As the battle for the PTC heats up again, so does the blogosphere

• PTC no longer needed to drive wind development...  AEA - 31 October  2012 - Mature Wind Industry Can Compete On Its Own; Taxpayer-funded Welfare-For-Wind Must End  "The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that a one-year extension would cost…

Where are the groups that protect birds in our quest to end the industrialization of our mountains and, in particular the ridges and wetlands in northeastern Maine, from wind turbines?  Maine Audubon continues to promote wind turbines with the discredited concept that climate change and pollution are greater threats to birds than wind turbines.  That might be true if wind turbines actually produced enough reliable electricity to not require fossil fuel back up all the time and wind power…

The following is a letter sent to Congress, signed by 88 organizations that oppose the extension of the Production Tax Credit.  Pick a few lines from this to send in your own letter!

Dear United States Senators and Representatives:

The principal federal support for wind energy, the so-called Production Tax Credit (PTC), is scheduled to expire at the end of this year. The undersigned…

Three years ago  UMPI promised the public a turbine website that would report its output in ten-second intervals.  Today I noticed (for the first time) that the software for that function is ACTUALLY WORKING!

For five minutes, at 10;25 am today (11/12/12)  I watched wind speed and power changing  every ten seconds, and I wrote the changes down as fast as I could: (wind speed in mph/power produced in kW) 12mph/86kW; 14/117; 12/69; 12/72; 11/91; 13/91....... I think that represents one…

Maine DEP rejects Passadumkeag wind project

IN  THE  SUMMER  OF  2009 , STEVE  THURSTON  AND  I  MET  WITH  JAMES  CASSEDA AND  ANDREW  FISKE, THEN  DEP DECISION  MAKERS  FOR  WIND  PROJECTS , EXPOSING  THE   DEVASTATING SCENIC  EFFECTS   THE 22  RECORD HILL  TURBINES   WOULD  HAVE  ON  THE SCENERY  OF  THE WESTERN  MOUNTAINS .

CASSEDA  TOLD  US THAT LD 2283 PREVENTED  THEM FOR  USING THAT ARGUMENT AS  RECORD HILL  DID NOT  FIT  IN  ANY  EXCEPTION MADE FOR  AREAS  OF STATE  OR  NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE AS  PER  THE …

Patriot Renewables has ruined the northeastern ridge of Spruce Mt. in Woodstock with 10 turbines, each…

BEP-12-137 Friends of Maine's Mountains et al. v. Board of Environmental Protection

...

Maine DEP staff advises rejection of Passadumkeag Mountain wind site

This is great news out of England, as a re-shuffling of the Energy Ministry has placed the leadership in the hands of a leader who acknowledges that wind is not a good deal, that subsidies should be curtailed, and people do not want the beautiful and historic countryside destroyed.  This should be helpful in the coming battle over ending the USA's Production Tax Credit.  Maine and the rest of "New" England should learn from "Old" England and end this folly.…

After a few hours of non-operation, the UMPI turbine is producing power again! In a 14.3 mph wind it is producing 307 kW, a bit more than half of its installed capacity. The next couple of days should be good for wind power, if it keeps working; a hurricane will be passing by.  In the past 32 hours it  generated about 6500 kWh; this is about 203 kwh per hour, or a .33 Capacity Factor. I will try to remember to report the post-hurricane capacity factor in a couple of…

Not surprisingly, the UMPI turbine site indicates nothing but zeroes this morning, October  30th.  I presume this is superstorm Sandy's doing; high wind events have frequently preceeded this turbine's breakdowns.

Harry Roper   Houlton/Danforth

Partial Transcript of a Meeting in Highland Plantation in August, 2010 with Rob Gardiner and Angus King of Independence Wind (Highland Wind LLC)

JJo Dunphy, Town Manager:

“We’re not going to allow any of the non-residents to speak, because… this is an assessor’s meeting and we have that prerogative.  We can’t have that happen.  If any of these extra folks that are here want to ask questions, they can talk with you…

Audit: Green jobs stimulus program wastes cash

A $2 Billion electric line from Canada to Massachusetts by Emera and Bangor Hydro.  With the $1.4 Billion grid upgrades costing us 12.5% and 19% already, I guess this will be another increase for us.  Why can't they just leave us alone?…

After 17 days if non-operation the UMPI turbine site reports it is working again!  At 5;30 PM in an 11 mph wind it is generating 43.9 kW.  During the 17 no-operating days it consumed 41 kWh of grid power, an average of 3 kWh per day. 

Harry Roper  - Houlton/Danforth

It looks like Danish wind turbine company, Vestas, is cutting back operations here in the USA.  Read below.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/10/13/Danish-Wind-Turbine-Company-That-Received-Over-50-Million-In-Stimulus-Lays-Off-800-Workers

Governor LePage talks about lowering the cost of energy in Maine in this short video.

http://www.maine.gov/governor/lepage/

I sent this to the BDN for publishing as an OpEd.  Will see if it gets printed.

A Reply to Charles Colgan and his “Cheap, Dirty Coal” Article

What really scares me is having an economist like Charles Colgan teach our young people economic theory.  He is completely antithetical to solid economic reasoning, something that most of the liberal economists continue to try and push down our throats.  He believes that imposing onerous taxes and fees on certain…