Massachusetts: Renewable Energy Ethics Committee Needed ASAP

Renewable energy is solar, wind turbines, tidal power, geothermal and battery storage. Falmouth needs a Renewable Energy Ethics Board ASAP.

The Town of Falmouth has reached a point where a committee should be appointed to conduct a review of all the renewable energy programs.
Falmouth politics have become very aggressive, very tribal, and very partisan. Town politics is limited to a small number of people, but they happen to be the most politically active people in town.
Very rarely do you hear a Select Board member or other town board members recuse themselves from meetings involving renewable energy votes even though they advertise or work with renewable energy?
The Massachusetts Ethics Commission defines as a Selectman or other town board members, you are a "municipal employee" and are covered by the conflict of interest law.
The question is should board members who in private life work with renewable energy or represent developers and investors recuse themselves from voting on projects?
As an example of why Falmouth needs a renewable energy ethics committee: former Massachusetts State Senator Brian A. Joyce in December of 2017 was charged in a federal 113-count indictment some of which involve renewable energy and the insurance of energy projects. Brian Joyce also a longtime attorney "violated the public's trust" and "decided to take the path of greed" by using his political office for personal gain.
Former Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg who recently stepped aside over corruption is a staunch supporter of Joyce. Rosenberg helped Joyce in attaining his position as assistant majority leader and on influential committees some of which included renewable energy.
Falmouth was one of the first towns to follow the former Governor Deval Patrick 2000 megawatts of land based wind turbines by the year 2020. That agenda ended with former Massachusetts Speaker of the House Sal Dimasi the author of the Green Communities Act being sentenced to eight years in federal prison.
The Massachusetts Ethics Commission says state law "prohibits a municipal employee from participating as such an employee in a particular matter in which, to his knowledge, he/she has a financial interest."
The ethics commission looks at two reasons of how to violate the state's conflict of interest laws.One, he/she votes to know that he/she had a financial interest in the matter. Two, his/her vote to approve "would cause a reasonable person to think that the municipal employee acted with favoritism toward his tenant in performing his/her town board duties."
At some point in the near future, the registered voters of the Town of Falmouth should petition the town meeting to vote on an Article to vote on the following proposed Article:
To see if the Town shall vote to establish a renewable energy ethics committe which shall be elected by the town voters each year at the time of the Spring Election. This will be a three-member board and anyone serving on this board cannot have any dealings with the town from which they receive financial gain. Members of this board cannot serve on any other board elected or appointed.
The Renewable Energy Ethics Board will have the following responsibilities and powers. They can investigate any conduct which appears to be unethical or illegal. They can ask for the records from any town board which would include minutes of meetings, e-mails, letters, memos, maps and any other correspondence which is asked that pertains to their inquiry on renewable energy.
Furthermore, as representatives of the town, they can ask for the Attorney General to investigate any activity which through their inquiry they found to be illegal or in violation of the open meeting law. Furthermore, if they feel that a committee or member of a committee is operating in violation of the bylaws of the town they will contact that board and ask that immediate action to remedy the violation be taken.
Any citizen can file a complaint with the Renewable Energy Ethics Committee and if requested will be put on their agenda. The committee will determine within thirty days will determine what course of action if any will be taken regarding the complaint.
The Renewable Energy Ethics Committee will follow the rules of the State Ethics Commission.
The State Ethics Commission serves the public by fostering integrity in government. The independent agency provides free advice to all public employees on the conflict of interest law and civilly enforces this law.

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Comment by Paula D Kelso on January 7, 2018 at 7:41pm

Ha, ha. FOIA can be another frustration too if you're trying to get factual information from a government that doesn't want that info out to the public. Exorbitant fees, wait times, accidental screw ups, dealing with snotty people with no sense of conscientiously doing an ethical public service. Then of course the government that industriously enacts and enforces the right of developers to redact 'propritary' details.

Comment by Frank Haggerty on January 7, 2018 at 11:42am

Maine Sample FOIA Request


 

[Your Name]
[Street Address]
[City, ST ZIP Code]


[Date]


[Name of Custodian of Records]
[Title]
[Company Name]
[Street Address]
[City, ST ZIP Code]


Dear [custodian of records]:


Under the Maine Freedom of Access Act § 402 et seq., I am requesting an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of public records that [Describe the records or information sought with enough detail for the public agency to respond.  Be as specific as your knowledge of the available records will allow. But it is more important to describe the information you are seeking.]


If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $______.  However, I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of ___________ [Here, you can identify yourself as a representative of the news media if applicable and state that your request is related to news gathering purposes.]  This information is not being sought for commercial purposes.

 

If you intend to deny this request, I will expect to hear from you within the five business days mandated by law.  Also, if you expect a significant delay in responding to this request, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.


Thank you for considering my request.


Sincerely,


[Your Name]

[Your Phone number]


https://www.nfoic.org/maine-sample-foia-request

Comment by Paula D Kelso on January 7, 2018 at 10:29am

Well, here in Clifton, Maine, we had one of the Pisgah developers on the Select Board and he remained in his seat and participated in discussions of the project. He also went into an executive session with the town's attorney. The Board would not say one way or the other when I confronted them on whether anything having to do with Pisgah and the related lawsuit were discussed during the session. 

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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