LD 1810 (HP 1255)

"An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Expedited Permitting for Wind Energy Development"

(Emergency)

(Governor's Bill)

Sponsored by Representative Joel Stetkis

Reference Committee

Energy, Utilities and Technology

Last House Action

2/6/2018 - Speaker laid before the House

On motion of Representative HERBIG of Belfast, the Bill was REFERRED to the Committee on ENERGY, UTILITIES AND TECHNOLOGY.

Sent for concurrence. ORDERED…

I was asked to give an opinion about a recent Interior Department statement regarding migratory radar studies being conducted on the Great Lakes. This information especially applies to the Lake Erie Icebreaker studies and the radar Studies conducted for the Galloo Island wind project.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  …

In all, 132 MW of wind and 86 MW of solar facilities cleared FCA #12 (most photovoltaic resources in New England are on the distribution system and don’t participate in the wholesale markets). Those totals include 1 megawatt of new wind and 21 megawatts of new solar facilities

Wind Power More than 1,300 MW of wind power is operational in the region. Developers are proposing nearly 8,600 MW of additional wind power, primarily in northern New England and offshore in southern New…

Mike Carr, posted as a contributor to the The HILL, just happens to be the Executive Director of New Energy America. Take a guess at what he believes. 

He thinks we should be building out wind and solar and biofuels, however he notes that a converted refinery for biofuels has already failed (bankruptcy) and was bailed out twice by Obama. …

The transportation department says owners don't pay enough gas taxes to the highway maintenance fund, but environmental groups and drivers say the state should find another way to fill the gap.

The Maine Department of Transportation wants to impose an annual registration fee on the vehicles, $150 for gas-electric hybrid cars and $250 for all-electric models.

An extra fee is needed to make hybrid and all-electric owners pay their fair share of state…

Update 2/9/18 - The segment is supposed to run tonight or Monday. It may be fairly short.

UPDATE at 9:10PM 2/7/18 - I watched and DVR'd the program and the segment never ran. I suspect another segment ran over. I will update when I receive more information. Apologies for any inconvenience.…

Sherman, ME - a gateway community as promised or just Maine's next industrial wind dead zone?

While it may very well make sense now to fully support tourism at the 500 day old Katahdin Woods & Waters  National Monument, it's sad to see a lover of Maine's environment criticizing Governor LePage's protection of Maine tourism from…

Turbine opposition groups turn to the courts https://thereview.ca/2018/02/05/turbine-opposition-groups-turn-to-the-courts/#respond

It is my understanding that this lawyer representing wind…

A Central Maine Power Co. executive disputes a December report that the company’s $200 million smart meter system crashed during the October 2017 wind storm.

Speaking Tuesday before a state legislative committee about the October storm, Eric Stinneford, CMP’s vice president, controller and treasurer, said the comment by a company spokesman that the system had flatlined was “unfortunate and uninformed.”…

So is this reporter suggesting the smartest policy is to catch unwitting citizens off guard? How about doing that in the Berkshires or on Cape Cod? 

"Even so, the Baker administration believed that out of 46 bids, Northern Pass had the best chance to deliver the most electricity and at the earliest date. Yes, the opposition was loud, but…

In a "what goes around comes around " potentially, ironic situation, could former Governor Baldacci, the one time Champion of Maine Wind Energy actually become an unwitting participant in it's demise ?

Baldacci is now an employee of Avangrid, a worldwide leader in service, innovation and investment in the U.S. energy industry.

More specifically, he is Vice Chair of the Board at Avangrid.

Avangrid owns CMP, an electrical transmission and distribution company…

All sources of generation that comply with Rhode Island’s RES will be eligible, including solar, biomass, small hydro and land-based and offshore wind.

However, the competitive nature of the solicitation may determine which projects are selected, and the current higher price of offshore wind in the United States may rule out this resource unless a carve-out or other means of differentiating this resource is provided........................

But New England as a whole also…

Ocean City’s town officials are turning up the heat on two offshore wind projects they say will spoil beach views and hurt the resort’s tourism industry.

The Town Council voted unanimously Monday night to oppose the construction of wind turbines that would be visible anywhere along the town’s 10 miles of coastline.

“This is a big project that will be there for many, many years, and we only get one chance to make it right,” Mayor Rick Meehan said.…

Ward, who has denied that he provided any insider information to anyone, wasn’t on the conference calls. But other people who were – notably John Richardson, a former legislative leader and economic development commissioner who has been working with a ConEd partner – discussed information that they said Ward provided. Other people on the calls were investors, ConEd representatives and business partners........

Richardson has declined to comment on the matter, citing a…

Start with commodity allocation dependent on customer choice on price. The Electric Restructuring Act of 2000 was enacted to place electric generation in a competitive market giving customers choice on price. At that time, electric generation resources selected to meet demand were based on timely costs to provide the lowest price possible to retail sellers, and, subsequently, to customers

.

Obviously, policy makers considered the word "Restructuring " meant the market was subject to…