A foreign corporation must not have greater rights than American citizens
July 29, 2012
Letter to the Editor - Maine Sunday Telegram
Citizens in Lexington and Concord townships have taken a stand. In 2008, without our input, our rural communities were haphazardly rezoned as "industrial," but for one industry only -- the wind industry.
Spain's Iberdrola Renewables has set its sights on the mountain summits of these townships.
If we were citizens in an organized town, we would have the ability to draft an ordinance to ensure that our health, quality of life and property values would be protected from massive grid-scale wind facilities. But the Wind Energy Act effectively removed from rural residents our right to have input in the future of our communities.
Without recourse, we decided to make our voices heard regarding those important "quality of life" issues that will so greatly impact us.
A large majority of our residents signed petitions stating our opposition to industrial wind development within our borders. These "votes" in hand, we submitted letters to Iberdrola and landowner Plum Creek, asking them to respect our majority vote and abandon their planned project.
Iberdrola didn't respond. Plum Creek said our "views" would be heard during the permitting process. But they've already "heard" our views, which were signed in ink and submitted to the governor -- and they've decided to discount our votes.
Our fates are in the hands of the Department of Environmental Protection, which has approved every wind development permit application to cross its desk.
Citizens in unorganized territories must not be disenfranchised simply because we live in rural Maine. Our votes and voices must carry equal weight as those of citizens in organized towns.
We've spoken clearly. Our state government must defend the will of the people. A foreign corporation must not have greater rights than American citizens. Iberdrola should respect the resolve of the people and abandon its wind development plans for Lexington and Concord townships.
Karen Bessey Pease
Lexington Township
Read the Maine Sunday Telegrams's Letters to the Editor here.
http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/um-system-shows-its-out-of-touch...
Views: 465
Comment
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Comment by Penny Melko on July 30, 2012 at 5:08am
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Nicely and precisely written. This is a battle ground to save rural, public lands, the desert and our agricultural lands to secure as local food sources. This is a vendor/government frenzy throughout North America, not only the U.S. There is only one way to stop the incessant approval of electrical equipment that isn't even fit for production and it is to get every single decision make out of office. Campaign against the people that support this and run them right out office.
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Comment by freemont tibbetts on July 30, 2012 at 3:21am
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M-O-R-A-T-O-R-I-U-M
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Comment by Karen Bessey Pease on July 30, 2012 at 2:35am
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Thanks for posting this, LI. People in UT's will find themselves dealing with these inequities and injustices more and more often if this industry continues to dominate the political scene in Maine. We can't stop fighting, even when it seems like there are no avenues left open to us..
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Comment by Long Islander on July 29, 2012 at 11:22pm
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M-O-R-A-T-O-R-I-U-M
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Comment by Donna Amrita Davidge on July 29, 2012 at 10:49pm
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as we wind warriors know this is all just so wrong and sad making ...
I agree with Mike.
and that our rights are being denied too as Rick says..
Karen is one of the most informed and hard working..glad she was heard.
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Maybe we should all crowd into the Governor's office for a chit chat?
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Comment by Rick Conrad on July 29, 2012 at 7:42pm
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Wind developer appear to be abandoning the argument that wind turbines don't make noise. The turbines do make noise that is obvious. The new stategy appears to be to deny citizens' rights. Now people behind wind development are stating that "the right to enjoy a quite rural lifestyle doesn't exist".
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Comment by Barbara Durkin on July 29, 2012 at 1:10pm
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Well done, Karen, thank you.
Central Maine Power is Iberdrola. This illusion suggests regulators' awareness that a Spanish company would not be as accepted into ME communities. Goldwind of Xinjiang, China is called "Goldwind USA" as an office employing 8 in Chicago, (including former First Wind execs), so this is a pattern.
What's the first rule of Iberdrola?
Iberdrola is installing smart meters in ME without the State's understanding of health and privacy risks associated with them.Iberdrola as Central ME Power has on record stated that a New England ratepayer-funded $1.4 billion dollar transmission upgrade from ME to Tewksbury, MA is specifically intended to assist in the integration of wind energy. However, the system operator, ISO New England, has curtailed nine (9) renewable energy projects, five (5) of which are First Wind projects, due to lacking capacity value.New England ratepayers are funding a $1.4 Billion dollar transmission upgrade that 'Alternative Energy Projects at Risk' [5/13] states:"...isn't designed to handle the power that can be made available at times from new and existing alternative energy plants in northern and eastern Maine, federal utility regulators and the region's grid operator have determined."However; Central Maine Power, subsidiary of Iberdrola, (that received $867 million in US stimulus), represented to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), in 2008, that this transmission project would increase opportunities for wind energy in particular.The FERC states in Docket No. EL08-74-000:"Central Maine asserts that the Project will reduce line losses, assure a safe and secure supply of power in Maine, improve power quality and operating efficiency, increase opportunities for new renewable generation (particularly wind generation), and reduce congestion.20 Central Maine also claims that the Project will enhance reliability, decrease the risk of cascading outages, voltage collapse, and widespread blackouts, eliminate the potential for future NERC violations, and improve system performance for scheduling, outage coordination, and maintenance." (page Page (8.)b. Effects- Central Maine asserts that the Project will reduce line losses, assure a safe and secure supply of power in Maine, improve power quality and operating efficiency, increase opportunities for new renewable generation (particularly wind generation), and reduce congestion.
- 20 Central Maine also claims that the Project will enhance reliability, decrease the risk of cascading outages, voltage collapse, and widespread blackouts, eliminate the potential for future NERC violations, and improve system performance for scheduling, outage coordination, and maintenance.21
Thank You,Barbara DurkinNorthboro, MA
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The citizens have the power and the right to change their people in government when they are dead wrong in saying that wind power is good for them. It is now happen in the town of Dixfield Maine. Good Luck Norman when you run for Selectman in Dixfield to replace Katherine Harvey. Freemont Tibbetts Dixfield Maine
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Comment by Whetstone_Willy on July 29, 2012 at 10:23am
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Norman - it is high time that citizens petition for an ethics law impacting every level of government in the state of Maine.
Kurt Adams, David Littell, Stacey Fitts, Jon Hinck, Alex Cornell Du Houx, wind lobbyists becoming commissioners, the PUC making decisions for the special interests which countermand their staff recommendations, selectmen leasing land to wind companies -- and Maine being ranked near the very bottom of the U.S. in ethics.
We have been given ample evidence that we need to tighten the laws, e.g., what constitutes a conflict of interest. Anyone who tells you that things are just fine the way they are is being guided in some way, shape or form by the almighty dollar sign.
Let's initiate this.
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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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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