Paula Moore in BDN: Maine wind industry has not been a success, contrary to Paul Williamson’s claim
Wind is not a success
It would be nice if ordinary citizens had the money to hire lobbying groups, as the corporate wind developers and forest landowners do. Then, we could pay lobbyists such as Paul Williamson of The Maine Ocean and Wind Industry Initiative to write letters to the editor for us (BDN, Nov. 13, “Wind energy success”) and lobby state and local governments.
The Maine wind industry has not been a success, contrary to Williamson’s claim. Maine’s inland wind is marginal at best, so wind developers seldom achieve more than 25 percent of their promised capacity. Paradoxically, developers profit through tax credits to build wind projects, not produce power. Taxpayers foot the bill for these tax credits and for the new transmission lines needed to get Maine’s skimpy wind power to population centers. And the kicker is that southern New England states purchase our wind power so they can bargain with renewable energy credits to continue burning fossil fuels in traditional power plants. So much for saving the planet with wind power.
As for the wind industry benefiting Maine’s rural economy, wind development usually also brings enormous community strife, turning neighbor against neighbor. Just ask residents of Mars Hill, Freedom, Vinalhaven, Carroll or Frankfort how wind development affected their communities. Rural areas will not benefit 20 years from now when turbines break down, and there is no money to pay developers to fix them — and no tourists who want to visit Maine’s industrial wasteland.
Paula Moore
Orono
http://bangordailynews.com/2014/11/15/opinion/letters/monday-nov-17...
Views: 201
Comment
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Comment by Martha thacker on November 17, 2014 at 6:14pm
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Paula , thank you for stating the obvious in a few words.
Some of the comments were equally good.
Way to go guys! Beat 'em at the voting booth. The way democracy is supposed to work.
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Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on November 16, 2014 at 2:59pm
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Thanks Paula
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Nice.... Though this green energy is produced from Black energy to allow the continued use of Black energy where the Green Money exists, this green energy may forever be in the red.... like blood money for the wildlife it will eventually have an effect upon. Or stress related deaths on the human level.
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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