"Deadly Turn"
Gives the forest a voice.


I haven’t read a book from cover to cover in years, but this novel delivered two days of nonstop suspense. Powerful human relationships intermingle with accurate descriptions of forests, ponds, rivers and streams; birds and the people who care about them become symbols of strength and resilience. From the opening sentence to the last, despite crimes perpetrated against it, Neily captures Maine’s Northern Forest with fierce love and inspired storytelling." -— Michael J. Good, Down East Nature Tours, Bar Harbor, Maine



Long-time Executive Director of Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, George Smith, reviews "Deadly Turn."
Author note: "I am opposed to ALL industrial energy projects that destroy what's left of our woods, waters, and wildlife habitat, Seems OK in TX where cows graze through turbines though. Have been working on the novel since 2015. Hope you enjoy it. It is meant to be ...Enjoyed." Sandy    
 

Find it on Amazon
(and in ME, all Shermans Books stores.)


"Deadly Turn

Is not just an anti-wind power book. It's a book that offers up an ideal solution for forests and those who care deeply about them.

Here's an excerpt from the novel.


     Kate’s face brightened. “There’s tons of calculations in forestry. It’s not just boys with axes any more. Folks crunching numbers are all over the place analyzing the forest’s outputs and versatility. I’m headed toward the new stuff. My advisor teaches Climate and Carbon Dynamics and even though I’m not that far along in the program, he lets me audit that class.”
     “Smarty-pants,” I said.
     “Yup. I am. Your idea about how Maine should appreciate what it has—tons of trees rather than putting industrial energy in remote locations? Well, it didn’t look like you got beyond the public relations thing. It looked like you were working the spin part, but you never got to the math.” She grinned a very wide grin that quickly disappeared. “I’ve got the math. The proof. And most of my notes were in that pack.”
     “How far did you get?” I asked.
     “Well, my notes were essentially a draft report. I created a few graphs and charts and things. Anyone developing or selling wind power won’t be happy. For sure, corporations getting millions in government subsidies or tax breaks to build the facilities. And timber companies leasing lands to energy developers won’t welcome what I have to say. They get millions cutting and selling their trees and then more millions for leasing the cleared space and they’re also paid for each megawatt from each turbine, every year.”    
    “And?” I asked. The pissed-off group had to be larger.
     The damn selflies were back, this time hooked up in mid-air to mate right in front of us. Kate ignored them. “And the math might disappoint some environmental organizations who thought wind power was a climate-change answer for us here. It’s weird. I can run computer models based on real field research. I can show how growing Maine trees and leaving them longer on the land before they’re harvested pulls more carbon from the air than any other carbon reduction strategy we could go for.”
     She looked at me, eyebrows raised in surprise. “Weird they don’t do their homework. The green groups. They claim that wind power closes down fossil fuel plants. No way. Those plants need to stay on-line to produce power when the turbines are down or when there’s too little or too much wind. Every time they say wind will power so many homes, it’s theoretical bullshit. Wind can’t power a home twenty-four hours a day. Impossible. Would be like brown-outs in third-world places that only have one crummy power source that goes down all the time.”
     I was afraid that if I jumped up and hugged her, the moment where she’d gone far beyond anything I’d imagined would end badly.
     I jogged after her as she drove away and called.
    “Wait! Your draft report. Did it have a name?”
     Kate put the truck in neutral and took a long drink from a water bottle. She screwed up her face. “OK. I know it’s safe to tell you since it’s too long to fit on a bumper sticker.” She skipped her voice up to a high-pitched, pontificating tone. “Enhancing Maine’s Forests for Carbon Sequestration to Obviate the Need for Industrial Fragmentation and Devaluation of High Value Silvicultural and Recreational Lands.”



--

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Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on November 30, 2020 at 3:31am

"There are times that God calls upon men to act with great heroism"

https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-11-29-situation-update-nov-29th-30...

Lt. General Michael Flynn in his first interview following his pardon on November 25:

1. China is behind the election fraud

2. Trump's chances of being sworn in as president on a 1-10 scale is 10.

3. The "Kraken" released by Sidney Powell is the nickname of the 305th battalion, a military intelligence battalion.

4. This battalion has now seized servers which tabulated and altered votes in our election; the servers seized were located in Germany

5. When asked in the interview if the raid to seize the servers went without incident, he replied it was WITH incident and that he believed American troops were killed

6. He advised that the raid on the servers in Germany took place in a CIA facility

The interview is on video at the following weblinks:

https://www.worldviewweekend.com/tv/video/wvw-tv-exclusive-lt-gener...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzFyUBwAMoA

Comment by Paula D Kelso on November 17, 2020 at 3:55pm

Well I read 4 or 5 novels a week. In the middle of a Kate Flora novel right now, but went online and ordered Deadly Trespass and Deadly Turn. Finish with Joe Burgess or hop to Deadly Turn. Big dilemma!

