A Troubling Document
While you may not have the time to read this latest piece of pro-wind propaganda, please download the file for your future reference and browse through the table of contents.
http://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/WindVision_Report_final.pdf
This underscores the need for the people of Maine to fight these policies at the state and local level as best we can. The federal government, certainly the DOE, is very much on the side of the wind industry. The latest IRS ruling has just set the stage for two years of robust wind development and we are more than a year and a half from the next presidential/congressional election.
=================================================================
NEW: U.S. Department of Energy "Wind Vision" (March 2015)
Great to see our over the top fanatically crony green federal government at work conspiring to further prop up the fraudulent "industry" called wind power. Including the front section before the 292 numbered pages start, this new report is 350 pages.
http://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/WindVision_Report_final.pdf
On page XXV of the Executive Summary Overview that it states:
Wind cost reductions do not depend on disruptive technological breakthroughs, but do rely on continued cost improvements, including rotor scale-up; taller towers to access higher wind speeds; overall plant efficiency improvements achieved through advanced controls; improved plant designs enabled by deepened understanding of atmospheric physics; installation of both intra-region and inter-region transmission capacity to high quality wind resource locations; and collaboration and co-existence strategies for local communities and wildlife that support the timely and cost-effective installation of wind power plants.
I put the part about transmission in bold, because here is the federal government acknowledging that wind requires new transmission. We of course know this and have always known this - wherever wind projects are built, new transmission must be built.
Mainers were ripped off on wind-required transmission by Governor Baldacci's PUC
Yet when the Maine Power Reliability Project (MPRP), also known as the CMP $1.4 Billion Dollar Upgrade was forced on Maine ratepayers by Governor Baldacci's PUC (over objections of its own staff!), we were told that the reason for the increase in reliability was due to the fact that our transmission lines were aging, that they were some 40 years old and desperately required upgrading. This despite Maine's atypically low population growth and forecasts. This despite more efficient appliances. This despite the fact that every ratepayer pays a monthly maintenance fee to keep the system adequately maintained.
The elephant in the room, which the media won't touch is that the need for reliability was due not to aging lines but rather the planned build out of wind plantations all over Maine, a plan hatched by Baldacci's handpicked wind task force. Wind power, despite its paltry production, comes in spurts when the wind suddenly blows creating potential thermal overload for otherwise wholly adequate and well maintained existing lines. So if the special interests spawned wind plan was to happen, everyone knew extraordinarily expensive new transmission would have to be built. They just conveniently swept it under the carpet and with the help of a supportive media and a stacked PUC at the time, they blew it by us.
The average struggling Mainer unwittingly bought the wind industry and its owners on Wall Street its shipping system. And this industry already gets every government gift under the sun. First Wind alone got $115 million in free money from the ARRA stimulus program right after Larry Summers jumped from his $5 million part time job at First Wind half owner D.E. Shaw to become the Obama administration's National Economic Director. Soon to be U.S. Senator Angus King got a $102 million DOE loan guarantee award based on having "breakthrough technology" that was nothing of the kind.
True, Maine ratepayers funded "only" its 8% ISO-NE share of this project, but what the media won't tell you is that an estimated $20-30 billion of similar wind-required new transmission is envisioned for the ISO-NE grid we share. Do the math - $30 billion x 8% = 2.4 billion divided by Maine's 560,000 households = Over $4,000 per household (I know the math is not exact, but you get the idea). If the media published a headline saying "Wind Power Plan to Cost $4,000+ per Ratepayer in Tranmission Costs Alone", do you think Baldacci's wind plan would have had such clear sailing? (Of course we only recently learned that the owner of the state's largest media company, Maine Today Media, S. Donald Sussman (Mr. Chellie Pingree) incubated First Wind half owner D.E. Shaw.)
The group of wind industry supporters comprising the wind task force was charged by Governor Baldacci to "remove all obstacles to wind power in this state". Their work led to the heinous 2008 expedited wind law from which so many little people in the state suffer today.
- 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 Peter 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.”
From the website of the Maine PUC:
Ten or more persons can request the Commission open a case by filing a petition with the Commission. The complaint must be about a utility’s rates, acts or practices which the petitioners believe are unreasonable, insufficient or discriminatory, or about the fact that utility service is inadequate or cannot be obtained.
The complaint must clearly state full names and addresses of those who’ve signed the complaint and identify a “lead complainant”—a primary contact person designated the agent for the other complainants. The petition must clearly state the act or thing done (or omitted to be done) about which the complaint is made and include reference wherever possible to the law, order or rule (and sections thereof) related to the claimed violation. The petition will be reviewed and judged as to whether the complaint has merit; if so, the Commission will open an investigation.
