3/17/15

Business reporter Darren Fishell at the Bangor Daily News wrote earlier today that, “The corporate subsidy watchdog agency Good Jobs First found Central Maine Power Co. parent company Iberdrola topped the list of all recipients of federal grants and tax credits, primarily in tax…

“EDP's remarks appear to be a standard wind industry tactic to try to quiet an increasingly vocal, well-educated and well-informed opposition......"

EDP filed plans on Nov. 5 with the Federal Aviation Administration for 29 wind turbines standing 499 feet in height......…

SunEdison, which purchased wind developer First Wind earlier this year, was second on the list for the same reason. Both companies are major owners of wind projects.

.....the public has a right to detailed, company-specific information on the support federal agencies are providing to the private sector, and that disclosure is fundamental to reform,” the report states.…

Lisa Linowes - February 24, 2015

Taxes & Subsidies USA

Clearly, the interpretation of what constitutes “begin construction” is important, yet at no time during the two years since the PTC was extended with this wording did the IRS bother to seek public comment under the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), the federal statute that requires federal agencies to provide notice and an opportunity to comment before promulgating rules.

Read more at:…

Before wind power developer Atlantic Wind moves ahead with its 50-turbine project in Somerset County, state regulators want to answer big legal questions about what kind of financial ties the developer can have with Central Maine Power Co.

Both companies are owned by the Spanish utility Iberdrola, though both are separated by various levels of corporate subsidiary relationships.…

Business owners have raised fears of “irretrievable damage” if the go-ahead is given for a major windfarm in the Angus glens. Hundreds of responses have already been received after the planning application was submitted to Angus Council and Perth and Kinross Council.…

Unfortunately, those of us close to the wind fight in Maine know all too well that Maine Audubon's telling of wildlife tales sometimes overlooks things.

Please be sure to click on and read: FMM attacks Maine Audubon on ties to industrial wind and flawed report

The BDN article is …

If the National Park Service sees fit to keep wind turbines 34 miles away from a lighthouse that is only 156' tall as noted at the link below, then surely Maine needs to reassess the far smaller distances it tolerates from these out of scale and place structures. Perhaps the NPS needs to intervene on behalf of the Appalachian…

89 percent of residents categorize our rural way of life as “important” or “very important.” The plan’s land use goal says that new development should “be compatible with [Orland’s] rural attributes such as open ridgelines and scenic views.” Yet our selectmen have supported a plan for 500-foot industrial wind turbines.…

Critics of the decision — many of them directly involved in the wind industry — claim that reopening the bidding will create “regulatory uncertainty” in the global market and put the flow of investment dollars to the state at risk. We believe any such risk would be limited to further investment in land-based wind power development in Maine. And our view — one shared by many others in Maine — is that such a slowdown is a welcome occurrence.…

In other words, something is terribly flawed with the law that was of course created by and for corporations who continue to write legislation affecting the wind industry, most recently evidenced by former Senate president Justin Alfond's 178 pages of emails with the wind industry exposed by the nonpartisan …

Anti-wind development group withdraws appeal of Bingham project

http://bangordailynews.com/2015/03/05/business/anti-wind-development-group-withdraws-appeal-of-bingham-project/?ref=regionmidmaine

Bingham Wind project gets…

Any ordinance writer knows regulations are fact-based documents, not political mandates written to accommodate a possible, chosen one.

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/weeklies/2015/03/04/dixfield-must-get-line-wind-power-money/1660599

and…

 The state continues to prop up unreliable and intermittent wind power with a wind law that favors the out-of-state wind industry at the expense of Mainers.....

http://bangordailynews.com/2015/03/03/opinion/letters/wednesday-march-4-2015-acadia-bus-stop-harvesting-wood-products-national-park/

“To demonstrate the challenge offshore wind is having, 12 companies qualified to bid but only two submitted bids. Although the four leases were in the heart of some of the windiest areas of the U.S., they are further south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island. But being in deeper water than the stymied Cape Wind project located to the north, their development and operating costs will be considerably greater.”

The prospects for U.S. offshore wind power, after…

Listen to live webcast in five minutes: DEP to brief EUT Committee on wind power

If you are interested in hearing the DEP's briefing on wind energy to be presented to the Legislature's Utilities Committee, tune in Tuesday at 1 pm. It will include the DEP's lessons learned and a glimpse at their future plans to regulate Maine's worst boondoggle. Click here to listen:…

BY PAUL ACKERMAN

Maine Audubon’s 2014 list of corporate sponsors notes the following among the wind industry & backers/ beneficiaries: Eagle donor ($10,000-plus from First Wind), Falcon donor ($5,000 from Reed & Reed Inc.), Osprey donor ($2,500-plus from Central Maine Power Company), Owl donor ($1,000-plus from Cianbro and Patriot Renewables).…

Firm vs. Intermittent Resourcing: A primer on wind/solar power deficiency (Part I)

By Thomas Stacy II -- February 26, 2015…

The appeal, filed by Friends of Maine's Mountains, asks the board to overturn a DEP decision approving the construction of a 56-turbine wind farm in Somerset County

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/03/02/wind-opponents-hope-for-reversal-on-project/…

n a statement attacking the proposals, Bournemouth Tourism Management Board also said it was furious that EDF Energy, one of the backers of the Navitus Bay project, was “completely disregarding the environmental and consequential economic impact on the local area and refusing to compensate for the multi-million pound damage local businesses face”.…