March 18, 2021 by Sarah Hinckley
MOUNT DESERT — As Maine lobster fishermen are working to navigate regulations for the safety of right whales and the effects of global warming on the industry, they are now being asked to share their territory with wind turbines.
“There’s so many different reasons to oppose it,” said Jack Merrill, a resident of Mount Desert and a member of the Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-op who has made his living as a lobster fisherman for the last 45 years. “They’re humongous. They just dwarf everything we’ve ever seen on the water. Every time they come out with a new plan, they just keep getting bigger and bigger.”
In an effort to meet Maine’s requirement of 80 percent of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and the goal of 100 percent by 2050, there is a project being proposed to research offshore wind energy by installing up to 12 floating wind turbines in a 16-square-mile area, 20-40 miles off the coast.
To put that into perspective, the land area of Swan’s Island is 12 square miles.
Recently, fisherman Jason Joyce, a resident of Swan’s Island, circulated a petition in support of LD 101, a bill introduced before the Legislature this January that prohibits offshore wind energy development in the first three miles from shore, also called state waters.
“It prevents permitting of wind development in state waters and prevents permitting of cables/equipment from offshore wind development in federal waters from being installed in state waters as well,” Joyce wrote in an email to the Islander.
Wording in LD 101 states, under the bill, the term “offshore wind energy development project” includes community-based offshore wind energy projects, deep-water offshore wind energy pilot projects, offshore wind energy demonstration projects and offshore wind power projects, which are all categories of projects currently authorized by law.
Continue reading here:
https://www.mdislander.com/maine-news/waterfront/fishermen-oppose-o...
‘They aren’t used to losing’: wealthy New York enclave battles over offshore windfarm
............“It’s rare to have extreme objections to renewables,” said Sanya Carley, an Indiana University academic who has studied the issue. “There are pockets of resistance, though, and more so with offshore wind because it’s new. People haven’t had to confront the idea of seeing a turbine in the ocean before.”
Delaying any sort of project is easier, of course, if you have deep pockets, such is the case in Wainscott. State and federal approvals are still needed for the South Fork wind farm and further legal cases could push back the development further.
“My hope is that the Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott folds its tent and goes away,” said Mulligan, the pro-wind retired lawyer. “But some of these people have big bucks and they aren’t used to losing. So who knows.”
Read the full article here:
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2021/03/17/they-arent-used-to-losin...
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Comment
Mr. Capron, "Windy's" hate people that are logical!
We need more wind like we need a hole in our heads.
Wouldn't a couple small nuclear plants do a better job?
U.S. Sen Angus King
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 - 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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