Maine State Chamber of Commerce shills for wind turbines / LD 924
Aroostook clean energy means jobs and investmentApril 20, 2023
EXCERPTS
Ben Lucas is senior government relations specialist at the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.
For years, many companies have recognized and touted the immense renewable resource potential of Aroostook County. From biomass and hydropower to solar and wind, efforts have been made to harness the low-cost clean energy resources of The County and inject them into the existing regional power grid located near Bangor. Absent adequate upgrades to northern Maine’s electrical system, this dream has not materialized. Now is the time to turn those dreams to reality.
In spring 2021, the bipartisan leadership demonstrated by Senate President Troy Jackson and Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart led to the passage of LD 1710, the Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program. In late 2022, after issuing a request for proposals and administering a competitive procurement process, the Maine Public Utilities Commission selected a transmission developer (LS Power Grid Maine LLC) and a generation developer (Longroad Energy LLC) to build transmission and wind generation in order to cost effectively unlock The County’s clean energy potential.............................
...................This economic development and environmental initiative — benefiting all of Maine — has brought together a broad cross-section of supportive organizations, including business and environmental groups. For example, the Aroostook Partnership for Progress, the Maine Office of the Public Advocate, Governor’s Energy Office, Maine State Chamber of Commerce, Associated General Contractors of Maine, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine Audubon, Maine Conservation Voters, The Nature Conservancy and Conservation Law Foundation, to name a few.
In order for our state to experience the benefits of this effort, the first step is ensuring the grid upgrades receive legislative approval through the passage of LD 924. This is an important signal of support to send to the two companies selected to build their multi-billion dollar projects. Importantly, there will be ample opportunity for Mainers to participate in the local, state and federal permitting processes.
Time and time again we have contemplated ways to attract new investment, create jobs for Maine companies, and deliver new taxable value to municipalities, all in an environmentally sustainable manner. These two projects offer exactly that. We ask that Mainers stand with the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and many others and let your elected officials know that you strongly urge them to vote in support of LD 924 in order to deliver Maine-made energy that benefits Mainers.
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/04/20/opinion/opinion-contribu...
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Comment
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Comment by Willem Post on April 24, 2023 at 10:40pm
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The building of a $multi-billion electrical transmission infrastructure in desolate, forested areas of Northern Maine, with hardly any people, is advocated by various self-serving, shill entities and lobbyists, only because greedy wind and solar systems Owners, most of them out-of-state, want to ride Biden’s idiotic, deficit-spending, subsidy gravy train to supercharge their $multi-million tax shelters.
These Owners could not build their wind and solar systems without that freebie $multi-billion transmission system. These Owners should be require to pay for it themselves, because they would be the primary, if not the only, users.
All the wind and solar electricity would be sold at very high prices, c/kWh, to utilities in Massachusetts, to help them satisfy their state-mandated REC requirementsBut all the $multi-billion costs of the transmission infrastructure will be foisted onto MAINE ratepayers, taxpayers and added to already-bloated government debt.
The consolidation price is TEMPORARY JOBS.
No sane Mainer should fall for such a scam
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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