Long Islander's Blog (3,023)

The difference in price is huge. For a typical customer using 600 kilowatt hours a month, the Eversource price is $49.20, while the CleanChoice product costs $85.20. That’s just the price for electricity, and doesn’t include separate transmission, distribution, and customer service charges assessed by Eversource.

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Sierra: "The truth is that Trump cannot prevent states, cities and towns from advancing the clean energy economy and sustainable policies. And while he can slow it down, Trump cannot stop the clean energy revolution driven by dramatically lower costs for solar, wind, efficiency and other smart energy technologies."…

January 6, 2017 on Editorials, Opinion       

In 2008, Governor John Baldacci worked with a very cooperative Legislature to craft a special zoning and permitting process that significantly aided developers seeking to capitalize on Maine’s rural resources for large-scale wind power projects........Maine’s wind power law, as Governor LePage has consistently proclaimed, needs to be drastically changed.…

Vermonter of the Year: Annette Smith

Free Press Editorial Board 5:30 a.m. EST January 2, 2017

In February, the state Attorney General’s Office dropped a criminal investigation into a complaint brought by a lawyer who represents a major solar and wind developer that Smith had practiced law without a license in the course of advising those preparing to testify before the Public Service Board.

Private citizens with limited means often find themselves outmatched from…

The U.S. Department of Energy says Fishermen’s Energy failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to have a power purchase agreement in place.

The department is revoking most of the $47 million in funding it pledged to the project in 2014; about $10.6 million has been spent already on preliminary work.…

By Verrill Dana

Posted Dec. 28, 2016, at 12:05 p.m.

Verrill Dana environmental attorneys Juliet Browne, Scott Anderson and Gordon Smith each authored chapters of the MCLE book entitled, A Practical Guide to Land Use in Maine. The guide covers topics ranging from licensing and permitting to wind energy and shoreland zoning.

Browne, author of the chapter on the Maine Wind Energy Act, provides insights into jurisdiction for review and permitting of wind energy developments in…

Although state regulators on the Public Utilities Commission created a rule, back in 2007, that envisions the program continuing indefinitely, lawmakers such as House Republican Leader Ken Fredette are asking, so what?

“Well, let’s be very clear. The PUC does not set policy, the Legislature sets policy. So in regards to any rule, I find it almost offensive that the PUC would add a sentence that would suggest that it would go beyond the legislative intent,” he said.

“I think…

About 40 communities ask to be removed, which means that wind power companies would have to go through a rezoning process to build in those places.....Milton Township is the only community where such efforts failed after opposition from a Milton landowner and EverPower Wind Holdings, which wants to build a 40-megawatt wind project.....…

It was beyond our comprehension how a 34-foot wide roadway could be engineered on steep slopes and through several piles of glacial boulders, Mack-truck size, along with some larger stand-alone boulders.

There’s a photo of me in front of one three times my height, near a stake marked “T#10.” The good news is that turbine #10 was eliminated from the project, and that boulder will not be among those blasted.

That was the major change made: elimination of the turbine most visible…

BY TUX TURKEL STAFF WRITER

The lack of transmission lines keeps wind and hydro projects at bay.

"Many residents and politicians support a transition away from power plants fired by fossil fuels."

http://www.pressherald.com/2016/12/19/why-maines-renewable-power-remains-a-pipe-dream/…

Based on data for the most recent year available, 2013, only 8.9% of Maine's CO2 emissions were the result of electricity generation. This makes Maine the fourth lowest state in the nation based on this measure. The same figure for the nation is 38.3%, more than four times higher. 

QUESTION: So why destroy the state's natural beauty (the reason Tourism is such an economic driver in Maine) with wind turbine and transmission blight in an effort to make "clean"…

Ole Amundsen III said his resignation was a “very difficult” decision based on quality of life. He’s been making a 2½-hour round trip daily from his home in Waterville on Interstate 95 and an increasingly congested Interstate 295 – a commute that contributed to a very busy year professionally and personally.…

Wind turbines kill eagles

If I killed a bald or golden eagle, both of which are considered “protected,” I would be subject to fines of up to $100,000 and jail time of 10 or more years. Yet, the misguided White House has given wind farms …

Since arriving in Congress as part of the Republican Tea Party wave elected in 2010, Mick Mulvaney has been one of the most pugilistic advocates for cutting government spending.

“We are going to do great things for the American people with Mick Mulvaney,” Trump said Saturday in an e-mailed statement. “Right now we are nearly $20 trillion in debt, but Mick is a very high-energy leader with deep convictions for how to responsibly manage our nation’s finances and save our country from…

"One obstacle to integrating large solar and wind projects is that operators need to constantly account for cloudy periods or sudden drops or surges in wind speed. Storing the output from solar and wind power in batteries can smooth those ups and downs....."…

The Pyle memo also says that the Trump administration will look at the environmental effects of wind energy, which means restricting wind power because of its effects on birds and wildlife. 

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Leaked-Memo-Reveals-Trumps-Energy-Priorities.html

Last Updated: December 2, 2016

For more information about the Petition to Remove Carroll Plantation from the Expedited Permitting Area for Wind Energy Development or this Substantive Review Process contact Stacie R. Beyer at (207) 941-4593, or email …

Shareholders have submitted 60 letters to Honorable Judge Bernstein, the U.S. Trustee, and the Wall Street Journal. The letters implicate at least five high-ranking businessmen and politicians of wide spread collusion, corruption, and fraud......The letters from shareholders vary in purpose and quality, but among their requests are: calls to prosecute Paul Gaynor…

See COMMENTS below.

Last Updated: December 5, 2016

For more information about the Petition to Remove Milton Township from the Expedited Permitting Area for Wind Energy Development or this Substantive Review Process contact Stacie R. Beyer at (207) 941-4593, or email …

The outcome of local, state and national voting signaled a vote of no confidence in the growth of utility-scale wind power in the Green Mountain State......

Unimpressed by the 2016 Vermont Legislature's conditional gift of slightly more say in the energy siting process, municipalities are now bypassing Montpelier. If this trend of "permission by referendum" continues, towns will have carved out a local veto power for themselves over ridgeline wind development. A new precedent is being…