Views: 387
Comment
-
Comment by Martha thacker on March 23, 2015 at 8:12pm
-
Of course the transmission lines had to be discussed. Someone sent me a copy of the PR firm First Wind used to sell their wind farms with their recommendations.The instructions were to get leading business leaders / elected officials in the communities on board when they had their sights on areas. In retrospect, we have seen this happen time and time again.
The transmission lines were problematic from the get go. That is why the absurd idea of underground cable from Wiccassett to Boston was bandied about. They even got their PR machine out . Jobs. I printed out documentation on that one.MPUC stood up for rate payers then saying Mainers would not want to bear the brunt of the cost for all New England.
The transmission lines were not in place for the FW windfarm in Cohocton NY . The locals found out but govt. never had public discussion. The FW SEC report at the time stated that the lines would be in place by 2011. Same for ME. When that didn't happen , the SEC reports , under risk factors , stated lack of transmission lines were a plus. It was around this time, I called the ME AG office and was told to hire a private investigator. ..laughter in the background. Like there was no accountability for them and just heartache for those of us living close to the wind farms. That was the general atmosphere back then with Baldaci's administration.
I also saw that when the approval was given for the new transmission lines was given , Bangor Hydro and Central Maine Power had to pay for app . 90% of the cost. At no place on that document was it stated that that cost would be passed on to rate payers. So who knows if the ones giving the permission even knew that would happen.At the time, Bangor Hydro was owned by Emera out of Canada, and CMP was owned by Iberdrola.
Along with hiring private investigators, I think Mainers should go to these MPUC officials who were in office then and just talk to them. Same for DEP and LURC employees...not the ones who were in leadership. Because they were probably won over to wind farms financially and would not want to risk discovery. FW is cheap though and would not shell out anymore money than necessary on people who were not in leadership.
A private investigator would be good to just pay attention to locals who suddenly have a lot of money....also a private investigator who is skilled with the computer and can find these old documents. And if we have economic fall out from our enormous national debt, there could be plenty of people who would want to talk. As the big banks that FW used are just plain dirty.
I think that Maine's problems with wind farms has been part of a larger global plan of domination and not democracy. i.e. the Larry Summers D E Shaw Group connection. ....and that there have been good people of Maine who had to go along with it unwillingly.i.e. when I used to research connections , was so technically challenged, could not even cut and paste...anyway, when I found the piece about the US govt. vs FERC hearing on the grid being full prior to Stetson I being built, the MPUC was not even invited to the hearing. They had to get special intervenor status to even go to the hearing. (I think this is the way that went) MPUC officials have made statements as to the increase to rate payers and given warnings to the mess we were making for ourselves.
-
Comment by Donald Moore on March 23, 2015 at 4:46pm
-
Regarding the completion of transmission lines paid for by Maine taxpayers to accommodate out of State users.
We are in desperate need of leadership. We talk to each other but that is not enough. We have anti Wind organizations in Maine, but none offer leadership necessary to run a campaign to expose abuse of Maine electric rate payers. With leadership from a Maine 501c3 organization, we would easily get hundreds of signers of a petition! The 501c3 gets recognition and exposure they need to build membership!
-
Comment by Dan McKay on March 22, 2015 at 5:13pm
-
Those strategy sessions between government and wildlife creatures will surely be interesting discussions.
-
-
"Wind cost reductions do not depend on disruptive technological breakthroughs,"...i.e. a way to store the energy. Could read no further. The blown up techie language hides empty air ...And WE are supposed to respect and obey.
-
Comment by Long Islander on March 22, 2015 at 11:06am
-
Arthur - the Kurt Adams saga never saw the light of day in the Portland Press Herald, a newspaper that serves a coverage area that is largely protected from wind factories because its residents are generally better resourced to lawyer up. Yet the legislators representing these districts account for a disproportionately high percentage of the pro-wind laws in this state. The Press Herald readers also never read any of the following:
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-...
or
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/
or
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-sk...
Nor have ANY media in the state followed up on the 178 pages of email/love notes between Senate president Justin Alfond and the wind industry for whom he was carrying water in pushing their special interest bills.
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/ld-1750-a-study-in-how-special-interest...
It is media blackout, like state media in a totalitarian regime. And the legislature still controlled by the Democrats won't help us and has done great harm. They take their orders from the Alfond types who take their orders from the Obama administration, which tirelessly pushes for its cronies.
It's ENRON all over again, no doubt about it. Persist - we will win.
-
-
Can someone please put this in as an OP ED in PPH, BDN, Sun journal etc.
We all know this here , but we have to get the facts out every chance we can to the average misinformed green washed and pro - wind propagandized Mainer.
The facts presented here must be spread to the press. (even if they are bought off )
-
Comment by alice mckay barnett on March 22, 2015 at 10:24am
-
Dan McKay can probably cite problems with the PUC that are petitionable.
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/
Not yet a member?
Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?
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
"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi
Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!
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/
© 2024 Created by Webmaster.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!
Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine