Long Islander's Blog – November 2016 Archive (14)

“Decades of corruption, poor decision-making and wealthy special interests controlling Augusta” have left the state shouldering higher-than-necessary costs for energy, the governor said......LePage seeks to end initiatives aimed at bolstering wind and solar use that call for above-market-rate payments that proponents say are needed to get the renewable sectors off the ground. He prefers to move toward more use of natural gas and imported hydropower.......…

The renewable energy industry got a boost last year when Congress approved a five-year extension of tax credits for new power projects fueled by solar panels and wind turbines, and the industry’s main concern in Washington is to ensure they are not withdrawn in Trump’s first term, or allowed to expire should he win a second.…

Efforts to reach attorneys for First Wind to determine if an appeal might be filed were unsuccessful Tuesday.

The 2011 contract required the wind power companies to act in good faith to finalize the sale to the cooperative of a 12.54-mile section of transmission line connecting two wind farms located on Stetson Mountain in northern Washington County and another on Rollins Mountain near Lincoln in Penobscot County to the electric power grid, according to a press release issued Monday…

November 22, 2016

“One thing Mr Trump kept returning to was the issue of wind farms. He is a complete Anglophile and also absolutely adores Scotland which he thinks is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. “But he is dismayed that his beloved Scotland has become over-run with ugly wind farms which he believes are a blight on the stunning landscape.”…

“Phyllis may have reported more stories about conservation issues in Maine than anyone,” St. Pierre said. “It was not just the extensive breadth of issues Phyllis wrote about, it was her approach that stood out. Always thorough in her reporting, she was respected by virtually everyone she covered, whether or not they agreed.”

An avid hiker, she trekked the Himalayas in Nepal and in the Scottish Highlands. Her last piece “On Reaching the End of the Trail” was published in the…

"The wind PTC is an enormous government handout, and it is wrong to borrow money from future generations to give away corporate favors to those who promise jobs but – as we can see now in Kansas – who cannot deliver on that promise without continued reliance on other taxpayers.

Most important, the wind PTC does not work. Proof of this is that the wind PTC has been in effect for two decades and, still, wind-generated electricity is multiples more expensive than other sources of…

By Lisa Linowes -- November 18, 2016

“After billions in public hand-outs spanning nearly four decades, big wind has never been able to stand on its own and there’s no reason to believe this will change. … If yanking the handouts causes the industry to flat line then so be it. The US has elected a businessman at the helm who understands what it means to cut your losses. It’s time we did exactly that!”

Elections matter!

Last week, untold thousands of…

“Coal is not coming back,” said Michael Brune, Sierra Club executive director. “Ask investors on Wall Street, or regulators at the state and local level who are choosing solar and wind because of basic economics.”

http://www.pressherald.com/2016/11/11/trump-likely-to-try-to-reverse-obama-environment-initiatives/

Top climate…

by ROBERT BRYCE November 15, 2016

Big Wind lost big last Tuesday. While it’s not clear what Donald Trump’s election means for federal energy policy, it’s abundantly obvious that the wind-energy sector’s agenda was crushed in Vermont.

Although it cannot be stated definitively that wind energy was the deciding factor in Scott’s win over Minter, it is abundantly obvious that wind has been one of the most divisive issues in the state. During the Democratic primary for governor, two…

“My idea is to come in from Canada. And we’ve got a proposal, we’re going to be looking to bring natural gas in from Pennsylvania up into Canada and down through Quebec,” he said.

http://bangordailynews.com/2016/11/07/politics/lepage-bring-pennsylvania-natural-gas-to-maine-through-canada/

“Simply put, Monhegan is no place to experiment with wind turbines or to establish a commercial wind farm, any more than it would be to place these massive turbines this close to Acadia National Park or Mt. Katahdin,” wrote Travis Dow, a year-round resident and outspoken critic of the project. “Surely there must be other locations in the vast Gulf of Maine that would serve your purposes without forever marring Monhegan’s unrivaled 360-degree view of the ocean and incredible night…

Travis Dow, a spokesman for the newly formed group, Protect Monhegan, said the two proposed 600-foot tall turbines would do irreparable harm to the island community.

http://bangordailynews.com/2016/11/01/news/midcoast/some-monhegan-island-residents-ask-developers-to-move-offshore-wind-project/

“Regardless of whether the partnership payments are deemed legal, I remain greatly concerned about where this may lead if we start down this road,” Condos wrote. “In a democracy, a ballot item should pass or fail on its own merits and not because of cash incentives.”…