First Wind is going to INVEST a billion in Maine? Hardly.

First Wind is going to invest a billion in themselves so that they can grab the Production Tax Credit, a lavishly generous subsidy that is the largest of all the "subsidy extenders" draining the national treasury. This will do nothing positive for Maine but will create many large negative impacts to Mainers' health, Maine's environment, Maine communities, tourism and electricity rates.

With each passing day, a larger and larger percentage of Mainers is becoming wise to this house of cards industry.

Maine DEP asks First Wind to prove financial capacity

The state wants assurances that the wind power developer has the money to finish four projects in Maine worth $1 billion.

By Tux Turkel tturkel@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

EXCERPTS:

AUGUSTA – The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is asking First Wind, Maine’s largest wind power developer, to prove that it has enough money to build four major projects that are in different stages of construction and permitting.

The request follows a Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruling last month that the state’s Public Utilities Commission erred when it approved a joint venture between First Wind and Emera Inc. of Nova Scotia, the energy company that owns two utilities in northern and eastern Maine. The projects that the DEP is scrutinizing had millions of dollars in financing from Emera, money that First Wind now can’t use.

The PUC is holding meetings to decide how to comply with the court’s ruling.

The DEP’s request affects four wind-energy projects: Oakfield Wind in Aroostook County, Hancock Wind in Hancock County, Bingham Wind in Somerset County, and Bowers Wind in Penobscot and Washington counties. Taken together, the projects could cost about $1 billion to build.

READ THE REST HERE:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine_DEP_asks_First_Wind_to_prove_...

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Must Read: All Eyes Should be on the First Wind – PUC Affair (The Maine Wire)

Clearly, Maine's PUC has not helped build trust in Maine's state government and has done more than its fair share in garnering Maine the distinction of having the second least trusted state government in the nation. *

Whether it's the Kurt Adams affair where their Chairman jumps to First Wind to become their director of transmission after laying the groundwork for wind-required transmission at $1.4 billion ratepayer expense over PUC staff objection, or their approval of the First Wind-Emera merger in violation of Maine law over PUC staff objection or David Littell's dual life as RGGI Vice Chair (now Treasurer)  and PUC Commissioner, the Maine PUC never ceases to disappoint.

All Eyes Should be on the First Wind – PUC Affair

EXCERPTS:

Now, almost two years later First Wind has a problem.

The Court decided.  It voided the deal because Maine law clearly says that utilities cannot own, control, or have interest in generation assets. Whether that law makes sense is a subject for another column, but its present effect is to send Maine’s biggest turbine installer into a tailspin.  Anyone concerned about the economy and the environment should be paying close attention.

With no more money from the Emera spigot, now First Wind is scampering in the Street like a drunkard desperately seeking a drink. The Boston developer, brainchild of former ENRON alumni Steve Vavrik, Paul Gaynor, and Michael Alvarez, this week announced that they have gotten consent from existing creditors to raise $75 million in junk bond financing from institutional high rollers (who might want to show a loss for the tax year).  If they can raise it, that money is a fraction of what they need to stay afloat, but it restores a pulse for a few weeks or months.

Please read the rest here:

http://www.themainewire.com/2014/04/eyes-wind-puc-affair/

* Maine second least trusted state in the nation:

Please see the accompanying article here:

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cnsnewscom-staff/north-dakota-m...

Speaking of trust, let's not forget:

‘F’ in national study means Maine ‘ripe’ for corruption

By: NAOMI SCHALIT, LANCE TAPLEY AND JOHN CHRISTIE | March 19, 2012

http://pinetreewatchdog.org/f-in-national-study-means-maine-ripe-fo...

and

Conflicts of interest run rampant in state legislatures

By: NICHOLAS KUSNETZ © THE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY | March 19, 2013

http://pinetreewatchdog.org/conflicts-of-interest-run-rampant-in-st...

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