Nearshore wind wannabes at Maine Fishermen's Forum face grimly silent lobstermen, scallopers, shrimpers
"Principle Power", Daniel Cohen of New Jersey-based Fishermen's Energy, Neal Pettigrew of University of Maine, Addison Ames ofVinalhaven Electric Coop and Rob Snyder of Island Institute held forth in turn:
Listen to the speakers at the event.
Views: 163
Comment
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Comment by Charlie on March 8, 2010 at 12:10pm
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Like Maine, here in Michigan, there is a big push for wind farms on land and on the Lakes. My view is the folks with inland problems need to increase the number of NIMBYs to the largest number possible as fast as possible. The offshore issue is an easier path to understanding the problems of windmills. After some time thinking like a NIMBY most people realize the only safe way to deal with windmills is get 'em out of Dodge, otherwise every few months there will be yet another battle to fight.
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Comment by Ron Huber on March 7, 2010 at 10:29pm
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Yes to your legislator. Also write/call to Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree hannah@pingree.com, Senator Dennis Damon , and Representative Leila Percy leilapercy@yahoo.com co-chairs of the Marine Resources Committee.
Email to Kristen Gottlieb the clerk of the Utility /Energy Committee Kristen.Gottlieb@legislature.maine.gov Ask her to forward your email to the committee members
Also send it to Marianne MacMaster clerk of the Marine Resources Committee Marianne.MacMaster@legislature.maine.gov
The key points: The bill LD 1810 should be held over until next session. It has enormous consequences for maine's fisheries that have no be examined. It's a complicated bill introduced near the end of the session. Legislators haven't had time to figure it out, fishermen haven't had a chance to review it, nor the windjammers and shore resort people etc all the water dependent industries. Even the Ocean Energy Task Force members, never saw the bill before Saturday the 6th afternoon.
* The Utilities and Energy Committee doesn't know anything about fishery issues, sailing issues that this bill would so massively impact.
* A huge fiscal note should be attached, due to the millions that towns would have to come up with somehow as fishermen and other marine resource users lose access and fees and taxes from them decline.
The bill should be held over to next session and run by the Marine Resources Committee and the marine resource user communities, before allowing such a long term massive change to occur by leasing away the nearshore waters to the energy industry.
So, please hold up the bill LD 1810, let the natural resource users that fish and sail upon those waters take a crack at the bill before its brought to hearing. THEY WERE NOT CONSULTED. It may have gone behind the scenes to the Maine Lobstermen's Association, but that's not remotely representative.
Mix and match those and the other ideas that have come up during discussion of this bill on this wonderful windtaskforce.org list.
Be polite as pie and firm as rock and you'll get through to them
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Comment by Lisa Lindsay on March 7, 2010 at 7:17pm
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Would like to help on the scene. Not possible logistically. Who do I write? Tom Saviello is the rep for my town. He has shown some concern for inland wind projects but I don't know about ocean. Shall we all write/call to our own state reps?
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Good points Art. I'd rather derail the bill on Thursday than go through the nightmares that people afflicted by windmills on land are going through. Going to take a bit of finesse and crudity simultaneously. Anybody wanna be on TV? Its time to picket the Island Institute - they're up their their ears in this scam. The media will love it! Convenient and easy to protest in front of their 4 story monstrosity and across Main Street in front of the ice cream shop and the Thorndike apts. I've got a nice power megaphone that will get through their their windows just fine. Anyone? Tuesday and Wednesday just an hour each day More if you like to keep it up. let me know.
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Comment by Art Brigades on March 7, 2010 at 6:29pm
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They are calling the bill an emergency, which means it needs 2/3 approval in the Senate and House. It is very much an amendment to the bill they zipped through two years ago in 15 days...the one that "expedited" most of the land in Maine. Now they're grabbing the ocean with the same timetable in mind. The legislature has a month before adjournment.
Hubris. Again.
