Long Islander's Blog – April 2015 Archive (33)

The importance of having firm generation capacity as opposed to non-dispatchable sources like wind power may be touched upon today in the discussion of LD 1313. As noted in FMM's most recent legislative update,  LD 1313 would remove the referendum requirement for installing nuclear plants that are small. The idea in this Governor's bill is that we need firm generation capacity as opposed to non-dispatchable…

The Expedited Permitting Area was created behind closed doors. No minutes…

The S Donald, the U.S. Congresswoman's husband who personally incubated D.E. Shaw, longtime half owner of First Wind, sells his pro-wind newspapers.

Press Herald papers purchased by midcoast businessman Reade Brower

A memo sent to Maine Today Media staff late Tuesday confirmed financier S. Donald Sussman, husband of Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, agreed to sell the paper. …

Office of the Governor Chief Legal Counsel, Policy Advisors Announced

April 27, 2015

Governor's Office

For Immediate Release: Monday, April 27, 2015

Contact: Adrienne Bennett, Press Secretary, 207-287-2531

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage today announced several staff additions to the Office of the Governor, including Chief Legal Counsel and three Policy Advisors.

Cynthia Montgomery serves as Chief Legal Counsel for the Office of the Governor.…

Last week, on Earth Day, under questioning from Rep. Bob Duschesne, Dr. David Publicover, senior staff scientist with the Appalachian Mountain Club and a member of The Governor's Task Force on Wind Power Development that laid the groundwork for Maine's shameful expedited wind law, admitted that the task force never considered the cumulative impact of erecting gargantuan industrial wind turbines throughout Maine.

Please click on the following link to Eric Tuttle's video of this…

Government-subsidized, grid-scale wind and solar do not pass the real cost-benefit analysis, and worse they siphon much needed funds away from finding truly clean solutions for a power-hungry planet.

Our energy policies should be based on science, not symbolism.

Penelope Gray

Registered Maine Master Guide

Freeport

Please read the rest here:…

An "all of the above" strategy is the energy equivalent of making sure that everyone on the Little League team is given a trophy....or perhaps telling little Johnny that 1 + 1 = "Whatever answer feels good for you Johnny". The wind industry uses the phrase "all of the above" all the time, seeking safety in the herd and vampire-like avoidance of sunlight.…

Happy Earth Day windies.

Spanish tax agency uncovers wind farm payoff scheme

Huge wind farm corruption scandal in Spain

Governor LePage says his goals are simple. "I hope to get four governors to agree that we need a pipeline and we move together to get a pipe line, and that we get together to buy cheap energy from Canada."

http://news.mpbn.net/post/lepage-attends-new-england-govs-energy-meeting

                ******************************************************************************…

For some reason unbeknownst to me, the link I provided earlier brings us to the audio for the wrong committee.

I am thus trying again.

If this happens to bring you to the wrong committee, please click on the dropdown arrow in the white box and make sure that Room 216 is selected.

http://legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Audio/216

If you are not attending in person, please tune in on the Web at the following link to listen to today's Public Hearing on LD 911 as described below.  If they start late or take a break, there will be dead air. 

http://legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Audio/216

After clicking the above link, turn up your speakers and use the audio buttons immediately to the right of the words "Environment and…

Rep Sara Gideon's Bill Forcing Mainers to Buy Solar Required for $6 Million South Portland Solar Project

L.D. 1263, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Sara Gideon of Freeport would require 2.5 percent of Maine’s electricity mix to come from solar by 2022

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/04/21/city-powered-solar/

                                           …

Note: The public may speak at a work session only if a committee member requests further public input and the presiding chair grants permission. 

If you are not planning to attend in person, please tune in on the Web at the following link to listen to today's work sessions on LD 791 and LD 828 described below. One bill is from the wind industry, the other from citizens. If they start late or take a break, there will be dead air.…

Pat Woodcock is the director of the Governor’s Energy Office. “We have a goal for wind — the amount of wind to be installed in the state,” Woodcock said. “We have goals for solar, we have goals for hydro. Actually, I look at energy policy as technology is a means to carry out policy. The actual policy that we should be looking for in our state is lower pollution, lower cost.”

Woodcock said there are other bills coming from LePage this session to change Maine’s energy policy, ranging…

Has Maine been ripped off yet again? This one's not about wind, but arguably arises from some of the same conditions that have allowed the wind fraud.

“I think somebody needs to call the Legislature to task for not doing their due diligence on this........."

"“I’m really angry to hear how (the Maine New Markets…

"..........the power density of wind energy — as I have repeatedly proven — is 1 watt per square meter. Therefore, the land area needed to produce that much renewable electricity would total about 31 billion square meters or 31,000 square kilometers, which is about 12,000 square miles. Put another way, just to meet electricity demand in Massachusetts with wind energy would require an area larger than the state itself..........At the same time, they promote landscape- and wildlife-destroying…

Marcy Reed, president of National Grid Massachusetts, said she supports the construction of two new natural gas pipelines into the region to bring down electricity costs and to allow more customers to shift to gas for heating and cooking. She said she would welcome hydroelectricity from Canada, but stressed that the state’s current subsidies for renewable energy are not sustainable.

She said the cost of one form of subsidy, called net metering, is expected to double in National Grid’s…

Apple funds conservation of 32,400 acres in The County

Tech giant Apple has given an undisclosed amount of money to The Conservation Fund, which plans to use the money to conserve 32,400 acres on the Mattawamkeag River in southern Aroostook County.…

From Friends of Maine's Mountains:

LD 1107 is a curious bill that seeks to do three things:



1. Mandate a 40% off-peak discount for electricity customers. This would be good for electric thermal storage heat, electric vehicles, etc. Much of the off-peak time is when New England electricity is cleanest (the dams and nuke plants can satisfy almost all demand).



2. Mandate T&D (poles and wires) rate discounts (to be determined) for…

Another bill, by House Democratic Whip Sara Gideon of Freeport has the support of the wind industry, which helped her craft the legislation...... Karen Pease, a resident of Lexington Township, agreed: “The fact is that what we do on our property can and often does impact our neighbors. That’s why we created zoning ordinances,” she said. The Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry will hold work sessions on Dunphy’s and Gideon’s bill in the coming weeks. Both proposals will face…