Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Maine faces new 'Closing of the Commons." State's fishery agency "caught with its pants down."

Maine faces new 'Closing of the Commons'. State's fishery agency "caught with its pants down."

by Ron Huber, Penobscot Bay Watch 207-691-7485
Wind industry-backed bill would stimulate massive leasing of Maine's fish-rich nearshore coastal waters to energy companies.

Augusta.
Beleaguered Maine scallopers, groundfishermen and shrimp harvesters
face financial ruin as a tiny state public lands agency looks to become a political powerhouse by leasing Maine's commercial fishing grounds out from under them.

While the state's marine resource agency is poised to shrug, Some fishermen ponder the alternative of local communities leasing their own waters and support modest wind, tide and solar projects for local use, instead of becoming an appendage of the National Grid

On Thursday March 11th at 1pm , LD 1810 " An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Governor's Ocean Energy Task Force" will come before the Maine legislature's Utilities and Energy Committee in Room 211, Cross Building.

The bill would authorize the Maine Department of Conservation's Submerged Lands Program to:

* Offer 30 year wind energy leases of the state's submerged marine lands to wind energy industry investors.Lobster grounds, scalloping zones, shrimp and urchin grounds, cod spawning areas, halibut holes, would all be opened to windmill companies leasing by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, which stands to gain millions of dollars in fees leasing thousands of acres of nearshore Maine waters.

* Ban commercial fishing within the wind leases of any gear that wind industry insurers deem risky to wind farm's underwater cables and structures.

* Allow wind companies to use eminent domain on shoreline and inland property owners to allow the industry to cut powerline and tower rights of way through private land to connect the offshore developers to the national grid.

* Allows nearshore windfarms to degrade local scenic values without penalty or need to compensate other users for lost value.

* Forbid coastal towns from assessing property taxes on wind turbines or related equipment and facilities in the municipalities' waters that are "below the mean low-water line on waters subject to tidal influence."

* Forbid Maine citizens from filing appeals of Maine DEP windmill project decisions to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection.

* Forbid the Maine Board of Environmental Protection from assuming jurisdiction over Maine Department of Protection windmill applications.

FISHERMENS' FORUM FURY While Maine Marine Resources chief George Lapointe has expressed dismay about the plan, he wants fishermen to weather the corporate storm by giving up fishing grounds. At the March 6th wind energy seminar at the Maine Fishermen's Forum, Commissioner Lapointe noted that the ocean wind industry in Europe bans fishermen operating their boats and gear inside their 'exclusion zones'.

"If their windfarm is 5 miles by 5 miles, no fishermen are allowed in there." he said.

"It's a huge issue for their insurance companies," Lapointe said. "You've got the structures generating the wind connected by cables and then to shore. The impacts of gear on that is clearly a big issue."

He suggested the developers interested in Maine waters will require the same. "We know that is a component," he said. "Prepare to share."

"The key is how we share." he advised the roomful of grim-faced fishermen at the wind industry seminar, but then admitted "there's no direct compensation" [for fishermen in the bill] While admitting it was "an accelerated process" Lapointe insisted the bill is "still going to give time for people to work on real issues ."

The panelists repeatedly declined, however, to answer a key question that arose among the stunned fishing industry and conservationists there: while the wind industry spoke glowingly of the megawatts of energy for Maine and the world, how many turbines does the industry plan to install in Maine coastal waters to reach the state goal of 300 megawatts by 2020? How many towers to reach the bill's 5,000 megawatt goal for 2030? Silence from the front table.

Tellingly, neither Lapointe nor any of the other wind industry and agency people speaking at the seminar received a single clap of applause following their presentations. This break from traditional civility at the Forum reflected the mood of fishermen who had just been shown maps superimposing enormous windfarm leasing areas over their traditional shrimp, scallop and groundfishing areas. "DMR was really caught with its pants down," one meeting participant said.

