BATES – Conceptions and Constructions of Rurality: A Case Study on Wind Power Development in Maine
My research was aimed at understanding why people were in such strong opposition to the Bowers Mountain project.
http://scarab.bates.edu/envr_studies_theses/140/

FIRST WIND: Superior court justice upholds $13.6M verdict against wind power firms

 

Maine Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy on Friday denied motions filed by First Wind Holdings LLC and its four subsidiaries in response to last fall's $13.6 million verdict in favor of the Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative.

In a news release announcing the decision, the cooperative's lead trial lawyer, Sigmund Schutz of the Preti Flaherty LLP law firm, said Murphy "upheld the jury's verdict that the defendants [First Wind] had acted in bad faith."

http://www.mainebiz.biz/article/20170418/NEWS01/170419946

 

 

WalletHub study names Maine one of top 10 eco-friendliest states in the U.S.

Maine comes in sixth, with Vermont and Massachusetts (ugh) occupying the top spots. Maine’s high rating is attributed to these seven key metrics…….

http://hashtagmaine.bangordailynews.com/2017/04/18/the-internets/ma...

 

 

Global Greening in the New York Times (CO2 benefits contradict SCC)

https://www.masterresource.org/climate-benefits-agw/global-greening...

 

 

Paris Agreement: Remember Enron to Rio to Kyoto

“I am writing to urge you to attend the upcoming United Nations Conference on Environment and Development [‘Earth Summit’] scheduled for early June in Brazil and to support the concept of establishing a reasonable, non-binding, stabilization level of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.”

– Ken Lay [CEO, Enron Corp.] to George H. W. Bush, Letter of April 3, 1992.

https://www.masterresource.org/ken-lay-climate-change/paris-kyoto-e...

 

Analysis: Blue States May Be Green, But They Have Very Pricey Energy

 

The “greenest” U.S. states may be more environmentally friendly than their counterparts, but residents generally end up paying much higher electricity bills.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/19/analysis-blue-states-may-be-green...

 

Willem Post: Solar Energy, Battery Systems, and Grid Investments

Solar Systems Do Not Reduce High Voltage Grid Investments: The design of the capacity of a high voltage grid system is similar to the design of a highway system. The peak electric loads (equivalent to traffic during peak hours) are projected, for say 10 or 20 years, and the need for high voltage wires, poles and substations is determined and capital costs are estimated.

http://www.theenergycollective.com/willem-post/2402643/solar-energy...

 

Maine PUC releases 2015 renewable report

Maine energy regulators have released a report on the state's electricity renewable portfolio standard, presenting data from 2015.  The Maine Public Utilities Commission's Annual Report on New Renewable Resource Portfolio Requirement - Report for 2015 Activity [PDF] provides a look at Maine's renewables law, now in its tenth year on the books.  It may also inform legislative discussions later this spring about the future of Maine's renewable portfolio standard.

http://energypolicyupdate.blogspot.com/2017/04/maine-puc-releases-2...

 

 

Searsport: Tilting Towards Windmills

The crane platform, which will be paid for separately, is in the preliminary engineering phase. Construction will depend on whether Aqua Ventus, an offshore wind pilot project planned for an area 2.7 miles south of Monhegan Island, moves forward as planned. -

http://freepressonline.com/Content/Download-the-current-issue-as-a-...

 

 

LePage says he wants to put a cap on energy costs for industrial users

He also criticized the wind and solar industries, which he says are too heavily subsidized.

“Our willingness to spend money to special interests, it’s a political game,” he said.

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/20/lepage-says-he-wants-legislat...

 

UM Prof: Elimination of fossil fuels should top Maine's agenda

We need to protect the progress that we have made. The elimination of fossil fuels should be at the top of the agenda.

John Tjepkema is a professor emeritus in the School of Biology and Ecology at the University of Maine in Orono.

http://bangordailynews.com/2017/04/20/opinion/contributors/the-wood...

 

 

Rural electric drivers face ‘range anxiety’

It can take three hours to fully charge a car on the common “level 2” charger, which is like a clothes dryer outlet.

For Art Weaver and his wife, that means budgeting two to three hours each way for charging his Nissan Leaf on 100-mile trips from their home in New York’s Finger Lakes region to Rochester.

“Everyone thinks it’s a big deal – that you’re inevitably going to run out of electric fuel. It’s not true,” said Weaver, who lives near Ithaca. “It’s just that it can’t be a no-brainer activity anymore like finding a fossil fuel service station.”

For electric enthusiasts, the extra effort is more than balanced by the carbon-free country drives.

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/20/rural-electric-drivers-face-r...

 

FERC needs a quorum

The lack of a quorum since February has prevented FERC from making major decisions regarding applications for crucial infrastructure development and improvement across the energy sector. Natural gas pipeline construction and oil pipeline regulation and rates. Hydropower license applications. Rate proceedings. Staff can make some progress on these applications, but even if ready for FERC action too many now are already gathering dust in FERC offices and hearing rooms because only two commissioners are in place.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ferc-needs-a-quorum/article/2620826

 

 

Climate Realists Urge President Trump to Pull out of Suicidal, Expensive and Pointless Paris Agreement

And the $65 trillion, by the way, is a conservative estimate. This – according to calculations by Bjorn Lomborg – is the lower end estimate of how much it would cost the world if all the signatories of the Paris climate agreement stuck to their CO2 reduction commitments.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/21/delingpole-clima...

 

 

 

Report: Maine propping up unsustainable biomass power industry

Bob Cleaves, president and CEO of the Portland-based Biomass Power Association, took issue with the report, saying it is filled with “half-truths and misinformation.” Cleaves said the industry is vital to Maine’s economy because it provides jobs in economically devastated rural areas.

