Long Islander's Blog (2,990)

by Billy Kobin

December 11, 2023

AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Board of Environmental Protection is set to vote just before Christmas on a controversial rule aimed at phasing out new sales of gas-powered cars and boosting electric vehicle adoption.

The Dec. 21 vote will come after months of passionate debate and feedback on the plan the Natural Resources Council of Maine and several allies proposed this summer through a little-known provision in…

December 7, 2023

BY DOUG MULVEY

SPECIAL TO THE PRESS HERALD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Doug Mulvey is a vice president with Missouri-based LS Power Development. He has more than 27 years of project development experience across the U.S. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and master’s degree in environmental engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also holds a master’s in business administration from the University…

The actual headline is below. Perhaps it's correct to characterize offshore wind as young (in the U.S.) but not the wind industry. The Production Tax Credit (PTC), which constitutes a sizable part of the corporate welfare upon which the wind industry is built, came about in the early 1990's. Based on that, wind is anything but a young industry. The PTC when introduced, was defined as a TEMPORARY giveaway. However, whenever it has been set to expire, the wind developers have gotten down…

December 4, 2023

The proposed Aroostook Renewable Gateway would connect power from a wind farm to the New England grid, but the project has faced many obstacles as its seeks regulatory approval.

BY STEPHEN SINGER STAFF WRITER

EXCERPTS

Versant Power customers in northern Maine will not benefit from a transmission line connecting wind power generated there to the New England…

December 1, 2023

BY JAKE FREUDBERG MORNING SENTINEL

EXCERPTS

MOSCOW — Residents at a special town meeting Thursday voted to prohibit commercial solar farms, opting to go a step further than many other towns in central Maine when it comes to restricting the development of large solar projects.

Moscow joins a growing list of Maine municipalities that have passed measures limiting or temporarily prohibiting solar farms. But it is unclear if…

December 3, 2023

Commentary: PUC will do a rigorous job with the public’s help

BY PHILIP L. BARTLETT, PATRICK SCULLY AND CAROLYN GILBERT

EXCERPTS

.......To help reach Maine’s climate goals, we conducted two large-scale renewable energy procurements for more than 950 megawatts of power; approved new electric rate designs to support…

December 1, 2023

by Bill Trotter

EXCERPTS

..........Downeast Wind, a project of Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy, has hired Woolwich-based Reed & Reed as the general contractor of the wind power project, which will include 30 turbine sites spread out among various locations in the town of Columbia and in townships 18 and 24 in the state’s Unorganized Territory.

Twenty of the turbines, each…

When the powerful agree on massive big $$$$$$  projects behind closed doors and begin their efforts to ram these projects down the public's throat, it is our experience from wind projects that most barriers to final approval somehow are eventually overcome by the developer.

However, along the way, the developer and his…

November 29, 2023

The documents released by the Maine ethics commission detail the energy company's funding of the Stop the Corridor group and how a Virginia consultant working for NextEra funneled money to the Maine Democratic Party.

BY RACHEL OHM STAFF WRITER

EXCERPTS

NextEra Energy concealed its identity as a large donor to Democrats in the days before the 2018 election and funded a group that should…

by Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli

November 28, 2023

EXCERPTS

New York-based LS Power’s contract negotiations with the state over a 345-kilovolt transmission line connecting a wind turbine project in Aroostook County to the New England power grid have stalled despite months of discussions and negotiations, according to regulators.

Significant differences among various parties — Maine Public Utilities Commission staff, LS Power, Versant Power, Central…

A new report finds that blue state residents pay far more for electricity than their red state counterparts due to aggressive climate policies.

By Tom Ozimek

11/24/2023

Blue state residents, whose governments have adopted aggressive climate policies, are paying much more for electricity and fuel than their counterparts who live in red states that lack such policies, according to a new report from America's largest membership organization of state…

November 27, 2023

by Lori Valigra

EXCERPTS

Construction costs

High interest rates related to inflation in the nascent offshore wind market were one of the factors that caused Danish wind developer Orsted to cancel two projects under development off New Jersey in late October.

In early November, U.K. lawmakers said they are considering raising subsidies for new offshore wind developments to meet climate goals because…

Legislative malpractice the level of which has not seen since the passage without debate of the 2008 Expedited Wind Law. FOLLOW THE MONEY and put an end to this broad daylight robbery of Mainers. There is no way these gangsters won't be repelled if the fighters keep fighting. LS Power is just now realizing what they have walked into. Send them packing along with the gang from First Wind that is Long Road.

By Tux Turkel

November 26, 2023

Tux Turkel is a former…

If your pipes freeze and your home floods, be sure to thank an "environmentalist" and the dunderheads in charge, for making sure that no new gas pipelines will be coming into Maine anytime soon. This despite Maine's proximity to Pennsylvania and what is likely the largest recoverable supply of natural gas in the nation. (Marcellus). It is way past time to put the adults back in charge. These uneducated and ill equipped arrogant fools are going to get people killed.

November…

November 21, 2023

John “Jack” E. Ducharme, III, R-Madison, serves District 71 in the Maine House of Representatives. He is the House Republican lead on the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee.

With the defeat of Pine Tree Power, a plan to apparently lower costs by spending as much as $13.5 billion to have elected bureaucrats run what is now Central Maine Power and Versant Power, it’s time to start looking at what is driving electricity costs. I could…

By Seamus Othot

November 20, 2023Updated:November 20, 2023

The State of Maine intends to develop the untouched Sears Island in Searsport to build and ship offshore wind turbines, according to Downeast lawmakers who oppose the controversial project.

“It is the largest undeveloped uninhabited causeway accessible island on the eastern coast of the United States,” said Rep. Lynne Williams (D-Bar Harbor) in her letter defending Rep. Reagan Paul’s (R-Winterport)…

Please click on the following link to read the stories listed below and much, much more:

https://election-integrity.info/Newsletter/2023/Media_Balance_Newsletter-11-20-23.pdf

*** Wind and Solar Subsidies in Perspective

*** Collapse of projects shows again that wind power is not affordable

*** A Precipitous Dash to a Power Grid Reliability Crisis

*** The 7…

Ban the damn thing outright with an ordinance. It's all for a useless BS wind project that is built on pure lies, designed solely to enrich the same crew who ran First Wind and destroyed many a Maine resident's paradise.

Forget about arguing for a different route. Stop it cold altogether. Study "green energy" and you will soon understand that it is the largest crock of total Bsh_t that has come along in our lifetimes. Those in favor of renewable energy need to take a…

by Billy Kobin

November 16, 2023

EXCERPTS

AUGUSTA, Maine — Top Maine lawmakers agreed Thursday to advance a bill to the 2024 session that would prohibit the use of eminent domain to build a controversial transmission line between Aroostook County and the Augusta area.

The 10-member Legislative Council initially did not approve the proposal from Sen. Chip Curry, D-Belfast, while voting last week on 283 bill requests for 2024. However, the…