Comment by Willem Post on November 14, 2020 at 10:23am

COST SHIFTING IS THE NAME OF THE GAME REGARDING WIND AND SOLAR

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/cost-shifting-is-the-na...

Comment by Willem Post on November 14, 2020 at 9:58am

APPENDIX 2

The VT-CEP Target of 35% of Vermont’s Thermal Energy Demand with Wood Heating by 2030.

 

Based on the most recent year (2014) of US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data available, wood fuels (both traditional and advanced wood heating, AWH) met an estimated 21% of building heating demand in Vermont in 2014. Going to 35% by 2030 would not only displace oil, but also very-clean-burning propane and to some extent, very-clean-burning natural gas.

 

More specifically, the 2016 CEP calls for doubling the use of wood heating in Vermont by 2050

See pages 3 and 4 of URL

http://www.revermont.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-2030-Wood-Heat-Ro...

 

If wood heating were to increase from 2.5 million MWh of annual thermal energy generation in 2016 to 4.3 million MWh in 2030, significantly more AWH systems and pellet stoves would need to be installed across the residential, commercial, and institutional building market sectors.

 

The 35% target by 2030 would need the additional installation of:

 

- 38,905 wood pellet stoves (or about 30% of all single-family homes)

- 10,519 bulk pellet fueled boilers (or about 16% of all single-family homes with

centralized hydronic heat distribution networks)

- 2,574 pellet boilers in small commercial buildings (or about 6% of that market

segment)

- 221 woodchip boilers in larger commercial/institutional buildings and district heating

plants (or about 4% of that market segment).

 

Where is that wood going to come from?

 

Presently, Vermont obtains all of its annual harvest from about 2.2 million AVAILABLE acres, even though VT has 4.5 million acres of timberland. The rest is unavailable for many reasons.

 

The ANNUAL biomass growth on the 2.2 million acres is about equal to Vermont’s ANNUAL harvests; i.e., VT harvesting is maxed out!!!

 

However, Vermont’s national and state forests, heretofore mostly OFF LIMITS, are now going to be harvested big time, according to plans on file with the US Forest Service. Here are some websites for your information.

 

Government bureaucrats and logging proponents often claim there is little clearcutting in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

That is not true, based on-site inspections, and satellite and drone surveillance.

Just Google and you will find plenty of clearcutting all over the place, including in national and state forests.

 

Vermont Clearcutting

 

Here are some random Google Earth images of clearcutting in Vermont, before the proposed logging and clearcutting of the Green Mountain National Forest, GMNF.

http://www.maforests.org/VERMONTCLEARCUTTING.pdf

 

As you look through the plans, at the list of proposed acreage of each logging type, in each plan, it is worth noting “group selection” in USFS timberspeak, is simply a bunch of “smaller” one to two football field sized clearcuts, not in any sense what people think of when they think of “selective” logging.  An example can be seen on page 15 of URL

https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/108977_FSPLT3_5339483.pdf

 

Also, the 15-year GMNF plan is set to expire in 2021. GMNF is pushing these long-term, “programmatic” projects to essentially tie its own hands, before it gets around to revising its Forest Plan. These projects have the real danger of pre-allocating lands to active management (including portions of inventoried roadless areas) before the forest goes through a proper Forest Plan revision process.

GMNF is rushing to get these projects done while the current administration is in office. See URL

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/gmfl/landmanagement/planning/?cid=FS...

