Natural Gas, Renewables and the Future of Maine's Energy Policy
When reading CLF's comments, please bear in mind that their CLF Ventures works with the wind industry.
"CLF Ventures worked with Horizon Wind Energy to provide services related to the lack of transmission capacity for the company’s planned Aroostook Wind Project in Aroostook County, Maine".
Horizon, the Portuguese company now called EDP Renewables, has its eyes on every possible Aroostook hilltop it can use to stick a turbine - yet another foreign company that will happily help itself to "free money" from the exhausted U.S. treasury at the expense of taxpayer, ratepayer and the Maine environment.
3/27/2014 8:42:00 AM
Natural Gas, Renewables and the Future of Maine's Energy Policy
Picking winners & losers -
by Andy O’Brien
Excerpts:
In order to meet carbon reduction targets, Connecticut and Massachusetts have driven the demand for low- or zero-carbon-emitting energy from Maine wind farms...
CLF Executive Vice President Sean Mahoney said the focus on natural gas and building transmission lines to big Canadian hydro plants is also discouraging the development of local renewable power...
Advocates for natural gas expansion argue that the US holds nearly a 100-year supply of natural gas, which will be a bridge from oil to renewables. But others still wonder how long that bridge will be and what the long-term costs will be.
"If this bridge is going to stretch for 50, 60, 70 years, I don't think we can afford that economically or environmentally," said Mahoney. "We can't just keep building this infrastructure..."
Please continue reading here:
http://freepressonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=52&SubSectionID=7...
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Comment
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Comment by Dan McKay on March 27, 2014 at 11:23am
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"CLF Executive Vice President Sean Mahoney said that while his organization has supported natural gas as a bridge fuel away from oil, he warned against putting all the eggs in one basket. He pointed out that decades ago nuclear was seen as a good idea, but now Maine ratepayers are left with $700 million in stranded costs associated with the now-defunct Maine Yankee nuclear plant. "
?????? Where does this figure of $700 million come from ??????
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Where in the agency title "Maine Public Utilities Commission" does it say Massachusetts or Connecticut or Rhode Island or Vermont or New Hampshire ? The first three states above are big energy users and their desires will overwhelm a small user as Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are. Vermont does a much better job at looking out for it's own interests than does Maine. They use a voluntary renewable portfolio program, not mandatory. They went to Canadian hydro-power to replace the output loss of their nuclear plant. Maine needs to worry about Maine. Participating in the renewable programs and accommodating demand from huge energy users will leave Maine dependent to the whims of these huge energy users.
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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