Comment
The incessant dribble about energy policy based on wind and solar is getting tiresome, not to mention, the drain it is having on our economy as money is taken from us to pay for it.
Watch Cote fumble his answer to a question about his 100% renewables idea in this gubernatorial debate at 42:25. http://wgme.com/news/local/democratic-gubernatorial-debate
An energy policy written by renewable energy lobbyists is currently mangling Maine one mountain at a time and now our fields are about to be carpeted with PV panels. A science based energy policy that treads lightly on the environment and protects Maine's woods, waters and wildlife has my vote.
The energy "plan" seems to be heavy on putting people to work installing solar panels. Sounds like 1930s era make-work stuff, paying men to dig ditches and then fill them in again. He wants to see Maine become an exporter of clean energy. Well, when it comes to clean energy from wind generation, that goal has already been reached. But over the last few years, as so-called "exports" (out of state Power Purchase Contracts) of wind have increased, so have Maine's "imports" of oil and coal generation from New Brunswick. After spending a couple billion on wind projects and about as much for the MPRP, Maine wind "exports" contributed about 1% of New England electricity last year. And if solar is a "solution" (to whatever the problem might be) then Maine would need over 4 million panels at a cost of $4 billion to generate enough solar "exports" to contribute 1% of New England's power. Symbolic and costly gestures are common in political campaigns, but campaign promises can become laws.
Clearly we have yet another politician who is in way over his head when it comes to energy policy. But in order to win a Democratic primary, he has to touch em all, as they say...that includes lighting a few candles at the altar of NRCM, Sierra, Acadia Center, et al. That is a problem, because if this guy who claims to be an "energy expert" gets elected - and he has a good chance - then he will perceive a mandate, and he will act accordingly. Remember Baldacci's grasp at a legacy, ruining rural Maine to get us out of Iraq and off oil?
Better for concerned citizens to intercede now, talking Cote off the ledge, where he's making a bed that he shouldn't sleep in. Go to his FB page and critique his "plan" so that he knows we no longer live in 2007 politics, where pretty much everybody thought wind energy was great. Maine has been through ten years of brutal lessons, and Cote needs to learn them now.
HIs assumption is that 'we' don't have 'clean energy'; and when compared to other states we have the cleanest 'energy' in the Nation. Sign a contract w/ Canada and we can go 100% renewable electric with hydro from Quebec and natural gas for local grids.
The fuels policy gets murky, since pushing the electric, CNG, or even hydrogen buttons will barely make a dent in the huge truck and legacy gas fleets; and the only real solution is to lower speed limits to cut emissions. Bike lanes are getting 'pushed back' in progressive states as car traffic thickens.
Besides this is all campaign fodder; Cote has not visibly supported a State Energy Office, whose legislation is pending because of partisan concerns which override his passion for 'clean energy'.
He's full of IT!
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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