Kay Michka: Telling citizens they no longer have a say in zoning guidelines
Letter to the Editor: LD 616 is about more than just wind
EXCERPTS:
Because I was not aware of the loss of my rights when it occurred, I want to sound an alarm and educate my fellow Mainers.
The story is simple. In 2008, The Maine Wind Energy Act set a frightening precedent by including a provision for mapping select areas of the Unorganized Territories and designating those UTs as Expedited for Wind Permitting. That designation now gives one industry - and only one industry - special powers to apply for a permit in those Expedited Areas without undergoing the normal rezoning process under LUPC. A developer shall be granted a permit if they meet all the permit requirements, regardless of whether or not local citizens believe the development is suitable in those UTs. This is similar to telling organized towns they no longer can set zoning guidelines.
Six years has passed; a taxpayer funded study recommended developing a process for UTs to be removed from the Expedited Permitting Area; bills to correct this blatant disrespect for average citizens’ rights have been stalled in the Legislature where it has garnered bi-partisan support, all to no avail. The industry's lobbyists are a powerful force.
http://www.dailybulldog.com/db/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-ld-616-...
Views: 219
Comment
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Comment by Martha thacker on March 29, 2014 at 9:53am
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If pro wind power laws were made in good faith, I don't see why it was necessary for the legislature to pass the Expedited Wind Law. ....
Or why the gov., AG office, legislators, First Wind representatives in 2008 could not tell the truth to those of us interested in just exactly what a wind farm was or would do to our community.
Or why nobody ever answered the phone at First Wind HQ in Boston or Bangor..until the eminent domain law was passed for transmission lines in the legislature and the time had lapsed to file for intervenor status in the hearings for Stetson Mt wind farm permitting. This all happened on the same day...and voila, First Wind had a secretary.
This is a democratic scam , and the democrats need to own it. I sent Rep. Michaud an email with comments from the latest BDN article with a little admonition, "don't tie yourself to a sinking ship just for campaign money." I like him, by the way , and think that if it were not for the wind issue, he would be a better gov. than LePage...who seems to be looking after Canada's best interests and not ours.
Or why First Wind did not want to admit the length of time that they had wind monitors on Stetson Mt. prior to going public with the plans for a wind farm. A neighbor said it was several years prior to 2007.
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Comment by clyde macdonald on March 28, 2014 at 9:41pm
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I think all of the special interest, pro-wind power laws and decisions were made in good faith 6 and 7 years ago, but that is not the case today. First Wind and other wind power corporations continue to dominate our politics and, I presume. with little doubt, that campaign contributions have now taken over. Little prospect of reforms that would benefit Maine's ratepayers.
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Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on March 28, 2014 at 1:03pm
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The wind assault on Maine is in large part caused by often party-line pro wind votes in the state legislature. Similarly, the "demand" for Maine wind electrons in states is in fact artificial demand caused by mandates from those states' Democrats.
The Democratic party has been hijacked by the extreme left and in Maine its state legislators fall in line with the directives coming from Justin Alfond who takes his cue from the spectacularly failing Obama administration.
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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