Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Christopher Kessler of South Portland Moves to Shut Down Natural Gas Power Plants in Maine

Representative Kessler, a Democrat, and about to be termed out as a legislator has a going away present for Maine ratepayers.

He presented his plan in LD 2037 to the Environment and Natural Resource Committee.

First, consider how important natural gas power is important to Maine. The Chart below is how power is generated in Maine. Natural gas plants generated 45.8% of all electricity generated in Maine.

RGGI, which is the topic of LD 2037 caps emissions from 4 natural gas plants in Maine.

1. Westbrook Energy Center

2. Bucksport Generation. LLC

3. Rumford Power

4. Maine Independence Station

These four generators emitted 2,510,967 metric tons of C02 in 2024 and produced 6,399,000 megawatts of electricity.

Kessler's bill caps emissions according to following chart:

For the year 2027, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 2,065,595 tons
For the year 2028, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 1,807,395 tons
For the year 2029, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 1,549,196 tons
For the year 2030, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 1,290,997 tons
For the year 2031, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 1,032,797 tons
For the year 2032, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 774,598 tons.
For the year 2033, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 516,399 tons.
For the year 2034, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 442,627 tons.
For the year 2035, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 368,856 tons.
For the year 2036, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 295,085 tons.
For the year 2037 and each subsequent year, the base annual carbon dioxide emissions budget is 221,314 tons.

What is Kessler, the Environment and Natural Resource Committee and the Democrats of the Maine House of Representatives thinking?

Do they really think that wind, solar and batteries can replace natural gas production by reducing their output with arbitrary caps that will send the price of electricity soaring? The Maine DEP, the enforcers of these caps have penalties for exceeding the cap ;

Penalties for Exceeding the Cap:

Fines: If a plant fails to surrender enough allowances, they face significant daily fines, ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 per day, with higher minimums for intentional violations.

This is on top of payments that natural gas plants pay for each megawatt hour they produce from zero up to the cap.

So, for 2024 with an average cost applied per ton of emission of $22.09, Maine natural gas plants were charged 2,510,967 tons times $20.09 per ton equals $50,445,327. This charge is applied to the supply portion of monthly electric bills. ISO-NE reports that RGGI costs contributed just over $910 million( about 9% ) to wholesale energy costs which totaled $10.2 billion dollars.

This is a cost Maine ratepayers should not be paying and one simple bill to refund this RGGI money back to Maine ratepayers needs to be presented by a legislator, even if it is just to expose the disoriented and hapless Democrats, who will vote against it.

Kessler's bill is designed to shut down natural gas plants in Maine, plain and simple, yet there is no way to replace this generation as rapidly as these caps are being lowered.

Chris Wright of the Department of Energy who holds a position that directs FERC who directs ISO-NE issued an order that plants in New England must operate even if the C02 emitted exceeds RGGI Caps because of the Emergency Conditions brought about by the cold snap.

This RGGI program is a bust. The grown ups in charge will not comply with the shut down of natural gas plants. Something has to give. Governor Mills and the Democrats must surrender their ideology of climate change as most people in the nation are not buying it any longer. It is not AFFORDABLE!

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U.S. Sen Angus King

THE UNTOLD STORY OF RECORD HILL WIND

The Untold Story of Record Hill Wind, continued

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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Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

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

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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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