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/21/report-maine-propping-up-unsu...

 

UMaine System to consider environmental, social factors in making investments

Board of trustees member Karl Turner says the policy change will not necessarily eliminate fossil fuel holdings in the system's $287 million portfolio, but it 'will weed out the worst offenders.'

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/21/umaine-system-will-consider-e...

 

Investigation after Maine Reed & Reed crane operator killed at wind project site

The 15-turbine wind power project on Green Mountain National Forest land in Searsburg and Readsboro is overseen by Oregon-based developer Avangrid Renewables.

A spokesman for Avangrid, when reached by the Banner on Friday, directed an inquiry to the project's civil contractor, Reed & Reed Inc.

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/stories/vosha-investigating-after-c...

 

 

Previously Posted

 

Here's Something: The real threat is ‘Big Environment’ (The Forecaster)

 

Now, thanks to Big Environment and their powerful friends like U.S. Sen. Angus King, you see massive turbine blades placed atop huge concrete foundations that ruin the mountainous landscape. They’re just plain ugly, noisy, dangerous to birds and taint what makes Maine unique – unbridled wilderness.

If wind power worked, I might look past these sensory impacts. But it doesn’t, because wind, even massive arrays like the one on Mars Hill in eastern Maine, can’t provide enough electricity to make a meaningful dent in energy generation. To illustrate how feeble Maine’s wind capacity is, there would have to be 47 Mars Hill-sized wind farms in each and every county to offset the energy needs of just the homes in Maine; never mind commercial energy needs.

http://www.theforecaster.net/heres-something-the-real-threat-is-big...

 

Reed & Reed Buys Company That Builds Electrical Transmission Infrastructure

Parker said the acquisition made sense because Reed & Reed has been getting contracts for wind energy projects, and electrical transmission is a major component of any wind project.

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/17/maine-construction-firm-reed-...

 

 

UMAINE AND WIND POWER ADVOCATES ALARMED BY BILL TO MOVE MONHEGAN TEST SITE

The Energy Utilities and Technology Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the bill and the university will be among the groups testifying in opposition, according to Jake Ward, UMaine’s vice president for innovation and economic development.

https://bangordailynews.com/2017/04/18/energy/wind-power-advocates-...

 

 

Wind Energy Myths Spun By Lobbyists And Salesmen

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/wind-energy-myths-spun-...

 

 

 

U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100,000 people

“The windmills kill birds and the windmills need massive subsidies,” President Trump said in an interview with the New York Times shortly after his election last fall. “In other words, we’re subsidizing wind mills all over this country. I mean, for the most part they don’t work. I don’t think they work at all without subsidy, and that bothers me.”

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/19/u-s-wind-industry-now-employs...

 

 

Grassroots Rising: Paris Agreement is America Last, Taxpayer Last, and Consumer Last

Please send CEI’s https://cei.org/StopParisClimateTreaty to friends, family, colleagues, and others you know. Urge them to watch the video and to pass it along to others. For those on Twitter, the President’s handle is @realDonaldTrump.

https://www.masterresource.org/paris-climate-agreement/paris-last/

 

Portland councilors want city to use 100% clean energy by 2040

Thibodeau will formally announce the goal Thursday at a 1 p.m. news conference at City Hall, where he will be joined by councilors Belinda Ray and Jill Duson, Mayor Ethan Strimling and Glen Brand, the state director of the Sierra Club.

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/04/20/portland-councilors-want-city...

 

 

Despite fears over Clifton wind farm, no one has complained since it went up

Since the turbines went online on Dec. 17., no one has complained. “There has not been one complaint. Not one loud noise complaint, and not one bird kill,” said developer Paul Fuller...................

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/head-in-the-sand-report...

 

Anyone Notice This in The MSM News Lately?

Anybody notice this in the news of late?

It lends itself to the whole argument of the left and how they are corrupting our government and its policies. This NWO demand that we develop "alternative" energy plans when they are unreliable and unsustainable is part of the plan to divide us and defeat us.

"Communism for Kids" is a new book being published by MIT Press and written to indoctrinate our children into the mold of Marx and Stalin. This is the kind of thing that is coming out of the "Great" universities and schools in America.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/anyone-notice-this-in-t...

 

EXTOLLING THE VIRTUES OF SUBSIDY-FREE WIND - HA! (BDN)

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/extolling-the-virtues-o...

 

Maine man dead in accident at Reed & Reed wind site; Maine Press Omits Connection to Wind Power

One man is dead after the crane he was operating came into contact with high tension power lines at the Deerfield Wind project.....The wind project, which will include 15 new turbines in Searsburg and Readsboro as well as over five miles of new roads, is being overseen by developer Avangrid Renewables of Oregon. The civil contractor for the project is Reed and Reed Inc. of Woolwich, Maine.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/worker-from-windham-ele...

 

Earth Day Predictions That Failed - - - A few good laughs

It’s a prediction about a solution that never materialized. Don’t worry about the fact that we want to shut down fossil fuels and dirty coal, we were told, because there’s a bright new future from “Renewable Energy.”

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/earth-day-predictions-t...

 

Investigation after Maine Reed & Reed crane operator killed at wind project site

The 15-turbine wind power project on Green Mountain National Forest land in Searsburg and Readsboro is overseen by Oregon-based developer Avangrid Renewables.

A spokesman for Avangrid, when reached by the Banner on Friday, directed an inquiry to the project's civil contractor, Reed & Reed Inc.

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/stories/vosha-investigating-after-c...