Maine lawmakers advance bill boosting offshore wind development
Maine Public | By Murray Carpenter
Published June 8, 2023 at 2:38 PM EDT
A legislative committee on Wednesday approved a bill to boost offshore wind power.
The measure sets a goal for the Public Utilities Commission to contract for 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy installed by 2040.
It has the support of a coalition of environmental groups. Eliza Donoghue, of Maine Audubon, says the threats posed by climate change are far greater than those posed by wind power. And she says the bill includes environmental safeguards.
"And those provisions include the requirement that there be plans for how these projects are going to avoid and minimize and mitigate impacts to wildlife, to fisheries, and to the marine environment," Donoghue says. "It also requires significant mitigation payments."
The bill also includes labor guarantees and incentives for wind developers to avoid the area used by most of Maine's lobster fleet that fishes in federal waters. And it includes language to ensure that tribal representatives are involved in the process.
The bill faces more votes in the House of Representatives and Senate.
https://www.mainepublic.org/climate/2023-06-08/lawmakers-advance-bi...
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Comment
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Comment by Willem Post on June 9, 2023 at 10:52am
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Audubon has become a whore that gets government money for spouting the official climate nonsense.
Wind and solar are the most destructive ways and most expensive ways to produce power in large quantities
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Comment by Dan McKay on June 9, 2023 at 5:15am
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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