Maine BEP: Hearings for the Public on Wind Power Are Just More of the Same Old Same Old" (Bangor Daily News)

Citizen board reverses DEP rejection of wind power project

Posted March 21, 2013, at 3:14 p.m.
Last modified March 21, 2013, at 6:55 p.m.
EXCERPT:

At least one board member, Tom Eastler of Farmington, said he didn’t want to see the review process started over — particularly if it involves public hearings.“There have already been too many public hearings,” said Eastler. “We know what we’re going to hear. A bunch of the same old, same old.”

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/03/21/politics/citizen-board-overtu...

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Comment by Martha thacker on March 25, 2013 at 9:18am

1) A lawsuit in itself would instigate publicity. First Wind goes to great lengths to look like they are helping communities and winning  their support. Negative publicity is even mentioned in their SEC reports under risk factors, I think. Winning support was recommended by the PR firm that they hired. The positive aspect of a lawsuit at this time is so many more people are aware and concerned than during Baldaci's term. The shortfalls in township budgets might win us some allies. Because First Wind does not see any need to keep their word.

2) I copied and pasted Lisa Linowe's recommendations for requirements in DC for wind farms to meet certain requirements before tax money is allocated. They are in this thread. LURC got more and more lax with requiring First Wind to show proof of financing..it wasn't as important with Stetson II and I am sure the rest of the wind farms prior to permitting. Of course , there was no place on the grid for wind farm power (even if they could produce it) . That seems so bizarre to me that we as citizens should have to push for it. Esp. since turbines have a 20 year life span. Since Stetson I was finished, 2008, there are  still no transmission lines to ship the power out of state. We did not need it here. Esp. since our electricity bills have gone up to pay for it. 

The man who headed MOFGA was in on the lawsuit against Monanto because of the way Maine farmers were being hurt by them. When he started his fight, it was quite uphill. That battle has become very big, the referendum in California could have been a deciding point. Somebody has to start. Why shouldn't it be US?

The truth is important to a lot of US. RICO is a conspiracy to defraud , right? We see the results every month in our power bills, etc. 

Comment by alice mckay barnett on March 25, 2013 at 8:32am

SO,  How do you fight that much money?  The truth is on our side.

Comment by Martha thacker on March 24, 2013 at 9:31pm

J Haynes got a cool million a year , after 5 years, for stetson I  and II..just a lease. ..according to someone who works for him..and he knew that after Stetson I was approved that Stetson II would be too. Not surprising the way LURC rammed Stetson II through. Mainers talk. Why wouldn't the land owners just love that . Same person said that one of the selectmen for Carroll bought land for unpaid taxes that a turbine was going to be located on..nice retirement account. Bribes bribes bribes

RICO

Comment by Martha thacker on March 23, 2013 at 7:50am

Alice McKay  Barnett

"BEP when you were asked at the Oakfield appeal if you all had experienced a WIND turbine in real life, some of you had not."

The people living around the Mars Hill wind farm said that the sound effects are not always the same. Barometric pressure, direction that the wind is blowing and location of dwelling all make a difference.Time of year is also a component.  I stood underneath a turbine in Mars Hill and did not hear anything. But I believe the people who complained. There must be solid evidence of sound effects or they would have never gotten a settlement.

State govt and First Wind notified the public of a hearing on the Stetson II windfarm in the back of Lincoln News with the divorce announcements etc. that nobody reads..In the US govt. vs. FERC hearing , MDEP had to get special intervenor status..evidently they were not notified in a timely manner.

Prior to the permitting of Stetson I, my neighbor called the numbers given to her by LURC for First Wind in Bangor and Mass. Nobody answered the phone and there was no answering service for this multi national corporation. When she finally got through , it was too late to file for intervenor status at the hearing. 