 

New Hampshire Clearcutting

 

Here are some random Google Earth images of clearcutting in the White Mountain National Forest, in NH, similar to what is planned now for the GMNF, though the plans for GMNF appear got be even more aggressive.  

http://www.maforests.org/WMNF.pdf

 

For a view of what the logging will look like, see the identical “vegetation treatments” in White Mountain National Forest in NH

http://www.maforests.org/WMNF.pdf

 

Massachusetts Clearcutting

 

Much of Maine has already been heavily cutover, and I don’t have any images of that, but in this report, the green areas show forests with greater biomass (i.e., larger trees), where much new logging is being targeted 

http://www.maforests.org/DFW.pdf

 

Lots of Clearcutting Coming to GMNF 

 

15,000 acres, 12,000 acres of it is clearcutting

https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/108891_FSPLT3_4658907.pdf

 

About 6700 acres more logging in GMNF

https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/97348_FSPLT3_2363593.pdf

 

Thousands more acres here

https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/103699_FSPLT3_3987566.pdf

 

Look at the logging on just this one "project":

https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/97348_FSPLT3_3032534.pdf

 

Burning Wood is NOT Clean

 

Regarding the "cleanliness" of wood...

http://www.pfpi.net/air-pollution-2

 

High Asthma Rates in Vermont

 

Vermont already has some of the highest asthma rates in the country

https://learn.uvm.edu/blog/blog-health/asthma-rates-in-vermont

 

Oregon, the Paragon of Clearcutting

 

And for twice the fun, for anyone interested just to see how bad an unchecked logging industry can get, see this video from Oregon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0j_Msmz44M

 

 

 

 

Comment by Willem Post on November 14, 2020 at 9:57am

APPENDIX 1

All of us need to be on the same page the regarding A to Z sources of CO2.

 

Sources of CO2 of Logging Sector

 

1) Before logging, the logging sector has to be set up, operated, maintained and renewed, which emits CO2

2) A wood-burning plant has to be built, which emits CO2

3) The logging process includes maintaining the woodlot, culling, harvesting, chipping, and transport to user, which emits CO2

4) Operating the plant requires electricity, diesel fuel etc., which emits CO2

5) The combustion process emits CO2; in fact, emits more lb/million Btu than coal; coal power plants are up to 44% efficient, wood-burning plants about 25%

6) The combustion process emits sub-micron particulates, which requires electricity for air pollution control systems, which emits CO2

7) Delivering the heat and electricity to users requires electricity, which emits CO2.

8) Heavy cutting and clearcutting releases belowground biomass decay CO2; belowground is about 20% of all biomass.

9) Dismantling the old wood-burning plant and replacing it with a new one.

 

Combustion CO2, about 56% + Decay CO2, about 14%, equals about 70% of A-to-Z CO2.

It has the possibility of being partially renewable.

All other items are like all other CO2, i.e., not renewable.

They are almost never mentioned by logging proponents. See table 1

 

Here is an explanation regarding Item 8

 

Most people are familiar with the logging industry claim it harvests low value trees for burning, i.e., misshapen, diseased trees, standing deadwood, etc., called net available low grade, NALG, whereas, in fact, that is often not true, based on satellite and drone photos of clearcutting on harvested areas.

 

Wood-Burning is Renewable

 

The other logging industry claim is "wood burning is renewable" and therefore its combustion CO2 should not be counted (the EPA and IPCC are proponents of this fallacy), whereas, in fact, wood-burning is not renewable at all.

 

I have written extensively on the CO2 released just after clearcutting.

This article has 5 examples of CO2 released, due to clearcutting

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/co2-emissions-from-logg...

 

In northern climates, it takes about 35 years for the CO2 to get back to neutral

The initial CO2 release, due to belowground biomass decay, is very high, and the decay is on-going for about 80 to 100 years. 

The released CO2 far exceeds any CO2 absorbed by the regrowth on the HARVESTED AREA.

That negative condition continues for about 17 years.

But to offset that negative condition, and get back to neutral, regrowth on the HARVESTED AREA needs to take place for another 17 to 18 years

 

The decay CO2 is entirely independent from 1) combustion CO2, and 2) harvesting and other CO2.

 

- Combustion CO2 of year 1 would have to wait for 35 years to start being absorbed by regrowth on the HARVESTED AREA, which takes about 80 - 100 years.

 

- Harvesting and other CO2, due to: 1) logging, 2) chipping, 3) transport, 4) in-plant processing, and 5) plant operations other than combustion, etc., is like all other CO2.

 

The Real World

 

However, in the real world, loggers would come along, see 40 to 45-y-old trees, and cut them down; veni, vidi, vici; i.e., the CO2 absorption process is CUT SHORT.

 

The logging industry continues to claim, without blushing: "Burning wood is renewable".

 

Regarding table 1, people may argue about the percentages of each category, but not about the existence of each category.

