Look at the testimony submitted on Jackson’s “Destroy Aroostook” bill
An Act To Require Prompt and Effective Use of the Renewable Energy Resources of Northern Maine
The Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program, referred to in this section as "the program," is established to remove obstacles to the use of and to promote development of the substantial renewable energy resources in northern Maine.
Governor Mills Nominates Energy and Utilities Expert for Public Utilities Commission
Patrick Scully, former CEO of Bernstein Shur, would bring decades of experience in Maine energy, municipal and utilities law to state utilities regulator
Governor Janet Mills today nominated Patrick Scully, a leading Maine energy and utilities expert who was most recently Chief Executive Officer of Bernstein Shur, to serve a six-year term on the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
Over his 36 years with Bernstein Shur, Scully was among Maine’s most knowledgeable attorneys in municipal, energy and utility regulations, with significant experience in the state’s burgeoning renewable energy sector, the issues and challenges facing Maine and its communities, and the important regulatory responsibilities of the PUC.
“Patrick Scully is among Maine’s most knowledgeable energy and utilities attorneys,” said Governor Mills. “His perspective and depth of experience will be a valuable asset to the Maine Public Utilities Commission as it pursues its mission to ensure the delivery of safe, reliable, and affordable utilities services to the people of Maine.”
“I am honored that Governor Mills has nominated me to the Maine Public Utilities Commission,”said Scully. “I am excited about the opportunity to use my experience to protect and serve the interests of consumers and utility ratepayers across Maine.”
Scully, 64, joined Bernstein Shur in 1984, was named CEO of the firm in January 2014, and retired at the end of 2019. He has degrees from Dartmouth College in biology and environmental studies and earned his law degree from University of Maine School of Law. Scully lives in Naples with his wife, Tory Ryden.
Scully’s nomination is subject to review by the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology and final confirmation by the Maine State Senate. If confirmed, Scully will replace PUC member R. Bruce Williamson, whose term ended in March.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission regulates electric, natural gas, water and telecommunications utilities to ensure Maine consumers have safe, adequate and reliable services and rates that are just and reasonable for consumers and utilities.
The Commission oversees emerging competitive markets for some of these services. The PUC’s three full-time Commissioners serve staggered terms of 6 years and make all final Commission decisions by public vote or action of the majority.
This is Governor Mills’ second nomination to the PUC. In May 2019, she nominated Phil Bartlett, former Chair of the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, to serve as Chair of the PUC.
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MEGOV/bulletins/2dcde7f
Oldie:
Wife of Attorney Who Represented First Wind Interviewed First Wind Attorney Hallie Gilman on WGAN
NextEra is blocking a major new Maine clean power transmission project
A major new transmission line intended to pipe carbon-free hydropower from Canada into the U.S. Northeast has met a powerful opponent: the world’s largest provider of renewable energy.
The 145-mile (233-kilometer), nearly $1 billion transmission line, known as New England Clean Energy Connect, broke ground in February after nearly three years of review by regulators. If completed, it would be able to import 1.2 gigawatts of electricity from the Canadian utility Hydro-Quebec. That’s enough to reduce carbon emissions in the region by 3.6 million metric tons a year, according to the project’s developer, Avangrid Inc., or about 12% compared to 2019 levels.
To an unfamiliar observer, it might seem that renewables giant NextEra Energy Inc., which supplies 22 gigawatts of clean electricity to homes and businesses in North America, would have an interest in increasing the availability of green power. However the company is also heavily invested in non-renewable energy and has a history of acting for its own benefit at the expense of the environment. More than half of NextEra’s energy-generating capacity come from nuclear reactors and plants that run on natural gas and other fossil fuels.
While the company has said little publicly about the transmission project, it’s been quietly financing a ballot initiative in Maine that could halt construction on conservation grounds. It also has yet to begin a mandatory upgrade at one of its facilities to support the surge of power onto the grid.
“Of course NextEra doesn’t want it,” said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at advocacy group Public Citizen. “They’ve got lots of power in the region that’s threatened.”
The project is an important part of President Joe Biden’s plan to eliminate carbon from the U.S. power system by 2035. That effort will require significantly boosting the use of clean energy, which will in turn require thousands of miles of new transmission lines to carry that energy around the country.
Though the new link will go through Maine, the power will mostly serve Massachusetts customers, lowering their monthly energy bills by as much as 4%, the developers say. NextEra’s New England assets include a nuclear facility and an oil-burning power plant, both of which would face increased competition from the influx of power. NextEra’s allies in the fight against the project include Calpine Corp. and Vistra Corp., each of which operates multiple natural gas plants in the region.
Vistra didn’t respond to requests for comment on the initiative to block the transmission line. Calpine spokesman Brett Kerr said that the company “supports the rights of Maine citizens to be heard and respects the fact that Maine voters have a constitutional right to decide on matters of statewide importance.”
Read the full article at:
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2021/05/24/nextera-is-blocking-a-ma...
