The St. George Select Board voted Monday to oppose an offshore wind project taking shape about 12 miles away, standing with local fishermen who say the project and its transmission cable would harm their livelihoods.

The unanimous vote follows a recommendation made by an advisory committee created last month by the five-person Select Board to weigh the impact the Maine Aqua Ventus offshore wind project would have on the local community.…

The PUC will scrutinize the requests, and could dispute some costs. But by law, customers will pick up most of the tab, which is expected to run into the tens of millions of dollars.

CMP said it expects to submit its information later this week, or possibly next week. Emera Maine said its cost estimates…

“After 25-years of subsidy-driven financing of renewable energy, Main Street Americans are now taxed billions annually so the richest Wall Street bankers and corporations can avoid their tax burden by funneling money to big wind development.”

“We support the House provision to remove the PTC inflation adjustment. Retaining the 2.4¢/kwh subsidy in light of lower installation costs and increased production confers a bounty on big wind that far…

MAINE OUTDOOR BRANDS FORMED TO FUEL MAINE’S OUTDOOR RECREATION ECONOMY

December 11, 2017; Portland, ME –An alliance of like-minded business leaders and entrepreneurs representing Maine-based outdoor product and recreation interests, recently launched Maine Outdoor Brands (MOB) with the desire of working collaboratively to ignite Maine’s outdoor recreation economy.…

Said bluntly, Main Street Americans are coughing up billions annually to help the richest Wall Street bankers avoid paying their taxes. The Senate tax bill that passed this weekend could spell an end to this massive wealth-transfer program.

https://www.masterresource.org/production-tax-credit-ptc/hr-1-ptc-tax/

The Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax (BEAT) provision would subject tax credits given to companies with operations overseas to a new, 100 percent tax. ...........The Senate voted early Saturday to approve a major overhaul of the U.S. tax code that critics say would decimate clean energy investments ...............................Larger challenges for clean energy lie in the House of Representatives' tax proposal, which passed in mid-November. That version takes a whack at a bundle of clean…

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Wind and Solar Power Advance, but Carbon Refuses to Retreat

Wind & Solar are Less Efficient Decarbonizers than CC Gas Turbines

Maine DEP Issues Draft Wind Energy Rules (two VERY good parts)

Grid-Scale Storage of Renewable Energy: The Impossible Dream

Tesla battery production releases as much CO2 as 8 years of gasoline driving

Report by head of German Wildlife Foundation:…

12/3/17

In windstorm’s wake, CMP feels blows of critics

A post-mortem of the extensive power outages from the October storm focuses intense scrutiny on the response by Maine's utilities.

Issues bound to be scrutinized include inaccurate information on CMP’s Web-based outage tracker, the pros and cons of installing more coated “tree wire” that’s resistant to damage and the cost of moving vulnerable overhead…

Wind Energy is the biggest crony capitalism scam in our lifetime.......Mid-American Energy (Warren Buffet) received 249 million dollars in federal tax credits last year and $5.5 billion in tax credits and subsidies from wind energy to date.  Buffet is now building another 1000 turbines over the next couple years to add to his 2020 turbines he owns now. …

The project is part of a $12 million plan in Maine and Canada to explore the potential of ultralocal, renewable energy supplies. Just why the regulators are revisiting what had been a closed case is, for the moment, a mystery............Maine’s investor-owned transmission utilities aren’t generally allowed to own electricity generation assets. But the law exempts projects that would allow utilities to own generation needed to run their operations efficiently. Emera argued to the…

"Uncertainty around the federal tax policies that drive the economics of independent power projects like Swanton Wind have significantly impacted project financing," Charyk said in the statement.................In an interview, Charyk said the "hostile environment" in Vermont included Gov. Phil Scott's opposition to large wind projects, his appointment of a wind critic to lead the Public Utility Commission, and the commission's recent rule that will limit sound at future wind…

Partnering with Revision Energy and Tesla Motors, the charging stations are powered with 100 percent renewable energy........Redevelopment officials for the former base which closed in 2011, have made renewable energy and “green” technology a priority..........…

The resolution expresses the sentiment of the Fishermen's Association and its members that the project and the proposed landing of high voltage cables onshore in the Town of St. George, Maine would…

“What representatives and staffers want to hear is the individual impact of your individual story,” she said. “I couldn’t listen to people’s stories for six to eight hours a day and not be profoundly impacted by them.”

Representatives in Congress may not be able to respond to individual phone calls, but your odds may be higher if you contact officials at the local or state levels.…

None.

But I forget. Painters know nothing of what constitutes beauty. Bureaucrats do.

Bureaucrats and "landscape architects" are the authorities who deem Maine's scenery OK to trash with industrial wind turbine garbage.

On a Mountain…

A vast majority were against any wind development. “You're going to destroy our environment with tall, massive wind turbines so (people in Omaha) can feel comfortable,” Stanton resident Tony Wortman said. “Do they put wind turbines in Omaha? Do you put wind turbines in Stanton? No, but you'll go out in the country and you'll irritate a neighbor… so bad that they're talking about moving. ”…

by LAMAR ALEXANDER November 17, 2017 4:30 PM

It’s an expensive, wasteful subsidy to an inefficient industry. Congress is focused on making our backward tax code into something that encourages our nation’s instinct for creativity and innovation. As we look at all the wasteful and unnecessary tax breaks that are holding us back, I have a nomination: At the top of the list should be ending the quarter-century-old wind production tax credit now — not two years from…

By WALTER CUDNOHUFSKY and DEBORAH ANDREW 

“They have a permit to cross the international border but they don’t have a permit to site the project on 192 miles of New Hampshire landscape. That is what the SEC will determine,” said Will Abbott, the vice president for policy with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, which opposes the project.

“Their exuberance may be a bit premature,” he said. “We believe the evidence makes a clear argument why the permit should be denied. We feel very confident that there is…

This energy blog discusses several departures from current DEP practice in the areas of decommissioning, power purchase agreements, effect on electricity rates and setbacks.

SEE: http://www.energylawupdate.com/energy-law-update/2017/11/15/maine-department-of-environmental-protection-issues-draft-wi-1.html