The Department of Energy had not responded to a request for comment when this story was published. “They don’t provide enough information about the interest rates to tell how much money the government is losing, but it’s got to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” Marron said in an interview.…

Wind is not a success

It would be nice if ordinary citizens had the money to hire lobbying groups, as the corporate wind developers and forest landowners do. Then, we could pay lobbyists such as Paul Williamson of The Maine Ocean and Wind Industry Initiative to write letters to the editor for us (BDN, Nov. 13, “Wind energy success”) and lobby state and local governments.

The Maine wind industry has not been a success, contrary to Williamson’s claim. Maine’s…

It sounds as though Michael Cuzzi is still an advocate for wind plants, (either out of obedience to party dogma or personal belief), but in the same breath he recognizes wind has become a loser politically. Here's an earlier piece he'd written:…

MARS HILL, Maine — A Texas company will likely apply for state permits within 30 days to build what would be Maine’s largest industrial wind site, officials said Friday.

Representatives of EDP Renewables held a public information session, which drew about 50 people, on the proposed 250-megawatt facility featuring about 120 turbines on Wednesday in Mars Hill. Company officials told Aroostook County commissioners on Sept. 3 that they expected to seek Maine Department of Environmental…

The vote recount will take place at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, and the Town Office will be closed for all other municipal issues, he said.

The ordinance was rejected by five votes, 557-562.

The original ordinance was approved in 2012, but the Board of Selectmen voted to place it before the Planning Board at the beginning of 2013 for revisions in order to make it stronger. 

Continue reading at:…

Rep. Mark Eves of North Berwick won two more years as House speaker, and former assistant majority leader Jeff McCabe of Skowhegan was chosen for majority leader. McCabe succeeds Seth Berry, who left the Legislature after serving four consecutive terms representing his district, the maximum allowed under Maine’s term-limits law.

Rep. Sara Gideon of Freeport was tapped as assistant House majority leader. Recently elected to her second term, Gideon is a newcomer to legislative…

Investigative Report of Steve Black - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The free forum, which runs from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Abromson Community Education Center in Hannaford Hall at the University of Southern Maine in Portland on Wednesday, requires advance registration here.…

The Legislature finds that it is in the public interest to explore opportunities for and encourage the development, where appropriate, of wind energy production in the State in a manner that is consistent with all state and federal environmental standards and that achieves reliable, cost-effective, sustainable energy production on those sites in the State that will attract investment and permit the development of viable wind energy projects. The Legislature finds that the development of the…

“On wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.”

   - Warren Buffet, April 2014

What does that mean in plain English? - It means taxpayers struggling to make ends meet are subsidizing the second-richest person in America and the third richest person in the world via the wind industry's…

Like a lot of Maine citizens, I didn't really know much about the wind turbines. We all read about them, I read where some complained about them. I didn't give it much thought at the time, probably like many other residents. One day last Winter, I decided to ice fish at Ellis (Roxbury) Pond, a first & last trip for me. Here I was on a beautiful day, the fishing started off great and then I started to hear them. I describe the sound as a pulsing "whooshing" noise, it was extremely…

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) took out a full page ad in the November issue of Downeast Magazine to thank its benefactors. The list includes:

Wind Developers: First Wind, Emera Maine, Patriot Renewables, Brookfield Renewables (NH)

Contractors: Cianbro, Reed & Reed, James Sewell Co., Sargent Corp. 

Law Firms: Verrill Dana, Pierce Atwood, Preti Flaherty

Scenic…

Losers

Angus King: Pundits expected a close divide in the U.S. Senate, with Republicans gaining a thin majority. In such a scenario, King could be a valuable ally to Republicans. With an expected 53-45 majority for Republicans, King suddenly wasn’t so important, so he announced Wednesday that he…

Others say the hydropower supply, as the top renewable energy in Maine, needs to be kept stable or increased.

http://www.mainebiz.biz/article/20141103/CURRENTEDITION/310309999/1092?utm_source=enews&utm_medium=Daily%2BReport&utm_campaign=Thursday

Lacking the wide-open spaces of Iowa or Texas, prospective wind sites in the Granite State would be relegated to ridge lines, mountaintops or densely populated areas. Growing weary of wind development, local residents began to consider wind turbines a pock against the region’s natural beauty.…

During the lame duck session, one of the top priorities for President Obama and Majority Leader Reid is the passage of a tax extenders package that includes a retroactive extension of the decades old wind production tax credit (PTC).…

Gov. LePage: Wind harming our quality of life and mountains

Time now to investigate the corrupt Maine environmental groups on the take from the wind developers.

Hopefully the great disrespect shown to Governor LePage by the Maine wind industry and their sock puppet "environmental groups"…

The vote prevents the Waldo Community Wind project, a planned six-turbine, 18-megawatt wind power project proposed by Portsmouth, N.H.- based Eolian Renewable Energy LLC, from going forward.…

George Smith, outdoor writer and former Director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine (SAM), recently lost his father. My sincere condolences to the family.

On 10/31 he devoted his BDN column to remembering some of the great hunting trips he and his father shared. He closed with an insight that I think many of us share:



    "We didn’t have firearms that day,

     and didn’t kill anything,

     but that’s the smallest part of hunting..."



As I read that my…