Long Islander's Blog (3,023)

Trying to pin down the arguments of wind promoters is a bit like trying to grab a greased balloon. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, it morphs into a different story and escapes your grasp. Let’s take a quick highlight review of how things have evolved with merchandising industrial wind energy.…

There's finally audio. JUST started at 2:48PM.

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I've been tuned in with speakers on since 1:00PM and there is still no audio. Perhaps the meeting has not started. Keep your speakers on and when they start, the meeting should be audible.

To tune in:

1. Go to …

Whereas the groups of Mainers fighting wind power's destruction of the state's rural areas are but loosely knit ragtag groups of concerned citizens using their own scarce money and time to do battle, the environmental groups are a different story. These are highly organized groups with large staffs of salaried employees who are paid to fight those opposing wind. While certainly these groups receive contributions from well intentioned small donors, some of these groups may receive funding…

Numerous reports have appeared recently about Russians infiltrating American environmental groups and social media to bash fracking and support renewables as a way to protect Russia's oil and gas exports. Some examples:

Russian Attempts to Influence U.S. Domestic Energy Markets by Exploiting Social Media (U.S. House of Representatives)…

On Friday, March 16, 2018 at the long awaited EUT public hearing on L.D. 1810, An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Expedited Permitting for Wind Energy Development, Chris O'Neil, on behalf of the citizen funded 501c3 nonprofit organization Friends of Maine's Mountains, gave verbal testimony which called for "repealing the Wind Act ten years and countless…

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is a major proponent of wind power. Their website advises that 

they are a leading partner in the American Wind Wildlife Institute. If you look at the website of the American Wind Wildlife Institute, you'll see their board of…

Environmental advocates, who for years have been urging the state to accelerate its transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, have doubts about what they consider to be fishermen’s newfound concerns about the ecosystem.

“Seriously, are those real tears that they are shedding over marine mammals? I am sure the right whales would snort if they heard that,” quipped Peter Shelley, senior counsel at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston.

But fishermen say the threat to…

Almost to a person, everyone testifying on behalf of wind is getting money in one way or another.

“The people that come to these regions come to these regions for the natural, pristine environment,” Stetkis said. “They’re not coming to look at 600-foot machines. They are interested in sitting around a campfire at night listening to the loons, not watching dozens or hundreds of blinking lights over the horizon.”…

After listening to today's testimony at the EUT public hearing from the AMC Maine chapter's Kaitlin Bernard, who opposed LD 1810, it is abundantly clear that the AMC is not our friend.

That's exactly what this representative of REED & REED (wind construction company) said in opposing the Governor's wind bill. Meanwhile, the wind industry is built on forcing ratepayers to purchase wind electricity and forcing taxpayers to give them money. 

He's up there at the mike right now and is running out the clock - going WAY…

Scheduled for 10:00 AM Friday morning - March 16, 2018.

To tune in:

1. Go to http://legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Committees/EUT

2. Make sure your speakers are on…

PUBLIC HEARING 

JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON ENERGY, UTILITIES AND TECHNOLOGY

Friday, March 16, 2018, 10:00 AM, Cross Building, Room 211

(L.D. 1810)          Bill "An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Expedited…

And to think that the liars in the Maine wind industry, the Maine environmental groups and the Maine media had the brass to tell us the ratepayer-funded $1.5 billion CMP upgrade was due to aging lines and population growth, when in fact it was pure ratepayer robbery for the wind developers who were stuck without the new transmission. Where was the "Public Advocate"?

“Transmission is essential for wind development," said Peter Fox-Penner, director at…

Although this CMP proposal is highly secretive, from the BDN story below, it affects primarily the Portland area. Moreover, it would thus seem to affect readers of the Portland Press Herald more than Bangor. (See map above from …

The proposal to build a $950 million power line through western Maine received a major boost on Monday, when a decision by a regulatory board in New Hampshire mortally wounded the project’s competitor.

Action by the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee to delay its final decision on the Northern Pass transmission line likely will make an alternative proposal from Central Maine Power the default winner in a bid to supply vast amounts of hydroelectricity from Quebec to Massachusetts,…

"Environmental" groups' direct attack on Maine's poor and middle class

A handful of extremists are holding up Maine’s economic and energy future. They are blocking New England’s access to affordable, clean burning natural gas, keeping us captive to high energy prices during the recent bone-chilling weather.

Enbridge’s Atlantic Bridge, which would move more natural gas into our state, is being held up so Massachusetts can appease a small group of…

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Congress: Kremlin Used Green Propaganda to Undercut U.S. Energy

How Corrupt is Audubon?

Russian interference in our politics by funding environmentalist groups

New Hampshire House backs bill to limit renewable energy incentives

Grid Operator: Rolling Blackouts Could Become A Fact Of Life In New England

The High Cost of Wind and Solar

Sustainable Development: Code for Giving Up…

Maine enacted legislative term limits in 1993, when 67 percent of voters endorsed the measure proposed through a citizen-initiated referendum.

But 25 years later, the politician it targeted is still in office, candidates with legislative service dating to the 1970s are running and Maine’s citizen legislature is populated by elected officials who would have a hard time disputing that the label “career politician” fits them. Being a…

Michael Stoddard, executive director of Efficiency Maine, noted that homes typically use more power during the holiday season – decorative lights, holiday baking, even having device-laden college kids home contributes to usage. Combining that with longer run times for heating systems could account for some increase.

“But if their bills went up by an amount more than that would explain,” Stoddard said, “then I think the use of resistance electric space heaters for supplemental heat…

As can be seen in this article the wind industry identifies a setback requirement of 26 miles offshore as a deal-killer. While they might cite having to request new boundaries for their lease area off Maryland and potential conflict with shipping routes as reason it is likely that cost of the undersea cable is an important factor. In Rhode Island, the cost for the 22-mile cable to Block Island…