Long Islander's Blog (3,017)

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…

“We have nothing to gain and everything to lose.” Michael Dawson was one of four Midcoast fishermen who voiced their opposition to a University of Maine-led consortium of 19 other private and public partners interested in developing an experimental off-shore wind farm near Monhegan Island..........

“My concern is we will end up with wind farms from Rockland to Portland, and they will tell lobstermen, ‘You’re out of here!’” said Boothbay Harbor fisherman Andy…

Eagle Nation Foundation founder Terrence Ingram, with 57 years conducting midwinter bald eagle counts, is sounding an alarm that populations of eagles dropped 25 percent between 2010 and 2017......People throughout the Midwest, the Atlantic and other New England states are standing up and saying “Stop!”…

This PPH position is what many of us have been saying for some time. 

Massachusetts wants to put a transmission line across Maine, but won't allow a gas line at home.

Plans to bring low-cost natural gas to New England stalled when Massachusetts courts turned down a financing scheme for pipeline projects that would have connected with gas reserves in the West. That decision keeps Maine manufacturers from taking full advantage of the gas boom…

“In order to be successful, we want more than just birders and that crowd involved,” said Maine Audubon staff naturalist Doug Hitchcox, who’s serving as an atlas outreach coordinator with his Audubon colleague Laura Minich Zitske. …

Once described as "The Most Beautiful Place on Earth" on the cover of U.S. News & World Report, Isle au Haut is now giving thought to wind power down the road. Not surprisingly, the Island Institute seems involved.

"Phase two, which will be installed after the cable fails, will take the lessons learned from phase one and possibly add other renewable technologies, such as wind, to provide electricity when there is extended cloud cover over the solar panels, Wilson…

Regarding peer review studies, for example, consult “Literature Review 2013: Association between Wind Turbine Noise and Human Distress.” Also, Sherri Lange has document the problem in her posts:

‘Sensing but Not Hearing: The Problem of Wind Turbine Noise (Interview with acoustician Steven Cooper, AU)’ February 2, 2018.

‘Wind Turbine Syndrome’ (Science advances, Australia judiciary takes note)‘ January 26, 2018.…