Legislation to Improve the Expedited Wind Law Gets Slammed in a House Vote
After last month's public hearing, the original LD 1810, introduced by Governor Paul LePage thanks to Representative Joel Stetkis, was drastically overhauled in committee. Unfortunately, the House didn't even debate the minority report; they just voted to kill the bill outright.
This minority report of the committee simply would have given the DEP a little bit more opportunity to request a Visual Impact Assessment (VIA) when a wind project is proposed close to a Scenic Resource of State of National Significance.
A VIA is merely a test, a report commissioned by an independent consultant to help the DEP judge whether a project would have a high level of scenic impact on the special landmark.
According to DEP, every project in Maine has submitted a VIA as part of its application.
But today the Wind Lobby locked arms and did what they do: kill any changes to the Wind Act because it is so crucial to the Maine economy and environment. The disinformation and ignorance on display in the House "debate" today was shameful.
The bill goes to the Senate for another vote, where the minority report could pass. But even if it passes, unless the House reverses today's 36 vote margin of victory, the bill will die in non-concurrence between House & Senate.
Here is today's House roll call:
http://legislature.maine.gov/LawMakerWeb/rollcall.asp?ID=280067686&...
Views: 298
Comment
-
Comment by arthur qwenk on April 4, 2018 at 4:50pm
-
This is not a party issue , this is a fact versus fiction issue with the seasoning of ignorance and groupthink as the catalyst.
This is sad indeed for Maine if it is not stopped!
-
-
I write as an "outsider", an "observer" .. at 70+acres per MW a vote for wind guarantees further destruction of Rural Residential America in Maine based not on fact but, as stated, disinformation and ignorance and, I add, deference to "personal agendas and interests". The wind turbine agenda is based on greenwashed "vision" not fact; those who have "the vision" never back it up with the facts or guarantees just hope. Destruction and harm allowed in the name of "hope" .. hopefully, not.
-
-
Wind Turtbines need to be placed in Yarmouth , 2 miles off the coast.
Such hypocrites!
-
-
Many bought out pro wind republicans it seems, and a massive degree of ignorance on this issue.
-
Comment by Art Brigades on April 4, 2018 at 9:38am
-
Legislators say some imbecilic things into microphones, and this remark by Sanborn ranks right up there among the dumbest. Hers is the sort of critical thinking that used to get a person a job making clay pots, not making laws.
-
Comment by Long Islander on April 4, 2018 at 9:24am
-
Rep. Paul Stearns, a Guilford Republican, says he sees the scenic harm wind farms can do first hand.The porch of his camp on Piper Pond in Abbot is in the shadow of the Bingham wind plantation.
Local zoning, he points out, bars him from even adding to his own porch, “because it would dramatically change the way that camp fits into its natural surroundings. Yet my neighbor across the pond, six miles out, was able to put up 45-mile high towers, that spin occasionally when the wind blows. And I get to watch blinking red lights, at night. In unison."
http://mainepublic.org/post/maine-house-votes-no-lepages-proposed-c...
-
-
But Rep. Heather Sanborn, a Portland Democrat, argues that windmills are far from a blight on the landscape. She says they signify sustainable economic development for Maine."So when I see the wind turbines dotted along the ridges from the top of a ski area, to me they look like hope,” she says. “They look like hope we'll still have a tourism industry based on snow sports in 50 years, because we won't have so much global warming that it ceases to snow in Maine. They look like hope that we will have clean energy and clean water because we have renewable energy in our energy mix. And so to me, they look beautiful."
-
-
Republicans who voted "Yes" COREY of Windham HAGGAN of Hampden HANINGTON of Lincoln HARRINGTON of Sanford HERRICK of Paris JOHANSEN of Monticello LYFORD of Eddington PICKETT of Dixfield PIERCE of Dresden POULIOT of Augusta SIMMONS of Waldoboro STEWART of Presque Isle STROM of Pittsfield TUELL of East Machias Republicans who were absent CRAIG of Brewer FOLEY of Wells GILLWAY of Searsport SHERMAN of Hodgdon WARD of Dedham
-
Comment by Dan McKay on April 4, 2018 at 5:58am
-
The worst, manipulating chairman, the EUT Committee has ever appointed. Erect wind turbines on Beautiful Swans Island.
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/
© 2025 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