Long Islander's Blog – December 2014 Archive (34)

PUC Chairman Tom Welch is set to retire Wednesday and Commissioner David Littell’s term expires in March. Those two commissioners voted to approve the First Wind-Emera partnership, while Commissioner Mark Vannoy …

"At that point the whole pyramid collapsed.  They are firing…

You can’t drive very far in rural Maine without at some point encountering a mountain ridge dotted with massive wind turbines, which was Angus King’s vision, both as governor and, post-governor, as a major investor in wind turbine construction. Back in the good old days, Maine was decreed the “Saudi Arabia  of Wind,” ................…

No Holiday Inn Express

Until Dec. 22, they lived less than a mile from one of the turbines, within a mile of five more. Each of the 16 turbines are taller than 500 feet and within two miles of their home.

Help has come from many of the family’s supporters — from people in Sheffield to the…

Wherever in the world wind power is installed to significant degree, new transmission lines must be built, lest the spurting occasional wind-produced electricity will thermally overload the existing lines and severely disrupt the otherwise reliable grid. Yet in Maine, when the $1.4 Billion CMP upgrade (Maine Power Reliability Project) was forced down ratepayers' throats at ratepayer expense, we were told that this project was needed because Maine had "aging…

Onshore, opponents of wind projects at the local and state levels continued to pose regulatory challenges to new projects through appeals that have risen to the state’s top court, which has clarified parts of the state’s regulatory appeals process.…

"However, Maine does have huge untapped potential for offshore wind, tidal power, biofuels, and solar energy. Expanding the use of these alternatives will make Maine more economically independent and generate good jobs here".

"Maine’s national and state leaders — Muskie, Mitchell, Bill Cohen, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Angus King, Harry Richardson, Joe Brennan, Horace Hildreth, Ken Curtis, Jon Lund, and Jock McKernan, among others —…

Karen Bessey Pease, a resident of Lexington Township, urged commissioners to reject the TIF proposal, saying that First Wind had already proved their financial capacity to the state and that there was no need to return taxpayer money to the company.

“I realize that First Wind has received their permit to build the Bingham Wind Project, but as a resident and taxpayer in the unorganized territory, I would prefer that you don’t return any money to this developer,” Bessey Pease…

Of those, 89 people said they would approve more wind-energy plants, and 145 were opposed to the idea, Spafford said.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20141218/NEWS05/141218876&source=RSS

Mike Barnard’s wind wings clipped by employer: Told to stop writing on wind power, resign fellowship from Energy and Policy Institute, and delete his blog: Barnard on Wind

https://www.masterresource.org/health-safety-wind/barnard-wind-propagandist-ibm/

Jeremy Payne declined to comment specifically on the potential nominees, noting that his trade group, which represents wind power, biomass and other generators, typically meets and questions PUC nominees.

http://www.pressherald.com/2014/12/18/lepage-considers-two-on-his-staff-to-fill-puc-seats-at-pivotal-time/

The agreement also would allow First Wind to be reimbursed for some of its costs, totaling about $10 million over the next 30 years, according to the proposal.

http://www.centralmaine.com/2014/12/16/somerset-county-to-decide-on-tif-for-bingham-wind-project/

Connecticut has also passed a law banning double counting of renewable credits. 

http://digital.vpr.net/post/vermonts-energy-credits-questioned-renewable-program-likely-change

Since Maine’s wind energy act became law in 2008, the energy playing field has been tilted sharply in favor of wind developers and against the state’s citizens and the environment in which they live. Every effort to modify that law has been rebuffed by the Maine Legislature.

Dan Remain of Cushing wants to do something about it and has mounted a campaign for a citizens initiative that would repeal or amend sections of the law to level the playing field and restore citizens’…

The Senator is reading right from the wind hustlers' book of lies. Well then again, he helped write it. The article below reports he has just secured an appointment on the U.S. Senate's Energy Committee. It's like having a wind lobbyist on that committee - impacting decisions affecting the entire U.S., and the 316 million rent payers who live here and enrich the people on the inside.

BDN - Angus King: "The wind industry already has…

More Wind, Less Warming” from Environment Maine Research & Policy Center shows wind power can be a key player in that clean energy future.

Laura Dorle is a campaign organizer for Environment Maine. Katie Chapman is a project manager for EDP Renewables North America, LLC, a wind energy developer that is proposing a wind development in…

"It appears that the electricity generated by this project will remain exclusively or largely in Maine and not be delivered to Connecticut or elsewhere outside of Maine,' and that "the environmental effects of the investment … will primarily accrue to the citizens of sparsely populated Aroostook County, certain parts of Canada's Maritime Provinces, and the Atlantic Ocean. "

The developer of the Number Nine Wind Farm, EDP Renewables North America, said it expects the project to be…

The Portsmouth-based company, which is a subsidiary of Eolian Renewable Energy, is now proposing a slightly smaller 28-megawatt wind farm that calls for nine turbines instead of 10 and decreases their height.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/14742554-95/antrim-wind-energy-hopes-to-resurrect-project

Jim Cassida, First Wind’s permitting and compliance manager, gave a brief overview of the project and then invited audience members to speak with one of the dozen professionals lining the back wall of the room standing alongside an equal number of color charts, maps and photos.

The experts and the materials they brought with them addressed everything from the potential visual and aural impact of the project to what effect it would have on birds.

Continue reading at: …

National Grid, one of …