While Roxanne Quimby's national park proposal grabs the headlines, wind turbines are marching relentlessly across Maine, changing the character of Maine forever. Let's ask our legislators to put a moratorium on wind power in Maine until ALL the economic and environmental impacts are assessed. It is the legislature, not LURC, that has the power to halt the progression of wind turbines. I've contacted my legislators; please do the same. Read more...

Moratorium%20on%20wind.doc

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Comment by Merrylyn Sawyer on October 23, 2011 at 10:35pm

It appears to me that the Maine Legislature is not moved by stories of discomfort and sleepless nights by the people of Freedom and Vinalhaven and other tales of woes.  Perhaps the way to sway the members of the legislature is through the sheer impressive of numbers.  And with some effective photos.  We have a few less than 200 wind turbines on line in Maine right now.  The Energy Information Administration, an independent arm of the Department of Energy in our federal government, has posted figures of fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2010, in regard to federal subsidies, taxes, and R&D costs.  In FY 2007 these expenditures to wind companies by the federal government was zero.  In 2010, these expenditures totaled $5.3 billion.  Companies such as First Wind, TransCanada, Reliant, Independent, and all the others have been paid over five billion dollars.  That money is not coming to Maine.  For every kwh or MKH, the wind companies are receiving incredible subsidies.  Money is the one and only driver in this issue.  When Angus King speaks about green energy and the wave of the future and how there is not enough oil on three planets to meet our needs in the future, he is not speaking of his love of the Maine mountains.  He is dreaming of all the dough he and Rob Gardiner are going to be pocketing with their next wind project here in Maine. Can we translate this into something that will shake up the Maine legislators? 

I emailed every member of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee of the Maine Legislature this summer, enumerating all kinds of figures.  I mentioned that 200 turbines are supplying the equivalent of less than two percent of our power.  This is taken from a chart that the Wall Street Journal printed on March 31, 2011. You can access it by doing a search of "renewable energy by state". 

And the main point that disturbs me the most is the inadequacy of decommissioning details in all the applications coming before town fathers and before LURC.  I requested that LURC inform me of all the applications they have and all the decommissioning plans. I have not had a chance to visit their office yet, but I will get in there.  Kibby's decommissioning paragraph or paragraphs amounted to this:  Kibby would, after twenty years, remove the towers and the turbines and bring them to the base of the mountain. They would demolish the concrete bases.  Period.  Does this mean that the people of Eustis will have to find a way to get rid of these massive pieces of steel from the towers and turbines?  Does this mean that the concrete rubble will sit atop the mountains or be hauled down to the base and piled in a huge pile?  And it does not address the thousands and thousands of cubic yards of gravel hauled in to build roads, landing areas and substrate for bases.  I would like to make photocopies of every decommissioning plan and then rip them apart.  Will we be able to find these companies in twenty years when it is time to decommission the project?  And who are the policemen on this detail?  I feel that the decommissioning is something that if dissected and analyzed could scare the legislators enough to bring a halt to this massive destruction.  Anyone is welcome to go to LURC and request this information. They asked that I call them to make an appointment, so do not just barge in.  They were very kind and answered my questions and provided information so please do not be discourteous. That will get us nowhere.  I concur with the fact that we all need to contact our legislators about a moratorium.  Let's all do this.

Comment by alice mckay barnett on October 23, 2011 at 7:38pm
Monique,  Thank You for the recap...Paula, I will forward to my reps..
Comment by Monique Aniel Thurston on October 23, 2011 at 10:13am

Paula, welcome to  the  CTFWP .

Many  people here  agreed with the  approach of  a moratorium and  we  welcome  your  new  activism in  that direction,

Here  are few points of history concerning the  idea of  a  moratorium:

  • In  February 2009 , the  medical  staff  of the Rumford Community  Hospital requested a  moratorium to Governor Baldacci because of the  permitting  of  a wind  farm  in  Roxbury  and  the  growing  evidences  worldwide  and nationally of health  effects  due  to  wind  turbine specific noise.  
  • In March 2009  the  same  request  was  made  by the staff  of  the  Northern Maine Regional Medical Center in Fort Kent.
  • In February 2010 the CTFWP held a press conference  in Augusta, where they presented  to  the  media the testimony of Mainers suffering from the  effects of  turbine noise, in  Freedom, Mars hill and Vinalhaven, and  then  requested  another  moratorium  based  on these health effects.

Those  three  moratoriums were rejected by  the Baldacci administration a on the basis that there was no compelling evidence  of  deleterious health  effects of wind  turbine sound.

  • In December 2010 the  Partnership for  the  Preservation of  the Downeast Lakes  Watershed under the  leadership of  Kevin Gurrall requested  another moratorium to  Governor elect Paul Lepage. This  request  reflected  the concerns  of  the  Maine  Guides  Association and  Maine  sporting  Camps  association.  That moratorium request  was  rejected .
  • In April 2011, FMM and  CTFWP presented 12 bills to the legislature addressing the  many  problems with  industrial wind  power, one  of  those bills  contained  a  request  for  a  moratorium.  The  Utility, Energy and Technology Committee, under the chairmanship of Stacy Fitts  rejected that  request as  well.  Instead,  Rep Stacy fitts proposed  an amendment that set up a new study group to analyze the controversial aspects  of wind power  and  presenting their  conclusion  to  the  2012 legislature.  By that time  of  course  many  projects  would  be permitted.  
  • In September 2011,  a  year  after  the  CTFWP  gathered a citizen petition to inititate rulemaking on  wind turbine noise by the BEP  and after FMM presented the  testimony  of medical and  acoustical  experts and  the  testimony of maine wind turbine sufferers, and despite intense opposition from the wind industry, the  BEP agreed  to  change  the  nightime  noise regulations in Maine from 45 dBA  to 42 dBA  These changes to the rules must now be approved by the legislature in the upcoming session. 

       As the  body  of evidence  grows showing many  controversial aspects  of the current siting  of windpower ,  a moratorium is the  only  logical choice until  the  legislature repairs  the  wrongs of the  Expedited Wind Law of  2008.  

Monique  Aniel

co -chair of  the CTFWP ,   207  864  5423  

 

Comment by Brad Blake on October 23, 2011 at 3:29am
Paula, welcome to the CTFWP website. Great letter to the Legislators!

 

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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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

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Vince Lombardi 

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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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