Merry Christmas from Your Friendly Neighborhood Wind Developer: Bribes in the Guise of Largesse?
From snowmobile clubs to fire departments to historical societies, and from fuel assistance funds to youth programs to libraries; the wind industry in Maine has a long history of spreading its money around the communities wherein it hopes to build grid-scale industrial wind facilities.
The latest example of a wind corporation’s ‘largesse’ here in Maine can be found in the River Valley. Patriot Renewables (PR) is the owner of controversial wind projects at Beaver Ridge in Freedom and Spruce Mountain in Woodstock. This same developer is hoping to build additional wind turbine developments in area communities, including Dixfield and Carthage. So it came as no surprise to read in the 12/21/2011 edition of the Sun Journal that Tom Carroll, PR’s project coordinator, was handing out hefty checks to local organizations.
http://www.sunjournal.com/news/business/2011/12/21/eleven-circles-r...
Still, I was stunned by the blatant nature of the largest contribution made last week. Eleven Circles, a youth action group, is no doubt a worthy recipient for a $10,000.00 donation. But the impartiality of Maine’s town governments and town officials is crucial as we watch communities struggle to remain cohesive through the process of writing ordinances and considering the development applications submitted by large and wealthy corporations. Should we not have serious questions when Patriot Renewables ‘supports’ a business owned by the daughter-in-law of a Dixfield town selectman?
Other area recipients of Patriot Renewables’ bounty were Ludden Library, the Webb River Snowmobile club, the Poodunk Snowmobile Club and the Carthage fuel assistance fund.
Corporations like to call this ‘being a good neighbor’. Patriot Renewables said they were looking to ‘help to fill a void in the area’.
Let’s not kid ourselves. First Wind, Patriot Renewables, Trans-Canada, Iberdrola and other wind developers looking to build facilities aren’t passing around tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars because they care about our youth, or our poor, or our winter recreation enthusiasts. They target communities which will be deciding whether or not to approve their development permits. The people of Dixfield and Carthage are being ‘romanced’, just as the citizens of Mars Hill, Danforth, Stratton, Woodstock and Lincoln were. If Dixfield and Carthage had already passed ordinances restricting the placement of industrial wind developments, the odds are that deserving non-profits in the area would not have been the beneficiaries of those much-needed donations.
A bribe is a bribe. Towns such as Dixfield and Carthage should design and institute ordinances that take into account the health, property values and quality of life of their citizens. Then they will see how quickly a wind developer decides that there are other towns which need a ‘good neighbor’ or have ‘voids’ to be filled.
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Comment
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Comment by alice mckay barnett on December 31, 2011 at 11:52am
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handbills could work freemont. any printers out there?
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Comment by freemont tibbetts on December 30, 2011 at 6:46am
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karen, So, the next question is how do we stop it ? We need to get an old printing press and go from their. Freemont Tibbetts, 37 Bruce Tibbetts dr. Dixfield Maine.
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Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on December 29, 2011 at 10:07am
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Exactly. And when the police are called they will either:
1. Have to stop the noise, which would be deadly ammo against the coming wind factory, or
2. Allow the noise so as not to create a double standard with the coming wind factory which would hopefully get people to focus on the coming disaster masquerading as a "hum of a refrigerator".
So who has an old pick up truck or a hot air baloon and some old speakers?
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Comment by Dan McKay on December 29, 2011 at 9:24am
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I recommend attaching speakers to a balloon, raising them to a height of 350 to 400 feet and blasting heavy metal rock music with accent on the bass portion. Set it at 105 decibels, which is the sound levels of turbine blades.
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Maybe we need to set up loudspeakers that accurately simulate the potentially coming wind power noise and play it all night near people's homes so that people can truly understand what they will end up having to endure if they decide to be apathetic.
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How has Patriot Renewables been able to sell electricity generated in Western Maine Mountains at a price of nearly 10 cents a kilowatt hour when the AWEA says the price of wind is in the range of 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt hour ?
Look at what is going on in Massachusetts where Patriot Renewables markets this electricity and Renewable Energy Credits ( RECs)
1. A Renewable Portfolio Standard in effect in Massachusetts that requires utilities to increase renewable generated electricity by 1% each year with no expiration date to this mandate,
2. A historical high price of electricity in Massachusetts compared to the rest of New England
3. A Cape Wind project with 18.7 cents per kilowatt costs looming.
4. A rebellion against wind projects from people in Massachusetts. ( His sneaky attempt to get 120 wind turbines in Buzzards Bay with help from friend and Speaker of the House, Sal DiMasi, was discovered just in time and consequently shot down )For a meager amount of less than a 1% of sales and subsidies allocated to benefit the people of host communities , including all the recent handouts, Patriot Renewables is set to receive some hefty profits. Easy money wears many disguises..
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Comment by Karen Bessey Pease on December 29, 2011 at 8:06am
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Hi sweetie.
So, the next question is... how do we stop it? The developers seem to have no qualms about blatantly offering bribes--and unfortunately, I don't think many locals think about the ramifications. They are thrilled to have the 'donation' and don't stop to question whether there are any strings attached, or even how it looks on the outside. And our own Legislature has sanctioned these payoffs. In any other circumstance, this would be illegal. It's time to put a stop to this practice, but how?
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Karen, You hit the nail right on head BIG TIME WITH GOOD OLD FASHION COMMON SENSE A ( BRIBE IS BRIBE ) ANY DAM WAY YOU AT IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Freemont Tibbetts , 37 Bruce Tibbetts dr. Dixfield Maine.
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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