MAINE COMPASS: In Augusta, it’s all about big wind, big money, but Maine is not for sale

This editorial piece now appears in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.

http://www.kjonline.com/opinion/MAINE_COMPASS__In_Augusta__it_s_all...

and

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/opinion/MAINE_COMPASS__In_Augusta__it...

MAINE COMPASS: In Augusta, it’s all about big wind, big money, but Maine is not for sale

Richard McDonald

Previously, it appeared in the Press Herald.

Maine Voices: Bill favoring wind industry threatens to muzzle Maine citizens, regulators

The public needs to speak out against L.D. 1750 or risk losing its voice on a key environmental issue.

By Richard McDonald 

http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/Maine_Voices__Bill_favoring_wind...

Views: 664

Comment

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

Comment by Martha thacker on February 20, 2014 at 7:31pm

I too would like to join democrats against wind power. .. like Mike Michaud (sp?)so   much, was considering working for him.. Have called his office several times.. The  DC office is very considerate and informative. Didn't vote  for gov. last time around  because the dem. and independent  candidates were pro wind. We should not have to be even having this discussion after wind power  has proven to be anti environment , anti labor only benefits corporations  . Electricity going up over this New England cap and trade boon dogle will only drive business to the south.Still don't know why we have it and it was never passed in congress. Being close to Canada is probably the reason as there is some perk in power purchase agreements to foreign countries. Something about not having to produce power I think.

Comment by Mike DiCenso on February 14, 2014 at 11:10pm

Clyde, sign me up for Democrats Against Wind Power. I even voted for LePage solely because he was willing to question the wind cabal even though I disagree with many of his other actions. I have voted for Green candidates, but they cannot be pro wind. Sen Alfond should be tarred and feathered.

Comment by Kathy Sherman on February 14, 2014 at 10:44pm
I meant not to post, but what I realized today was that that same local government had been thinking of clear-cutting and putting 'local', neighborhood septage treatment in a lot that they happen to own 150 ft. away. My vista is about one half mile or a bit more in some directions, so it is not NIMBY, but where I have to agree with you Sherwin, it used to be property rights. Not just and equal rights - women had none and the heirs of a property owner in my town who opposed the division of the town back just years after the Revolution, and probably more significant locally, the War of 1812, anyhow those sons lost their inheritance,too. Dad's name was Dillingham, and for standing to principle, all lost. I thank my local historical society for alerting me to the Dillingham story and I thank my parents for the values that they gave me. Often those values from Thoreau, Franklin, Longfellow, etc , are in conflict with my present reality. That is why I would say to MA, you want wind- put it on the Charles River and let the Harvard crew team go someplace else. Citi will have to find some place else for their sign. And in context, I love all those city lights and sounds. In context. Not here. Not knowing what urban govt. has done to supply their water and rid their waste
Comment by Kathy Sherman on February 14, 2014 at 10:08pm
Love to be even partially correct, especially when I did not go back to the Founders, or pre-Colonial times that govern where I live. In the last 24 hours, I realized that I am not just fighting an ill conceived 'small' wind of two V90 s or a less humanly-impactful solar PV in the same place
Comment by Whetstone_Willy on February 14, 2014 at 8:46pm

I think the following speaks volumes:

Big money washes through the halls pushed by legions of lobbyists dismissing citizens as impediments to corporate enrichment and political expediency.

Gone are the days of independent thinking and considered debate, especially regarding Maine’s energy policy. Political leadership shuns the difficult but practical choices avoiding policies that promote low-cost, reliable energy and economic sustainability.

Let's face it, up until now it has been politically correct to support wind and those who do object are surely trogladytes. And the emperor had a nice new suit.

At some point empirical thinking will return - probably caused by a financial or other crisis. When it does, historians will look back at this sort of legislation as unthinkable.

This should not be about he who has the most money wins the legislators' votes. This should and must be about the legislators representing the people, unencumbered by dictates from their leadership and the administration in Washington, D.C.

Comment by K Campbell on February 14, 2014 at 10:57am

Folks in Maine opposing the wrongs of the Wind Energy Act span all political persuasions. It is one of the most powerful aspects of this movement. Don't assume for a minute that people opposed to this law and its serious effects are from just one point of view. This issue is a huge unifier once people get up the learning curve.

Comment by Sherwin Start on February 14, 2014 at 10:53am

Unfortunately Kathy -U are Only PARTIALLY Correct -I will Grant U-Individual Property Rights has Always and Should Always be the TRUMP Card in your HAND-But Unfortunately EVERYTHING we Do Can Do and have Done has been done THe GOVERNING BODY that we live within-and that Means that POLITICIANS Have Controlled Virtually every facit of our Lives right from the Founding of our Nation. It Was Politicians that CREATED the Laws and Still do today-They Are SUPPOSED To be Creating Laws that BENEFIT the PEOPLE Of this Nation-But Unfortunately the POLITICIANS have other "VALUES/PRIORITY'S" other than thoseof the People-Today! How We are Going to Change this turn of Events-I do not know-We Just Have to Continue to do the BEST We Can and FIGHT Them to the bitter End!!

Comment by Kathy Sherman on February 14, 2014 at 10:06am
Perhaps this should not be seen as a political issue, since 'energy' has been trumping property rights and health, usually via nocturnal noise, across the rural American landscape. Plus it was Bush who promoted the state of Texas having an RPS to support wind energy, and most of the changes to zoning and other ways to abscond centuries of civil law in Massachusetts for the sake of wind facilities occurred under Republican governor Romney. I really hate to see this become so political - it should be Right as in Correct, not as in political affiliation. Recognizing that my view is probably much in the minority, is not going to prevent my expressing it.
Comment by Sherwin Start on February 13, 2014 at 8:29pm

DO u REALLY Expect The MAINE DEmocrats To Act any differantly than their Counterparts in Washington,D.C.?? The INFECTION Of Socialism has Spread thruout our Country! There is No Cure for it-Other than to KICK EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM out of Office!

Wind Power in My Eyes is DEAD! When the FIRST FUSION Reactor comes on line it will make Wind Power as Obsolete as a Row Boat in a Speed Boat Race! 

Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on February 13, 2014 at 6:30pm

 

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

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service