NEWS FLASH: Legislature Sustains Gov's Veto of Justin Alfond's Wind Lobby Bill

In an extraordinarily well deserved rebuke to Senate President Justin Alfond, his fellow legislators supported Governor LePage's killing of Alfond's special interest bill which was shamelessly written by and for the wind industry at the expense of citizens.

The vote was along party lines. Kudos to the Republicans and shame on the Dems and Dick Woodbury.

See:

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?LD=1750&...

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?LD=1750&...

MAY DAY MAYDAY: Governor LePage's Veto of Senate President Alfond's Wind Lobby Bill may be debated today

STATE OF MAINE 126TH LEGISLATURE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

29 April 2014

The 126th Legislature of the State of Maine State House
Augusta, ME

Dear Honorable Members of the 126th Legislature:

Under the authority vested in me by Article IV, Part Third, Section 2 of the Constitution of the State of Maine, I am hereby vetoing LD 1750, “An Act To Establish Submission Requirements for Wind Energy through Rulemaking.”

The legislation circuitously attempts to restrict the ability of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from requesting additional information from wind developers for proposed projects. Apparently, the Legislature does not believe it would be helpful to understand how a wind project would help reduce energy prices, provide part-time as well as full-time jobs and have potentially detrimental environmental effects.

I disagree. It might have been controversial if the DEP required that projects demonstrate specific energy benefits or employment levels. That is not what DEP has requested. The DEP simply updated their submission requirements for applications for future applications and requested some pertinent questions. The Legislature has offered no valid reason to oppose these questions being asked of wind developers.

Wind development can have a dramatic effect on our entire State, but it is most acute on the local populations. Their voices should be enhanced in the permitting process, and providing information only informs the State of the pros and cons for development. The DEP’s request is a modest one in the context of a decision that will have implications for decades in rural communities.

For these reasons, I return LD 1750 unsigned and vetoed. I strongly urge the Legislature to sustain it.

Sincerely,

S/Paul R. LePage Governor 

 

Views: 433

Comment

You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!

Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Comment by Sherwin Start on May 3, 2014 at 7:37am

Its Obvious to me that the DEMS can only See the $$$$$ Aspects of Wind Development and non of of the other extremely important considerations that MUST be Taken into account for the Criteria of for and justifications for the SITING of wind Power Projects!Further it is also obvious that the Democratic Party of Maine  have been TOTALLY FOOLED by the Wind Development Industry-That Wind Power is the PREMIER Choice of Solving the "ALTERNATIVE ENERGY " Solution to SUPPOSEDLY low Cost-NON-Fossil Fuel Energy Choices! It is Also obvious that there is not one single member of the DEMS. can do any THINKING FOR and BY THemselves and as such are too SCARED to cross  PARTY Lines.

Comment by Sherwin Start on May 3, 2014 at 7:24am

OUTSTANDING GOV. LePAGE!! More Importantly is that the Fact that the PEOPLE that Live in and RESIDE in the UT-Are In Fact CITIZENS of The U.S.A. and The State of MAINE-with all the Rights and PRIVELIDGES That ALL Of the REST of the Citizens of The Rest of the U.S.A. and STATE of MAine are ENTITLED TO and and as such their VOICES /TESTIMONEY have a Right to be Enterded on the RECORD of ANY and ALL Proceedings that affect them in ANY and ALL WAYS!! They are U.S. Citizens Just Like EVEYONE Else and Have as Much to Say about ANYTHING as any other Citizen of this COUNTRY!!   

Comment by Mike DiCenso on May 2, 2014 at 11:03pm

I will send a rebuke to my fellow Dems for voting without any semblance of conscience. How can the whole voting block have such tunnel vision?

Comment by Monique Aniel Thurston on May 2, 2014 at 6:05pm

Who will deny, after this vote, that wind power is about ideology and politics, not science.  "The science is settled,  the consensus is clear", says Master Climatologists POTUS Barry Obama and Angus King.  What's really settled is that dirty politics controls wind power, not science.  Thank god our founding fathers established a system of checks and balances. 

Comment by Penny Gray on May 2, 2014 at 4:51pm

Good news!  Hard to believe any legislators would vote against their own citizens but the wind lobby seems to have brainwashed them?

Comment by K Campbell on May 2, 2014 at 3:08pm

I just checked the LD 1750 site and it says they voted on May 1st and that the veto was sustained. The override folks needed 24 votes and they only got 20.

Comment by Whetstone_Willy on May 1, 2014 at 7:58am


Industrial wind biting their fingernails in Maine


Industrial wind speculators, especially First Wind, will be on edge tomorrow because they’ll be trying to get the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) to reverse the DEP’s denial of the Bowers Wind Project. The BEP holding a public meeting tomorrow, Thursday, May 1, at the Augusta Civic Center, 9:00 AM.

http://www.friendsofmainesmountains.org/

 

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/

Not yet a member?

Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi 

Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!

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/

© 2024   Created by Webmaster.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service