late afternoon.

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U.S. Sen Angus King

THE UNTOLD STORY OF RECORD HILL WIND

The Untold Story of Record Hill Wind, continued

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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We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

-- Mahatma Gandhi

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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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