Left and right vs. Industrial wind/Solar in the North Woods

I mailed this to the following publications, The County, Piscataquis Observer,Fiddlehead Focus,The Irregular on 11/22.

Piscataquis,Somerset and Aroostook counties are in danger of becoming the new Clean Energy Connect for solar and wind development. Irrespective of the developments themselves just how many miles of transmission lines ,clear cuts,wildlife habitat will be destroyed  but more importantly the entire unique character of the North Maine woods will be forever altered and lost for future generations.

It is quite one thing to have 15 Canadian  sugar sap houses and 100's of thousands of taps, miles and miles of collection lines on the Golden Road just 10 miles from the border. Let's now add  another swath of destruction and hundreds of miles of transmission lines . So,here we go again with RFP's(request for proposals )to the developers for a legislatively  mandated transmission corridor, no different from CMP's (NECEC )except for the corridors and substations to service multi hundreds of 600 foot windmills and 40,000 panel solar farms in the North Maine Woods.

This is where the political left and right should meet.  The Natural Resources Council of Maine, Audobon Society, Appalachian  Mountain Club, Sierra and all their sister organizations are going to run into recreational enthusiasts, Fishermen, Trappers, Hunters and preservationists. Now with the apparent defeat of CMP's high voltage transmission line are we going to turn round and destroy Maines last great natural asset?

I've been dead  against any development in the North Maine Woods.I hated what Roxanne Quimby accomplished with Katahdin Woods project. I would hope that since her impact is far more benign than the aforementioned Wind/Solar/ Substations/transmission lines criscrossing the Allagash region would be enough for herself and Jym St. Pierre to scream enough, but then again I wonder .  There is so much environmental hypocrisy that it is difficult to figure whose side you are on.

With the recent news of 85 percent increases in the supply side our monthly electrical bills,I'm beginning to wonder if any constituency (governmental,environmental including the public) has a clue how disastrous these projects would be in comparison to the 145 mile CMP transmission line. Only corrupt politicians, crony capitalists, developers, and souless corporate contractors will line their pockets with the subsidies and tax benefits provided by the rest of us.

As I have said many times, the root of all these failures goes back to at least 1998 when the legislature at the behest of Gov. Angus King forced the breakup up of our public utilities. The fix wasin because the insiders of CMP and Bangor Hydro got rich when FPL, now Nextera got CMP's dams and Emera, now Versant (City of Calgary Alberta) along with Brookfield,Canada own Bangor Hydro's dams. Yes, it is complicated until you just follow the  money from Angus King to Record Hill Wind then to the U.S. Senate to Gov. Baldacci's expedited wind law to becoming himself the vice-chairman of Avangrid, CMP's parent corporation. These are the  masters of self-aggrandizement, while the rest of us get the shaft.

Maine voters and ratepayers need to smarten up and pay attention to what has been done to them the name of good governance. Occasionally,disasters are arrested by a Governor like Paul LePage but then we resume our spiral down with the Socialists, who want public power as well as those who are trying to destroy our Lobster industry in favor of 300 Right Whaleswho have not been endangered by our precious industry

Maybe we are headed for the trash heap of Democratic experiments, but for me I will keep speaking in  defense of the Republic until we turn it around or fail.I fear but also hope  for our progeny, will have the chance to enjoy a  great  experience as have  I,   a thankful  American Patriot.

Dudley Gray

Rangeley Plantation