Lawmakers uphold LePage veto, killing bill to boost solar energy


Lawmakers uphold LePage veto, killing bill to boost solar energy

AUGUSTA –– House lawmakers upheld Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of a closely watched solar energy bill Friday in a blow to supporters who argued the measure would boost the industry and create jobs.

The House actually voted twice on the bill but, despite a heavy State House presence of solar users and industry representatives, the outcome did not change. In the end, the 93-50 vote in the House was a few votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto from LePage, a frequent critic of Maine’s renewable energy policies.

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Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on April 30, 2016 at 11:29am

Solar Veto Sustained Despite Solar Lobby's Best Efforts

http://www.themainewire.com/2016/04/solar-veto-sustained-spite-lobb...

Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on April 30, 2016 at 9:47am

Thoughts...

I agree in a "free" market system, the best solutions will rise to the top. However when Corporations or Businesses seek favor or aid in writing bills, such as was the case with LD 1513, from or through the halls of government to benefit the few while imposing mandated or unexpected expense upon those that receive little or nothing is a clear violation of the intent and purpose of a citizens government.

It is not a free market system when it is rigged. It is not a free market system when deception is used to create a financial support for what may or may not be a solution. It is not a free market system when taxpayer or ratepayer funding is used instead of reinvestment of profit by the owners (shareholders).

A free market system is based on taking a chance, one that is not without risk and if the product is good and does rise to the top the investor is rewarded, unless like these hoods, through government rob them of their rewards. This is not a product based on a free market system, but one funded in part by the people some of whom as taxpayers will never receive a reward as a forced investor.

Investors that never loose, is a sure thing, until the likes of Enron,  or SunEdison (Enron II) and many other(s) Exec's either plunder or mismanage the coffers of their corporations and return to the ratepayer through our government established PUC's or taxpayer through bills or statutes to seek more capital as a forced investment without a return.  This is NOT free market, it is FORCED market for those that participate and those that do not wish to participate.  

It is time to return to a TRUE free market system, where if the product is good, Investors will be willing to take that risk, rather than continue on the road of Corporate Welfare that creates a new breed of "The Rich, Famous or Powerful that are now able to nearly topple Nations such as Iberdrola". Maybe with an option where the common person was asked and provided an ability to afford and make the investment by choice with a possibility of a return, rather than being robbed through the power or authority of of a blindly lead few within a people's (not corporate or business) based government.

Comment by John Frary on April 30, 2016 at 8:13am

In time the free market will choose among the huge variety of energy production and consumption solutions.  Solar might even be among them.  Governments and enthusiasts invariably and unconsciously work to limit the options, as if they knew, with absolute certainty, what will be the best answer.

Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on April 29, 2016 at 8:59pm
  • Comments to A Pro-Solar goup organizer, and Newspaper online for serious thought:
  •  Eric A. Tuttle

    Now to fix the bill, so that it does not migrate to a corporate tax/rate payer subsidized controlled energy source via a manipulated statute situation such as Wind Energy has become. Keeping these Solar Panels on already occupied lands at the point of consumption, not occupying new lands as a new Farming Product to serve those that will not conserve, the other part of "Green"....

    AND... 

  • It was stated to me that I should support this bill, as assisting the Poor to better be able to afford their electricity. Strange that the poor would need to invest ahead of time with a loan, to pay for a hopeful long lasting source. An investment that the payments are steady over a given time period and must be made monthly, when if they chose to reduce their consumption that payment would go down with the reduction. A Loan which typically based on Maine's average consumption of (approx) 800kWh/mo would be about $12,000 after any state incentives. But then I guess that may be only for the poor that work on State wages which well exceed those of the taxpayer, those that this bill is thought to assist. Oh well, it will not be long before the corporations wiggle their way through the legislature and tweak this or create another statute, that calls for a competition tax on all those that have solar, be they incentivized installations or independently funded systems. Taxes that have already been instated in 4 western states, even on those that had no prior grid access. With Net Metering being attacked, if successful, there will be no chance of a return on individual investment, yet farms will be compensated as an industrial source which will be mandated by the PUC. -- Hopefully I am wrong, however history shows the future for Maine is again to be a target for another round of Corporate colonialism.

  • "WE CAN DO MUCH BETTER"  --- DEMAND IT !
  • Yes Gary, this is the Wind Ploy all over again.

Comment by Gary Campbell on April 29, 2016 at 8:47pm

I'm not 'in the know' about solar. But when I heard the hundreds of radio ads promoting the solar bill, I knew the Governor did the right thing by vetoing it. Those ads were basically the wind ads of 2008 with 'solar' substituted for 'wind' and we all know what a scam wind is, especially as practiced in Maine.  Well done, Governor and thank you to the 93 Representatives who are enlightened enough not be scammed twice.

 

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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