 

Table 1

Renewable, per Proponents

Renewable, Real World

Sources of CO2

%

%

Item 1

Industry set-up, upkeep

3

Item 2

Plant construction, upkeep

2

Item 3

Logging process

8

Item 4

Plant operation

8

Item 5

Combustion

56

5.6

Item 6

Air cleaning

3

Item 7

Energy delivery

2

Item 8

Belowground decay

14

1.4

Item 9

Plant replacement, upkeep

4

Total

100

7

 

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/burning-wood-is-not-ren...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/vermont-forests-and-co2...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/dartmouth-biomass-boile...

 

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-case-against-intens...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/dartmouth-reconsidering...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/vermont-is-harvesting-w...

 

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/dartmouth-s-planned-bio...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/burning-wood-produces-e...

Comment by Willem Post on November 14, 2020 at 9:56am

BURNING WOOD IS NOT RENEWABLE

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/burning-wood-is-not-ren...

 

Pro-logging interests use “Burning Wood is Renewable” as a slogan, a mantra, to assure others all is benign, because it helps save the world, fight global warming, are part of the “solution”, and thus deserves to get money via the Global Warming Solutions Act.

 

Sources of CO2 of Logging Sector

 

All of us need to be on the same page regarding the A to Z sources of CO2. Here is a list.

 

1) Before logging, the logging sector has to be set up, operated, maintained and renewed, which emits CO2

2) A wood-burning plant has to be built, which emits CO2

3) The logging process includes maintaining the woodlot, culling, harvesting, chipping, and transport to user, which emits CO2

4) Operating the plant requires electricity, diesel fuel etc., which emits CO2

5) The combustion process emits CO2; in fact, emits more lb/million Btu than coal; coal power plants are up to 44% efficient, New England wood-burning plants about 25%

6) The combustion process emits sub-micron particulates, which requires electricity for air pollution control systems, which emits CO2

7) Delivering the heat and electricity to users requires electricity, which emits CO2.

8) Heavy cutting and clearcutting releases belowground biomass decay CO2; belowground is about 20% of all biomass.

9) Dismantling the old wood-burning plant and replacing it with a new one.

 

Combustion CO2, about 56% + Decay CO2, about 14%, equals about 70% of A-to-Z CO2.

It has the possibility of being partially renewable.

All other items are like all other CO2, i.e., not renewable.

They are almost never mentioned by logging proponents. See table 1

 

Particulates from Wood Burning

 

The wood burning sector is major cause of combustion CO2 and other CO2 in NE, plus sub-micron particulates.
Gas, hydro and nuclear have nearly none of such particulates.

 

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/dartmouth-biomass-boile...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/burning-wood-produces-e...

 

CO2 Absorption Cycle

 

Combustion CO2 is absorbed, under NE conditions, in about 80 to 100 years, in about 115 to 135 years, if the 35-y C-neutrality period is included; Year 1 is the combustion year. See URL for C-neutrality explanation.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/co2-emissions-from-logg...

 

When a woodlot is logged, some belowground biomass is killed (clear cutting kills all of it), because it is no longer needed by the trees that were cut. It decays and emits CO2.

The decay process, start to completion, under NE conditions, takes about 80 to 100 years.

While the decay takes place, any new tree growth on OUR harvested areas would offset more and more of the decay CO2, until the new tree growth has completely offset the decay CO2, which, under NE conditions, takes about 35 years.  

After the C-neutrality period, the combustion CO2 of Year 1 (and ongoing decay CO2) would start to be absorbed by the new tree growth on OUR harvested areas.

 

The Interrupted CO2 Absorption Cycle.

 

The new trees on OUR harvested areas most likely would be cut well before they have had a chance to absorb all the combustion CO2 of Year 1 (and ongoing decay CO2), because, in the real world, a logger would come along, would see the 40 to 45-year-old trees, and would harvest them (veni, vidi, vici); those trees had barely started to absorb OUR combustion CO2!!

 

There ends the fantasy of “burning wood is renewable”, because there is no spare forest for “our remaining combustion CO2 (and ongoing decay CO2)”. Other forests already are busy absorbing CO2.

 

OUR combustion CO2 has to be absorbed on OUR harvested areas to be called renewable.

 

The OTHER CO2 not related to combustion, is similar to any other CO2, for accounting purposes.

The atmosphere, the oceans, and other CO2 sinks would absorb a part of “our remaining combustion CO2” (and ongoing decay CO2)”, as well “our OTHER CO2”. That absorption would not be by OUR harvested area, and thus not be “renewable”.

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

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Vince Lombardi 

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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