Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

EPA strips Maine of $62 million solar grant

Published August 8, 2025 at 4:06 PM EDT

EXCERPTS

The Trump administration has stripped Maine of a $62 million grant to help low income households access solar power.

In a Thursday letter to the state, the Environmental Protection Agency said the recent Republican tax law, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, revoked the $7 billion "Solar for All" national grant program.

"Thus, any attempt to continue the program’s administration, in the absence of any authorizing legislation or appropriated funds for that purpose, is no longer legally permissible," the agency said.

But supporters of the national program claim it is being shut down illegally and will hurt Americans struggling with high electric bills.

"Canceling the program deprives Maine of access to affordable solar, energy storage, and the skilled electricians, installers, and construction workers needed to meet our energy and economic needs now and in the future," said Dan Burgess, director of the Maine Governor's Energy Office.................................

The Solar for All program was established in 2022 through the Inflation Reduction Act. The EPA made awards to 60 states and tribes through the program..............................................

https://www.mainepublic.org/climate/2025-08-08/epa-strips-maine-of-...

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Comment by Willem Post on Monday: Solar is totally wasteful in all of Maine, northern Vermont, northern Germany, the UK, Ireland, etc.

Without subsidies it would not exist

It is long overdue to correct an idiot course of action, instead of mindlessly poring money into a bottomless pit.

Comment by Steve Thurston on Saturday: Same thing in Vermont. My comment to a news article:
VT has more installed solar capacity per capital than any other state, yet the capacity factor for solar in VT the lowest of any other state due to short, mostly cloudy winter days. Another source of electricity is needed to cover the 86% of the time when solar panels in VT are producing nothing.

Biden’s IRA added $7 billion to the National debt to fund Solar for All. Every dollar spent subsidizing solar is a waste of money that could be spent more directly on the needs of low income Vermonters.

Most of the money in Solar for All goes to the solar developers in the form of lucrative tax credits and heavily discounted solar panels. VT ratepayers are left to provide the 20% discount on a few of their low income neighbor’s electric bills because the 20 year long term discount requirements in the Solar for All program are not covered in the 5 year limit of its implementation, which is meant to cover the construction period, not the long term reduced electric rate. The electric utilities will be required to reflect the discount on certain low income customers’ electric bills and spread the cost among all other ratepayers.

Trump is right to scrap this program.

Comment by Dan McKay on Saturday: This drives another nail into the coffin for the governors energy office who lived off federal funding last year.

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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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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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