Fishermen and grassroots environmentalists have appealed to the Legislature to either send the bill over to the Marine Resources Committee and/or hold thebill over to next year or both. "Let's hope Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree and other coastal legislators stand up for their constituents," one coastal activist said. "The Department of Conservation certainly won't."

In the meantime, critics of LD 1811 said, priorities should include developing model ordinances for coastal towns and attempting to have Maine's commercial fishing fleets delineate windmill siting areas acceptable to their industry. If there are any.

"Most disturbing to me" one scalloper noted, " is the section on the "Renewable Ocean Energy Trust". Proceeds from offshore leases go into this trust and then are disbursed to the DMR for research and monitoring. This will be millions of dollars put into an organization that is not trust-worthy, unresponsive to the needs and desires of traditionalcoastal communities, and a bureaucratic mess largely under the influence of the Federal government and private non-profits."

--
For more information, contact
Ron Huber
POB 1871
Rockland Maine 04841
e: coastwatch@gmail.com
tel: 207-691-7485
web: www.penbay.org

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Comment by Martha Thacker on March 10, 2010 at 9:12pm: Politics makes strange bedfellows. I am glad. Lamar Alexander from Tenn. has been outspoken against the green movement. And against Cap and Trade. Appreciate help, no matter where it comes from in getting the truth out. So maybe if somebody has some credentials or something to get Rush's attention...or is good at pitching a story. He just might go for it since Gov. Baldaci is democratic. Rush has a lot of listeners. Good idea!

I am not against the green movement. But it has been co-opted for corporations to make money off the backs of US. Not really something that has grabbed my interest like a lot of other issues.

Comment by Charlie on March 10, 2010 at 9:08pm: On flat farmland the common spacing standard it 60 acres per MW. 5000 mw * 60 acres = 300,000 acres / 640 acres = 468 square miles of water reserved for 5000 mw of turbines. How many fishermen does that much area support? How many people does it feed? How much is the catch worth? How much tourist business does it support?

Comment by Martha Thacker on March 10, 2010 at 8:34pm: As far as the ME newspapers not covering anything related to problems with the wind industry or our own problems with them, this is following a national trend. Transcribing for govt. and corporations. Subscriptions are way way down. The NY Times is hanging on for dear life.

Still, this would make a great national story. I have tried many times to interest Democracy Now in it. Someone in the Mars Hill area has also. Anybody have a connection to national news agencies?

Comment by Ron Huber on March 10, 2010 at 8:33pm: I've got a ride from rockland with friends going there and elsewhere. The coffin is about 5 1/2 feet long and about 24 inches wide. Has handles and opens and shuts. Mde of wood, pretty light. but sturdy

Comment by Martha Thacker on March 10, 2010 at 8:28pm: I found it very interesting that when the wind farm corporations put their off shore testing monitors in the ocean, the fishermen complained...the ME AG started investigating the fishing industry for price fixing. I do not remember our AG office ever investigating anything else. Does ME state govt. work for the wind industry or it's citizens?

All complaints to their office of wind farm industry complaints , as far as I know , have been denied.

Comment by Joanne Moore on March 10, 2010 at 8:27pm: Ron, Are you going to be able to get to Augusta? How long is the coffin?

Comment by Ron Huber on March 10, 2010 at 8:26pm: Eeewwwwww. That's just what Baldacci is trying to pull

Comment by Whetstone_Willy on March 10, 2010 at 8:17pm: Prepare to share, my subjects.

Comment by Ron Huber on March 10, 2010 at 8:09pm: Great graphic - thanks!
Don't know about the fishing _ I know each would have a 'no-go zone about the turbine tower but beyond that, don't know. The first time someone bangs into one and is injured, they'll probably close them off to reacreational fishing

Comment by Charlie on March 10, 2010 at 8:06pm: Nice work Ron and I especially like that graphic you finish with. I'm going to pass this along to folks here in Michigan facing off against the wind guys. Would the offshore wind farms put limits on non commercial fishing or recreational use of the water?

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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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