Like that 2007 bill, this one has as its rationale "gasoline and heating oil prices...over reliance on fossil fuels...climate change...GHG...significant economic opportunities...world class deep water wind resources with the potential to meet the full range of our energy needs, such as lighting and power for appliances, heat for homes, and fuel for our cars...(remember this next one?) ...recommendations to overcome obstacles and provide economic incentives for vigorous development of ocean renewables..."
Overcome obstacles!!
Like the people, maybe. Are we going to fall for that again???
Ever mess with a lobsterman's gear before?
The wind weasels actually have a new trick this time. This one is as blatantly authoritarian as anything yet. Practically marshall law. You know how ticked off they are at those uppity people in Dixmont and Jackson, and other towns where this is still considered a Home Rule State, per Article 8 of the Maine Constitution??? Well Part G of the new bill explicitly says this:
"A municipality may not enact or enforce a zoning ordinance that prohibits siting of renewable ocean energy projects...A municipality may not enact or enforce any land use standard or other requirement...that is more restrictive than (this law)..."
The State is allowed by law to trump home rule regarding land use when "the project is necessary to protect the public health, welfare or environment."
That must be the reason.
The dates in the bill call for wind (and other ocean renewable energies) to start getting busy real fast. Of course, technology will take time. This most certainly needs gazillions more of $ubsidies to get going. Maybe some private investor will decide to take it on alone, but seriously, folks.
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I knew a number of the non-fisherman folks there in the audience at the meeting: They had this dumbfounded "help!" look in their eyes: a marine science writer, a Seagrant Coop Extension longtimer, grassroots fisheries activists and fisher-activists, others like refugees from the sold out eco-yuppy outfits: Sierra Club, Maine Audubon, NRCM, Island Institute. And all the time, the sh*tstorm pounding of our legislators and the Maine Lobstermen's Association by the windenergy corporations PR firm hirelings continues unabated." What are we against such forces?" The fishery people are crying out.
Now is the time to respond to that SOS. That coming meeting Thursday of the Untilities and Energy Committee will be the most significant hearing for the future of the natural Gulf of Maine in the 21st century. It wouldn't hurt ifMaine Audubon's and NRCM's HQ had pickets several days a running, and importantly, ditto for the maine lobstermen's association office - not people's homes, please.
We do this on Tuesday and/or Wednesday, that Thursday hearing could have a heckuva lot different outcome. Send me a message if you can take part. or email me at ron.huber@penbay.org Need fish & bird masks and/or costumes, a feather pillow or two could be helpful too in a skit.
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Gee, they make it sound so FUN! And NEAT! I couldn't listen to the whole thing, to be honest. Makes me sick to hear people who are supposed to be working for us, delivering such bad tidings with a laugh and a smile and a "we're all in this together."
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Again, it's not always what they say, it's what they DON'T say. Where are the concerns about navigation? The US Coast Guard's final report to Cape Wind was full of concerns about how an array of turbines interferes with navigational radar, and that this could not only impede fishermen's ability to 'see' each other if one boat is inside or on the other side of the turbine field, but could also impede the Coast Guard's search and rescue efforts, even in coastal waters. They had even more concerns for recreational boaters! Also, the report mentioned concerns about the turbine oil (over 200 gallons per turbine) pollution - as any motor does, turbines leak oil. What effect will this have on fisheries? Would any of us be allowed to store 200-250 gallons X 50 (turbines) out in shallow waters where shellfish, rockweed, and wildlife occur? The fishermen only stand to lose, lose, lose, and so do the citizens of Maine, unless you are one of the money-grubbing politicos. Anyone who supports shallow/coastal water wind energy development has not gotten all the facts! I support deepwater wind, but the governor's office seems to have lost their enthusiasm for it since they can't make big bucks right away. makes me sick.... Neptune wind will be among the first to put a 40-50 turbine commercial field up in mid-coast Maine's shallow waters, right where there are big herring spawning grounds...that will surely impact fisheries.....each turbine has to be about 1/2 to 3/4 mile apart - do the math - that's a big 'footprint'!
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Do not listen to your thoughts...Aieeeee! Resistance is futile.
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Comment by Long Islander on March 7, 2010 at 12:26am
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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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