Committee holds off decision on offshore wind ban
Credit: By Ethan Genter | Mount Desert Islander | May 24, 2021
AUGUSTA—The committee overseeing a local lawmaker’s bill that would ban offshore wind development held off on a decision on whether they felt it ought to pass or not last week.
Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) proposed a bill that would halt the state from permitting any offshore wind projects over concerns about the turbine’s effects on the environment and fishing industry.
The bill has been a lightning rod in Augusta and received more than 150 pieces of testimony.
Fishermen rallied behind the bill, saying there were too many unknowns and that the wind industry would wreak havoc on their livelihoods, while opponents said it would stunt the growing wind energy industry, hurt the state’s goal to fight climate change and signal that Maine was closed for business when it came to these kinds of projects.
Last week (May 18), the Committee on Energies, Utilities and Technology held a work session on the bill, where legislators heard from the Gov. Janet Mills’ energy office and from Faulkingham.
The committee was on the cusp of voting on the bill but ended up tabling it.
Faulkingham argued that the state, which is developing a “road map” for offshore wind development as it works on a wind turbine research array, should create the road map before starting planning on the array.
“What they are doing is picking cities and projects and using the road map to fill in the blanks,” he said. “The whole thing is out of control.”
Dan Burgess, with the energy office, said that the road map would advise on projects and there would be a collaborative process. The goal is to add to the economy with these opportunities, not displace other industries.
The committee appeared ready to vote “ought not to pass” on the bill during the remote hearing, garnering a motion and a second. But the committee never ended up voting on that motion and went into a 20-minute off-camera caucus. After reemerging, the committee voted to table the bill.
Read the full article at:
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2021/05/25/committee-holds-off-deci...
East Millinocket biochar production plant gets $800K boost from FAME
The total project cost is $5.6 million, and FAME’s contribution to the overall project will be 14%. Financing also includes a $2 million loan from Coastal Enterprises Inc., of which $800,000 will be financed by FAME and $400,000 will come from from the Maine Technology Institute. CEI will retain $800,000 and be lead lender.
SBC will begin manufacturing biochar this fall, after the pyrolactic kilns, which will be imported from Germany, are installed. The company will stockpile and source feedstock across the Penobscot Valley with local suppliers.
Read the full article:
https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/east-millinocket-biochar-productio...
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Comment by Dan McKay on May 26, 2021 at 5:55am
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The love and hate of CMP by our phony legislators :
EDP Renewables, Emera Maine and Central Maine Power advance Northern Maine wind
Release Date: 01-07-2015
Bangor, Maine - EDP Renewables (EDPR), Central Maine Power (CMP) and Emera Maine, a subsidiary of Emera Inc. (TSX:EMA), announced today they have reached agreements that will enable clean energy from a new wind project in northern Maine to reach southern Maine and New England. The agreements advance the first of several transmission projects CMP and Emera Maine are jointly pursuing to address transmission congestion issues affecting the overall development of renewable generation in the region.
The focus of the agreements is EDPR’s use of a portion of a key transmission corridor known as the Bridal Path, between Houlton and Haynesville in Aroostook County, Maine. Under the agreements, Emera Maine and CMP are providing EDPR with an option to purchase a portion of the Bridal Path corridor to develop a new transmission line, with Emera Maine and CMP having buy-back rights to purchase EDPR’s development in the corridor. The project is being advanced as part of the transmission infrastructure needed to deliver energy from EDPR’s Number Nine Wind Farm to the ISO-New England electric grid.
The Number Nine wind project, which is currently under development at a site west of Bridgewater, Maine, will have an installed capacity of 250 megawatts. EDPR already has contracts with electric utilities in Connecticut for the clean energy from the Number Nine Wind Farm, and is in the process of securing necessary permits and approvals for the project. The agreements with CMP and Emera Maine will allow EDPR to move forward in the coming weeks with a formal application to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
“Making use of an existing transmission corridor makes sense”, said Bill Whitlock, Executive Vice President at EDPR. “The Bridal Path corridor is ideal. It enables development of the wind farm and the economic benefits that it will bring to the local community, and makes environmental sense as well. We’re pleased CMP and Emera Maine are working with our company to make this happen.”
Last year, Emera Maine and CMP, a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, announced an agreement to work together on development of transmission solutions to enable cost effective collection of wind energy in northern Maine. The Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two companies is consistent with regional initiatives to diversify New England’s electricity generation portfolio, and is intended to facilitate improved access to new renewable energy in the North, where ISO New England has indicated further renewables development is challenged by transmission related limitations.
“The Houlton to Haynesville line and other transmission investments we are jointly assessing with CMP can create significant long term value for customers in Maine and the New England region”, stated Gerry Chasse, Emera Maine’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “Together these projects will address current and future transmission constraints, and create reliable and economic paths to market”.“Our companies have the corridors, the expertise, and the resources to create and deliver solutions for New England’s renewable energy goals”, said Sara Burns, CMP’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “These agreements among our companies allow EDPR to move ahead with a significant wind project, and are a key step toward an optimal transmission solution for the further development of northern Maine’s abundant energy resources”.
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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