Maine Wind Turbine Cleanup Priority Ignored by Ballooning Maine Government

We all know that plastic straws and bags are existential threats to mankind. But did you know that they now have competition from balloons?  "An Act Regarding the Sale and Release or Abandonment of Balloons" has been introduced in the Maine legislature. Along with recent bills such as defining the type of chickadee that should be our state bird and replacing the current state flag, the legislature is doing its best to make sure they wisely use their taxpayer-funded jobs by cracking down on Maine's balloon problem.

"The intent of this legislation is to prevent the release into the environment of balloons that pose a danger and a nuisance to the environment, particularly to wildlife and marine animals, and that cause hardship for the municipalities that must clean up the debris from balloons."

Obviously a bill to prevent the release into the environment of eagle slicing and bat lung imploding wind turbines is out of the question.

The balloon bill is here:

https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?paper=HP06...

or

Maine%20129%20-%20HP%20692_Balloons.pdf

Balloon Bill Sponsor's Other Bill - And Far More Serious

The Balloon Bill's sponsor is sponsoring the following bill, being discussed in the EUT Committee today:

An Act To Develop a State Energy Plan To Provide a Pathway to an Energy Portfolio Free of Fossil Fuels

That bill is here: http://legislature.maine.gov/bills/display_ps.asp?PID=1456&snum...

or

Maine%20129%20-%20HP%20705.pdf

EUT Contact information:

http://www.windtaskforce.org/page/eut-contact-information

Do you suppose the balloon bill's sponsor even knows that Maine has 400 wind turbines littering the countryside that are likely never going to be removed?
Here's a couple paragraphs on what it takes to get rid of wind turbines.
A typical 85 meter tower is approximately 16 feet in diameter at the base and 10 feet in diameter at the top. The steel thickness at the base is typically 2 inches while the steel thickness at the top is 1/2 inch. The most efficient method for cutting such steel is either acetylene or plasma torch. Using the maximum scrap size (5 feet by 2 feet) means that the 11,354 square foot surface area of one tower will be cut into approximately 1,130 pieces, with each piece requiring 14 linear feet of torch cutting. Assuming they could produce one piece every 30 minutes, each weighing an average of 440 pounds, they would finish cutting four towers in 2260 hours. And this doesn't account for tools, cutting fuel, scaffolding, material handling equipment and other incidentals.  

Heavy Metal Steel (HMS) has very strict handling requirements in order to fit into smelting mills. Today’s average prices nationwide for “unprepared” steel are in the $200/Ton range, depending on geography. Transport distance from the smelting mill is a major factor for local pricing and net cost, and we know of no such mills in the northeast. If the towers can be recycled at all, they will not fetch premium scrap rates. If we conservatively assume processing costs (disassembly, cutting, trucking, etc.) of $100/Ton, there is little incentive to recycle anything. If those costs reach $200/Ton, then there is no reason to believe anything will ever leave the site.

Maine has 1,200 fiberglass composite turbine blades in service that cannot be recycled. That’s about 50,000 tons or 100 million pounds of solid waste in a state that has been struggling for decades to end landfill use. The DEP assumes blades will be landfilled if/when they are decommissioned. The reason we have stockpiles of old airplanes in the desert is because planes can easily be moved there, and because it makes no economic sense to tear the planes apart for recycle/reuse. Turbine blades are likely to become either part of the landscape forever, or part of Maine’s landfill debacle. 
 

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Comment by Frank Haggerty on March 13, 2019 at 10:19pm

Falmouth, Massachusetts: The courts have shut down both of the town-owned megawatt wind turbine. The court determined they are a nuisance- The cost to the town for the turbines around 15 million and 8 years of litigation and up to 13 separate cases.

 Plan B is to find somewhere outside of Falmouth to re-install the two Vestas V-82 type 1.65MW old gear driven wind turbines. --Throwing more money after bad. 

The Town of Falmouth has yet to produce an RFP Request for Proposal to move the turbines.

The turbines were a health and financial fiasco -The first megawatt turbines installed in Massachusetts are shut down 

 

Comment by Art Brigades on March 13, 2019 at 4:15pm

This legislator needs to be called to task for both bills. One is bad enough by itself, but together, they are downright silly. For the public hearing you can submit citizen comment here: Abben.Maguire@legislature.maine.gov

Comment by Whetstone_Willy on March 13, 2019 at 4:00pm

Scotty - sorry about this, but it's a no go on beaming you up. Our beams are now mandated to run on 100% wind power and they haven't worked in the last several days. Also, "Beaming Up" and other forms of transportation such as cars, trucks and planes are last priority. As you know, the first priority to receive electricity these days is any TV or computer displaying CNN. If you are ever in doubt about the efficacy of the smart grid, just remember, the smart grid is smarter than you. 

Comment by arthur qwenk on March 13, 2019 at 3:48pm

"Beam me up Scotty". Maine is full of too many ignorant politicians to even allow an "Away Team" to visit there.

Comment by Gary Campbell on March 13, 2019 at 3:45pm

A few years back I thought that Maine would benefit from the wind energy disaster in Falmouth Massachusetts. I hoped that finally we'll have rock solid cost figures for removal of wind turbines. Actual figures we can present to DEP to show how they can't trust the decommissioning estimates provided by the likes of First Wind, Angus King, and others. Falmouth hired several engineers who gave them ballpark figures for the removal of the turbines. Their estimates were drastically greater than the numbers provided by the company that sold Falmouth the turbines (go figure!). Now, after numerous court delays filed by the "renewables at all costs" crowd, Falmouth has the go ahead to have the turbines removed... only to find out that the Town simply can't afford the cost. As far as I know they have no Plan B. The formerly picturesque Cape Cod town of Falmouth will forever live in the shadow of the turbines.

Comment by John F. Hussey on March 13, 2019 at 3:43pm

I am sure being "determinedly ignorant" must be some form of mental illness. The question is, is there something about the Augusta environment that attracts afflicted individuals?   

 

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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