Douglas Rooks: Now’s the time for a public power authority in Maine
As described last week, the Maine PUC issued a second request for proposals that would essentially allow other New England states to buy into Aroostook Wind on the same terms as Maine utilities. Giving away much of Maine’s most valuable renewable energy resource will be unacceptable to most Mainers, and we thus can’t rely on the PUC regulatory process to create maximum public benefits.
For that we need a public agency using tax-free bonds that significantly lower project costs, not to mention excluding the guaranteed profits CMP and other private utilities add to the mix.
It’s a big undertaking, but a necessary one. Aside from the ill-conceived 2023 takeover referendum, the Legislature has shown some interest. In 2022, Sen. Nicole Grohoski’s bill to create the Maine Generation Authority passed the House but failed in the Senate.
I prefer Power Authority of Maine or Maine Power Authority. Although new generating assets are the first order of business, a public financing agency should be able to make strategic investments in transmission and distribution, too.
An independent agency that’s publicly controlled can avoid other pitfalls. After Gov. Paul LePage blocked any incentives for solar generation, the Legislature took advantage of his absence in 2019 to provide subsidies that proved far more generous than needed to attract investment.
A brief gold rush ensured as solar arrays were built around the state, while the subsidies measurably drove up rates. Though since curtailed, other ratepayers are effectively subsidizing those with the wherewithal to invest in solar farms — not the kind of spare cash available to the average ratepayer.
Read the full article at https://www.pressherald.com/2026/03/05/nows-the-time-for-a-public-p...
*************************************
Fair Use Notice: This website may reproduce or have links to copyrighted material the use of which has not been expressly authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available, without profit, as part of our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, economic, scientific, and related issues. It is our understanding that this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided by law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Views: 5
Comment
-
Comment by Dan McKay 2 hours ago
-
Handing over a sophisticated technology-driven venture to politicians. What could go wrong?
Maine would be better off to revert to the vertically integrated system that relied on the engineers and business agents of CMP and Versant to determine the best generation for the buck and the best way to deliver this generation.
Right now Maine is headed down a path of total grid collapse brought about by ideas like Rooks. Solar and Wind are transitory with replacement periods at twenty years and the need of subsidies that double the cost and must go on infinitely.
Rook's investment strategy to makeover Maine into a vast landscape for wind and solar and hold other states as economic hostages by their own renewable aspirations will backfire, for common sense will prevail before long and it brings us back to engineers and business planners, something politicians that would control a Power Authority will never possess.
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/
Not yet a member?
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.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
-- Mahatma Gandhi
"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi
Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!
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/
© 2026 Created by Webmaster.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!
Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine