Under LD 828, to remove your township, plantation or municipality from the Expedited Permitting Area, you must submit a petition to LUPC requesting it. It must be in a format provided by LUPC and include the signatures of at least 10% of the number of registered voters residing in the township, plantation, municipality or portion thereof that voted in the most recent gubernatorial election.

To find out how many of your township's registered voters actually voted last…

I know we have already been paying for transmission upgrades!  But how are Bangor Hydro customers going to bear the brunt of this?

https://bangordailynews.com/2015/06/30/business/power-bills-to-go-up-for-bangor-hydro-customers/

Sun Edison has gained funding for and is starting the Bingham project.  More ridgetops will be devastated for useless profiteering.  They make it sound like Maine is getting a GIFT.…

After seeing what Iberdrola has done in Maine, it looks like they are getting a rejection from our neighbors to the south.  Why couldn't our PUC have seen through Iberdrola before we got taken?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-30/iberdrola-s-3-billion-takeover-of-uil-rejected-by-connecticut

 A new organization has been started in MA by Tom Thompson who lives in Scituate , MA where the turbine installed in his town has created a nightmare of noise and shadow flicker for the adjacent residents . Tom has been advocating for appropriate siting for some times while the efforts to demand that the State conducts noise testing have been largely ignored.

I believe that joining Tom in his effort is part of the coalition building we need to develop, as New Englanders , to protect…

In a seesion of the legislature where the Governor has been vetoing legislation , Governor LePage stood up for the rights of the citizens in the state's Unorganized Territories and SIGNED LD 828 into law.  What a long and skillfully fought victory!  The following is the message from UT Citizens for Fair Policy.…

ISO New England is retiring more energy plants and looking to Maine to provide more energy, but openly states that Maine lacks the transmission infrastructure.  Are we supposed to foot the bill?  We are already being told new transmission lines are for us! Really??

http://www.ect.coop/editors-pick/challenges-loom-as-new-england-plants-retire/82516

See

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/windpower/11685082/Wind-farm-subsidies-axed-to-stop-turbines-covering-beautiful-countryside.html

It is interesting that there is no US media coverage of this perspective from Bill Gates.  This article comes from the UK.  The UK doesn't utilize direct taxpayer subsidies like the USA, but instead has forced a "Feed-in Tariff" on the grid, forcing electricity costs to skyrocket.  This, in turn, has led to poor and working class people to endure what has been termed "energy poverty" such that they must sacrifice heavily on other things to try to keep the lights on.…

One of the problems we have continually struggled with is the bias of the Maine media in their complicity with the wind industry in promoting this scourge in Maine.  When I saw this completely biased article in the Lewiston Sun Journal, from a reporter who I know must have my phone number and email from previous interactions (as well as contacts for other wind power critics), I got angry and fired off this email:

"Mr. Karkos, I have to strenuously object to the article…

State of the Environment – Maine DEP Commissioner & Bureau Chiefs…

.....Hydro power is one of the few green energy sources that is “grid ready” and can supply economical reliable energy. So, naturally, many greens are opposed to it. However, in most places there is competition for fresh water for domestic uses, irrigation, industry and environmental flow. Hydro power is just one more competitor for this valuable green resource.



So Green energy is not so green after all. It reduces the supply of food, water and…

The massive Oakfield Wind project has towers being erected at a steady pace.  There will be 50 Vestas V112 turbines when complete, each standing 492 ft tall from base to apex of the blade.  This project represents one of the worst travesties in our sordid history of wind power projects in Maine, as DEP Commissioner Aho allowed First Wind (now SunEdison) to amend an existing license for 35 1.5 MW GE turbines, each at 389 ft tall, and expand it to this completely different project, impacting a…

We have gotten few victories from the State Legislature, but the dogged determination of the Maine Citizens of the state's Unorganized Territories now have won a process to have a say about whether or not to be in the Wind Energy's Law's arbitrary "Expedited Permitting Zone".  Great job to the group "UT Citizens for Fair Policy".  Here is their press release:…

Good bye David Littell, ex-chairman of REGGIE and DEP commissioner under Governor Baldacci , then conveniently appointed PUC Commissioner  , your damage has been done . Your heavy hand, which so faithfully served the wind industry ,has been removed from the regulatory process.

We now hope and will watch for fairness. 

Economist Bruce Williamson Takes Oath to Serve on Maine Public Utilities Commission…

As a Member of:

The Alliance for the Common Good

We at STEWC welcome the Wind Warriors to join us. …

Thank You Barbara Durkin for re -alerting our attention to this movie .

Please share wide and large on your social networks. Reverse propaganda will take time and we need to be relentless if we hope to save our landscape, wildlife and the well - being of affected residents.

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/53725

LD 828 Passes Maine House and Senate

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/06/22/lawmakers-pass-bill-to-let-some-maine-residents-ask-out-of-wind-permiting-areas/

One step in the right direction - Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen!!!

same bad actors, same playbook, same abuse of New England rural residents.....

Iberdrola discusses potential turbines at public information meetings

http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20150619/NEWS01/150619931/iso-power-use-rose-prices-fell-in-may

With energy prices so low how can wind developers pay the debt service on projects?  Oh wait! There are renewable energy credits to sell - at over $50.00 a MW hour!  Without a single electron leaving Maine!  Hmmm - Wasn't Paul Gaynor one of Deval Patrick's energy advisers?  And…