EXCERPTS

Our View: It behooves us to pay for wind energy

While question marks over cost abound, one thing is clear: We need to make this investment.

The Editorial Board

Is Maine willing to pay up for the good of the environment? We should be.

As we reported last week, talks are underway about how to price the financing, building and operation of offshore wind power. Numbers are being floated so that wind turbines will eventually be floated in the Gulf of Maine. The pricing and paying determination falls to state-level utility regulators; the public advocate, Bill Harwood; and the offshore wind developers.

A good deal is required for ratepayers – that’s not at issue (in fact, it’s a legal requirement). What might be up in the air, in spirit, is the degree to which we are willing to “buy in,” to recognize the long-term value of an investment that will pay handsome environmental and economic dividends.

According to the Maine Research Array, the offshore wind project, as envisaged – comprising 10 turbines about 40 miles offshore – would strip as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year as if we took more than 100,000 gas-powered cars off the road..............................

......................The environmental case alone is screamingly urgent..........................

“If this falls apart,” Jack Shapiro, climate and clean energy director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine warned last week, “it will send a message that Maine is not the place you want to invest.”

It’s a message we can’t afford to send.

Please see the full piece at https://www.pressherald.com/2024/08/04/our-view-it-behooves-us-to-pay-for-wind-energy/

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