April 17, 2024

Stephen Singer

Press Herald

EXCERPTS

A dozen House members reversed themselves from an April 9 vote that rejected changes in environmental rules, in order to allow an offshore wind terminal to be built.

The Maine House of Representatives on Wednesday backed legislation exempting sand dunes on Sears Island from environmental rules to authorize the state to grant a permit to…

When someone uses the word "planet" in a sentence, is it because they watched too much Star Trek or too much Al Gore?

"The petition delivered by a member of the Maine Labor Climate Council was signed by over 100 residents voicing support for wind power."…

April 15, 2024

Stephen Singer

Press Herald

The House rejected the measure last week and will now reconsider the Senate version, which would exempt sand dunes from environmental protection in a bid to advance Maine's drive to generate offshore wind.

EXCERPTS

The Maine Senate on Monday night approved legislation providing a carve-out in environmental regulations that would allow construction of an…

By Steve Robinson

August 2, 2023

Several of Maine’s largest newspapers – formerly owned by Masthead Media Company – will now fall under the ownership of a nonprofit trust funded by left-wing billionaires George Soros, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, and a collection of like-minded progressives foundations and nonprofits.

The Portland Press Herald and its related daily papers were sold to the National Trust for Local News several months after former owner Reade Brower…

April 14, 2024

Our View: Perfection is the enemy of our environment

The scuffle over permission for a wind energy facility on Sears Island offers a template for how not to take on climate change.

The Editorial Board

EXCERPTS

The defeat by the Maine House of Representatives of a bill designed to pave the way for a significant offshore wind energy…

April 9, 2024

Stephen Singer

Press Herald

EXCERPTS

........The program, which is funded by a $679,921 grant from the Maine Department of Labor, supported by the Maine Governor’s Office, and offered in partnership with Portland Adult Education, connects immigrants, refugees and other “new Mainers” with classroom instruction on safety involving vehicles, ladders and electrical hazards.............

...............ReVision Energy, Portland…

April 10, 2024

Introducing GreenBiz's 2024 Climate Policy Heroes

The inaugural list of changemakers making tangible impacts on climate policy.

Hannah Pingree, developing Maine’s offshore wind power

Director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation & the Future, Pingree served as majority leader and then speaker of the House in the state…

Stephen Singer

Press Herald

April 9, 2024

Excerpts

The state House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected legislation that would have authorized the state to build an offshore wind terminal on Sears Island, an initial step in Maine’s foray into the wind energy industry.

In a blow to Gov. Janet Mills, who …

How much real information about renewable energy are the kids taught?

Maine teens compete to create turbines that produces the most wind power…

By Seamus Othot

April 1, 2024

Despite the benefits of nuclear power, and despite Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ oft-repeated goal of getting Maine to 100 percent renewable energy, the Mills Administration and the Democrat-controlled legislature have shunned nuclear power.

Maine’s only nuclear power plant, the Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, was shuttered after several attempts to ban nuclear power from the state via ballot initiative. At the time, the needed upgrades…

The utility is asking the Maine Public Utilities Commission for permission to bill ratepayers $116 million for subsidies paid to solar developers in the net energy billing program that is part of Maine's effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

March 29, 2024

Stephen Singer

Press Herald

Central Maine Power asked state regulators on Friday for permission to bill ratepayers $116 million for subsidies to companies that develop solar power, a steadily…

People the world over have rejected EV's and the Maine legislature still has its head in the sand. See passage below highlighted in bold. Wind and transmission pusher Troy Jackson knows the public doesn't want EV's and knows that the public's reasoning goes far, far beyond lack of charging stations. However, if subterfuge artists are allowed to legislatively ordain that Maine be carpeted with charging stations, their argument for EV's will then take on "But, but, but, we spent all this money…

Every candidate for elected office in Maine must be grilled as to whether they would vote for ANY mandate for these almost universally despised EV's. To put in simply, enough already.…

March 18, 2024

by Billy Kobin

EXCERPTS

.................2009: “This is among my highest priorities,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said at the time. “It is a win-win for the state of Maine in terms of producing new jobs for the state and having the state lead the way in reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”.............................

For all the bipartisan praise more than a decade ago, offshore wind has become an…

Maine Public | By Nicole Ogrysko

Published March 15, 2024 at 11:04 AM EDT

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has finalized an area in the Gulf of Maine where a commercial offshore wind farm could be developed.

The area covers 2 million acres offshore from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, ranging anywhere from 23 to 92 miles off the coast, BOEM said Friday.

The final area represents an 80% reduction from the section that…

March 14, 2024

Though windmills and solar panels get the headlines, the big energy topic in Washington is electric transmission. Whether it is Congress’s newfound interest in permitting reform, the U.S. Department of Energy’s new Grid Deployment Office, or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) upcoming final rule on transmission planning and cost allocation, how to build and pay for long-range transmission to connect generators to customers is considered the final…

by Michael Shepherd

March 15, 2024

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills wants to roll back protections for the sand dunes that partially make up the state’s preferred site for a landmark offshore wind terminal.

The Democratic governor’s bill, which was submitted this week by Rep. Gerry Runte, D-York, a member of the Legislature’s energy committee, is aimed at clearing the way for the terminal. The Mills administration picked Sears Island in Searsport over nearby Mack Point as…

Democratic leaders and a group of Republicans seek to shift oversight of Maine's clean car standards from a citizen board to state lawmakers.

March 12, 2024

Stephen Singer

Press Herald

EXCERPTS

The Legislature’s two top Democrats and a group of minority Republicans want to take control of Maine’s electric vehicle rules.

A bill proposed Tuesday would give lawmakers, not a citizen board, the final say on clean car standards meant to curtail vehicle…

By Lora Whelan, Quoddy Tides

March 9, 2024

“We will continue to develop future projects in Maine under the new structure and will work to make them financially viable at the 1 MW limit.”

A 2023 change in Maine law means that two of four Nexamp solar farm projects in Washington County will lose over half of their generating capacity when online.

Nexamp Communications Manager Keith Hevenor explained the…

By Seamus Othot

March 11, 2024

EXCERPTS:

“National Grid thanks the dozens of route communities and regional partners who engaged with us and supported this project,” said the electrical utility company. “We will continue to pursue paths to building much-needed transmission capacity for the region and for our customers and communities.”

The transmission line, the so-called Twin State Clean Energy Link, was planned to be a 211-mile-long line through Vermont…