With Rollins and Stetson I, First Wind representatives made speeches for as long as they wanted. We, as citizens, were allowed 3 to 5 minutes with no answers for our questions. We were given the opportunity to ask questions at a private meeting with First Wind representatives. About 20 community members were there. Our questions about the Mars Hill wind farm and the impact of Stetson Mt on us were answered with "I don't know" or down right misrepresentation of truth.

So the deck is stacked against Mainers, on so many levels.  It is time for a lawsuit. RICO

 

Comment by Mike DiCenso on March 22, 2013 at 10:07am

Scenery experts are like movie critics. Their OPINIONS are just that.

Comment by Mike DiCenso on March 22, 2013 at 10:06am

Eastler doesn't like the "same old same old" from citizens trying to protect what they love?? What about the developer/lawyers who cite the same excuses to build the towers? Jobs (right, like they care), clean energy (if you don't count  carbon emissions building the turbines towers and trans. lines) , free wind( like any savings would ever be passed on to consumers) ad nauseum. Eastler is  pro wind no matter what the impact. Some people just do not care. Sadly sometimes these people are in positions where their vote can cause  lot of damage to Maine. 

Comment by Long Islander on March 22, 2013 at 9:35am

Alice McKay Barnett writes: "The straight, up and down staccato effect of the lines of turbines are in congruous to the curvy undulating horizon lines of the ponds ridges".

These hired gun scenery experts and bureaucrats with their rigged data are not the experts. If wind turbines are so beautiful, why do painters not paint them in their landscapes? Who has a better eye for aesthetics, painters or politicians?

Comment by alice mckay barnett on March 22, 2013 at 9:27am

What I heard at a BEP appeal hearing from the developer about Passadumkeag WIND project.

 

Saponac Pond = The developer spends four years working with the DEP and the residents got a small notice in the paper of a first public meeting.  Ten people attended the first meet and over one hundred people attended the second public meeting.

I heard data, data, data.  Questions from BEP  board were about the data.  The data was a survey of 29 users of  Saponac pond.  When 300 people come to a public meeting, DEP should count the meets response.  The Supreme Court judges read the responses from Saddleback Ridge Wind DEP public meeting.  The judges also read e-mails to the DEP.

Saponac, get on it, you have a 15 day window for public comment.  Do not tell the DEP you do not like WIND. Tell them you were not asked in the survey.  Tell them 29 responses does not add to 100’s of people traveling to a meeting.

BEP when you were asked at the Oakfield appeal if you all had experienced a WIND turbine in real life, some of you had not.

DEP and Commissioner Aho are to be commended for making a site visit and listening to hundreds of users express their distaste of PROMINENT 500 foot features (almost half the scale of the 1200’ Passadumkeag mountain) on the view shed of the pond. These PROMINENT features are on a prominent mountain surrounded by soft undulating foothills of the same height as the turbines.

The straight, up and down staccato effect of the lines of turbines are in congruous to the curvy undulating horizon lines of the ponds ridges.  People speak of glint or flash at certain times of the day/season.  The twirling flashes of the blades hypnotize you, if you will.  Yet they are mechanical and totally in harmonious with nature’s subtle change of light.  I have yet to hear BEP/DEP speak of the “red flashing lights” as an unreasonable adverse impact to the dark, night sky.

Comment by Whetstone_Willy on March 21, 2013 at 11:40pm

"The Eastlers still own about 15 acres on top of Mosher Hill behind their home, he said.

Wind speeds are used to calculate the amount of energy and money generated if a certain turbine were built at the site on Mosher Hill.

“Some people might look at this as a conflict of interest,” Eastler said, referring to his owning land on the hill, studying wind-energy profits at the site and being on the planning board that wrote a wind-energy ordinance."

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/UMF-professor-at-work-on-wind-st...

Comment by Mike DiCenso on March 21, 2013 at 11:05pm

The lawyer admitted wind turbines have an adverse impact. Of course, they do not think it is unreasonable. They are too greedy to care that they are ruining our  way of life and enjoyment of the lakes, not to mention slamming property values.  They should go back to Texas where there are no lakes worth mentioning.

 

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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