Wind Power Column Draws Fire

The author characterizes those who are trying to stop these 500' tall wildlife habitat fracturing structures from hurting Mainers' health, happiness, natural environment and pocketbooks as "nasty and bullish".

You can see this with your own eyes right here:

http://georgesoutdoornews.bangordailynews.com/2013/03/08/maine-wood...

Please also see Is blogging without disclosure legal?

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Comment by Mike DiCenso on March 11, 2013 at 8:05pm

I am assuming he watched the CD and decided he didn't care, a ridiculous position for someone who professes to appreciate the outdoors. Maybe he likes the wind perks. Now he is calling we who do love the Maine outdoors nasty and bullish? What sense does that make? I wonder if he has the capacity to surf sites like Baiyun Obo and find out how dirty these wind turbines really are? Or does he rely on FirstWind for all his "facts"? Or the AWEA? I always liked the Northwoods Sporting Journal better anyway.

Comment by Brad Blake on March 9, 2013 at 6:03pm

I posted the following on George Smith's blog:

 

From my experience, George, you never looked beyond First Wind getting to you while you were still at SAM. I am copying below a letter I sent to you November 3, 2008 when I naively thought maybe the lead organization for hunters and fishermen might want to know about the threat to Maine from industrial wind sprawl. As I recall, I followed up with a half dozen phone calls. Finally, one day, you took my call, confessed you hadn't viewed the cd, then abruptly dismissed meeting with me because you were too busy. Too busy taking First Wind's shill money, right? Here is the letter:

November 3, 2008.

Mr. George Smith, Executive Director.
Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.
205 Church Hill Road.
Augusta, Maine 04330.

Dear George:

Enclosed is a cd containing a power point presentation we created to tell the story of our concerns as Friends of Lincoln Lakes. The Lincoln Lakes area has long been known as an excellent hunting and fishing region as well as a gateway to parts of the North Woods of Maine and the Grand Lakes of Eastern Maine. Now, Lincoln is under a grave threat for fragmentation and loss of valuable partridge and deer habitat by the proposed industrial wind turbine site that will sprawl across more than seven miles of hardwood ridges. Rollins Mountain and the series of ridges known locally as Rocky Dundee are slated to be destroyed for the placement of 40 huge wind turbines.

Please take time to view the cd. It tells the story far better than my letter. As the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. The captions with the slides tell the simple facts of an issue that is multi-faceted and complex. We fervently believe that a legacy is being threatened and we would like to enlist the support of organizations that don’t hew to the trendy view that wind power is a panacea for the energy problems of our country that has been adopted by the politicians after heavy lobbying by the “Big Wind” interests.

Rural Maine is poised to be raped by the wind industry. Already, there are projects underway at Mars Hill, Stetson Mountain, Kibby Mountain. Lincoln is next. There are projects proposed for Roxbury, Oakfield, Ft. Kent, and God knows where else is on the hit list. We know that First Wind, the developer of Mars Hill, Stetson, and Lincoln are studying five more sites. Three other different wind energy companies are actively scouting sites. Essentially, any ridges that are within reasonable reach of existing trunk power lines are fair game. In Lincoln, for example, there will be a new power line running for ten miles to connect to a high voltage line in Mattawamkeag.

In a state where people like Roxanne Quimby are locking sportsmen out of access to entire townships, we need to raise concern about the impact on hunting and fishing and loss of habitat caused by these sprawling industrial wind sites. We need to take a stand (perhaps an unpopular one!) before it is too late! As a native Mainer, I have always felt that Maine folks who hunt and fish usually have more common sense than the politicians and the people who work for groups like Maine Audubon. At Maine Audubon, I was told bluntly by a staff member (who I could tell was an out of stater!) that they support wind energy because burning fossil fuels kills more birds than turbine blades. This person had no knowledge of Lincoln (they asked me where it is–the town where I was born and grew up!). The fact that these ridges are the height of land between three rivers–Mattawamkeag, Passadumkeag, Penobscot–and the 15 lakes and ponds of the Lincoln Lakes parallel the Penobscot migratory bird flyway was of no consequence to them saying they might be interested in taking a look at this being an exception to their policy of supporting wind energy.

George Smith, p. 2

George, I don’t know if the Sportsman’s Alliance has taken a position on wind energy, but I do know you are the most vigorous advocates for keeping access open to Maine hunters and fishermen and are leading advocates for maintaining wildlife habitat. If wind turbines located in poor to marginal wind potential areas are just financial scams paid for by tax credits and subsidies, is it worth losing hunting areas and the further erosion of the hunting and fishing legacy of rural Maine? If your Board has not yet considered a position concerning industrial wind sites in rural Maine, perhaps it is time to review the issue.

George, I would like to have just a short amount of time to meet with you and have a wider discussion about this. Perhaps you know of Board members who might want to meet with us. I would be willing to do the power point presentation and speak with the entire Board if you could arrange it. I believe the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine would oppose the destruction of the fine partridge and deer hunting at Rollins Mountain and the ridges of Rocky Dundee. By the way, I shot my first deer in Rocky Dundee when I was 12 years old.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and to view the cd. I know you are a busy guy, but I hope we can meet about this matter.

Sincerely,

Brad Blake, for.
Friends of Lincoln Lakes.
www.friendsoflincolnlakes.org

Comment by Art Brigades on March 9, 2013 at 2:36pm

 

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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