Long Islander's Blog (2,994)

The bill also prohibits the state from favoring or disfavoring any person based on the person’s climate change policy preferences with regard to grants, contracts or employment.".................. Mills declined a request for comment on Lockman’s bill Tuesday night.............Rachel Healy, the communications director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, said her organization was discussing Lockman’s bill, L.D. 771, and had yet to take a position on it. Healy, in a message to the…

From the article:

"We must reduce carbon production generated by transportation — it is five times more than the carbon produced by electric production. Some predict that in 25 years we’ll all be driving electric cars."

He also goes on to write: 

"Maine has the highest per capita consumption of petroleum in New England and our economy is very consumptive.…

Republican Rep. Roger Sherman said he is sponsoring the bill because he’s not always “sure” of decisions made by Public Advocate Timothy Schneider, who represents ratepayers before state, regional and federal regulators. 

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/03/21/lawmaker-calls-for-oversight-of-maines-public-advocate/

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Wind Energy is an Attack on Rural America

As Wind Grows, So Does Its Opposition

Five Key Reasons to Pull the Plug on Wind Subsidies

Proposed US Carbon Tax — A Recipe for Disaster

The War on Affordable Electricity

Science Deniers in the Wind Industry

Short video: Poison Wind

How Would Oklahoma’s Anti-Wind Tax Affect The State’s Industry?

Europe’s Lessons Teach Us — Don’t Go…

In 2014, DOE ponied up a $150 million loan guarantee for Cape Wind, a wind turbine project to be located in Nantucket Sound. However, local pushback over the potential doubling of consumers’ electricity bills stalled the project.

The solar energy company Solyndra, whose failure became a national scandal, received its $535 million loan from DOE in 2009.

In short, Perry needs to rein in, downsize and refocus DOE. Here’s what he should do.…

By Jim Lutz -- March 14, 2017

In 2008, Governor John Baldacci’s “The Expedited Wind Energy Act” passed the Maine Legislature with absolutely no debate or objection. “Maine is the Saudi Arabia of wind,” they said, among other exaggerations and deceits........ Our Senator Angus King, who started the wind ball rolling while he was Governor, got very rich on his investment as a founder of Independence  Wind, the first installer of wind turbines in Maine at Record Hill which came under…

I was never an opponent of wind power. I am a science teacher of 11 years and teach about sound and alternative energies. It is in the state curriculum. I even went to an all day wind power teacher’s workshop to get a better understanding of wind energy eight years ago. The wind industry has been setting us up for a fall a long time ago.

By the way, standing directly underneath a turbine is the quietest place to listen to them. Stand back 500, 1000, 1500 feet and downwind from them,…

Of course the PPH's actual headline was "Despite making it a priority, LePage remains stymied on lowering energy costs; Heading into his last full legislative session, it's unlikely that the governor will have better success this year."

.......And she noted that during the governor’s tenure, retail electricity prices in Maine fell by 1 percent, while they rose in the rest of New England by 20 percent.......southern New England states…

Based on work done by more than 100 participants during Thursday’s session, Beurle presented a plausible scenario for what the region that includes the towns of Greenville, Monson and Rockwood could look like in 2030, with the goal to have a more diversified economy and a greater number of permanent and semi-permanent residents in 13 years.

The future scenario features a 20-25 percent increase in the population, with 1,000 more residents — many aged 25-44 — as well as more diversity…

People before turbines

The decision certainly pleased one resident, the fortunately-named Søren Wind, who lives in the village of Roager in Esbjerg Municipality.

“It’s quite a relief,” he said. “The politicians have let us citizens come first. I’m glad that’s over.”

Esbjerg followed in the footsteps of several other municipalities, including Vejen and Tønder, which have also dropped their wind turbine plans.…

Anonymous sources told Bloomberg this week McIntyre is expected to be nominated to chair the commission.......

Kevin McIntyre, a lawyer at the Cleveland energy firm Jones Day, is expected to be nominated to head the commission. McIntyre is no stranger to the agency, having argued cases before the commission on behalf of energy companies.

Neil Chatterjee, a longtime aid to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), is also expected to be named to the commission. Chatterjee…

Although EPA’s Clean Power Plan may be eliminated by the Trump administration, state clean energy goals could drive projects that deliver Canadian hydro and wind power from Maine and the Atlantic Ocean. Order 1000 requires public utility transmission providers to consider “transmission needs driven by public policy requirements [PPR] in both the local and regional transmission planning processes.”…

Given the history of collaboration between Big Wind and FWS officials, the motives behind this push should be questioned by Congress and the public.”

https://www.masterresource.org/cuisinarts-of-the-air/protect-eagles-usfwss-30-year-take-permits/

BDN

Democratic lawmakers expressed worry Perry would weaken the department’s functions and potentially target its army of scientists focused on climate and clean energy research......

Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a senior Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Perry had failed to persuade him he would push back against Trump administration plans to cut the department’s budget and focus…

EDP Renewables: "We need to lay low with this type of president"

Trump, whose animosity towards wind energy has put the industry on edge, was a major topic of discussion at the summit, the first large gathering of industry leaders since he took office. Some of his policy priorities, they agreed, have generated significant uncertainty for the industry......some of the changes being proposed could curb the availability of tax…

While the Maine Department of Environmental Protection issues permits for wind projects, the state’s standards and protections are weak. But once a wind project permit is granted, you cannot protect yourself.......

Communities that were not proactive on wind zoning have gone through hell when Big Wind suddenly came to town, pitting neighbor against neighbor, driving deep wedges and dividing communities. Big Wind is a dirty, ugly business that has driven Maine people from…

Conceived by Stanford University professor Mark Z. Jacobson and endorsed by McKibben and others, The Solutions Project is a plan to move America to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. McKibben offered glowing praise for the proposal in a recent op-ed, saying it comes “as close to winning this war [on climate change] as we could plausibly get.”…

They need to store an order of magnitude more than anything yet seen

By Vaclav Smil

It would be a lot easier to expand our use of solar and wind energy if we had better ways to store the large quantities of electricity we’d need to cover gaps in the flow of that energy.

Even in sunny Los Angeles, a typical house roofed with enough photovoltaic panels to meet its average needs would still face daily shortfalls of up to about 80 percent of…

Sample of contents:

Greed Energy Economics:

NYS is paying 11 wind and solar power projects 2X more in subsidies than electricity generated

Duke Energy says solar power will cost N.C. customers $1 billion too much

End IRS Abuse of Wind PTC

Electric Vehicles: Are the Costs Worth the Benefits?

Retiring worn-out wind turbines could cost billions that nobody has

Former Oklahoma Governor Says Wind Energy Tax Breaks Were a…

Meeting dates and written comment deadline are highlighted below. Perhaps the new DOE will take public input seriously.