Panel recommends rejecting Sears Island conservation bill
Maine Public | By Peter McGuire
Published March 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM EDT
Lawmakers on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee have voted 10-2 against supporting a measure to conserve Sears Island entirely.
The bill, from Rep. Reagan Paul, R-Winterport, would extend a conservation easement that covers three quarters of the state-owned island onto the remaining parcel, set aside for commercial development under a 2009 agreement.
But a majority of lawmakers said the bill would eliminate any future possibility for the state to build a port or other industrial facility on the island in Searsport.
"If we turn off the opportunity here we close a lot of doors and I'm just not there yet," said Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Scarborough.
Plans to develop a port at Sears Island have been proposed for decades, prompting fierce contest to preserve the land.
The latest concept, a specialized facility to support a nascent offshore wind power industry in Maine was launched by Governor Janet Mills last year. But the proposal failed to receive the substantial federal funding needed to advance.
Matt Burns, the transportation department's head of ports and freight, told lawmakers that without funding, the agency does not intend to pursue permits for the development.
The conservation bill attracted support from opponents of offshore wind power.
Continue at https://www.mainepublic.org/climate/2025-03-19/panel-recommends-rej...
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Comment
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Comment by Dan McKay on March 21, 2025 at 5:11am
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Keep an eye towards any "Emergency" bills from a legislator to advance funding for the destruction of Sears Island for offshore wind. It will probably be presented in the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
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Comment by Willem Post on March 20, 2025 at 2:34pm
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Here was a chance to close the door to awful developments of this more or less pristine island.
That door shoot be closed as soon as possible.
There will never be any offshore wind for at least the next two decades
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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