Running The Surveyors Off
I'm part of an organization called Clark Mountain Sanctuary which is a conservation organization that's an abutter to the power line corridor in Greene. I'm also here speaking generally as a concerned citizen. First, I want to say that I'm really honored to be speaking with my fellow citizens here in this room who have done such incredible research to learn about the issues, research that none of us are paid to do and it appears that the folks that are paid to do it may not actually be doing that research, so I want to honor the people in the room who are doing what others are paying others to do. I want to say that this whole model of economic development that's represented here by these power lines is a bankrupt model of economic development. We are talking about a continuation of a long tradition of what some people might call colonialism here in Maine. This is a tradition of Maine being a place where we generate things and we generate resources and we ship them out of state for the profit of large corporations and a small group of wealthy elite. And this continues that tradition quite well.
When I look at the name of this hearing, the power reliability hearing, and I learn we have learned earlier that that is actually directly from CMP's proposal, it sounds to me like you just took some of CMP's propaganda and turned it into the name of the public hearing, so that makes me wonder who you are actually working for. I mean it's not it's not too hard to see that this actually is about shipping power out of state and it's not just about reliability for the people of Maine. So again, we know who pays you, but who are you actually working for? I've been to a lot of public hearings. It's clear to me that public hearings are not are very rarely if ever actually public listenings. It's not a democratic process to have appointed commissioners make decisions and not be accountable to the citizens. I just want to be clear about that. And I want to remind people in this room that if we are going to create democracy in this situation, we need to organize and we need to organize outside this room and we need to apply pressure in all kinds of different ways. There's a sign up sheet out on the table for people who want to get involved in that process. And I also just want to end with a quick little story. After the revolutionary war, the great proprietors from Massachusetts claimed that they owned Maine. Meanwhile, all kinds of Mainers were settling down and doing hard work to create farms here. And when the great proprietors sent their surveyors to Maine communities to try to evict people so they could continue that process of colonialism, these farmers in Lewiston and Greene and Leeds and other towns all along this power line corridor organized. And in the middle of the night, they dressed up in costumes and they ran the surveyors off. And I want to suggest that if this process continues like the runaway train that it looks like it's going to be, that we might want to learn a little bit from our predecessors. Thank you.
Note: Copies of these PUC transcripts are on file in the "Documents" section of this website and can be easily downloaded.
Views: 117
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Comment by Art Brigades on January 21, 2010 at 9:49pm
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Miss Long Islander? Where did LI go?? Probably just on vacation. The best for sure.
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Comment by Martha Thacker on January 21, 2010 at 6:26pm
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I miss LongIslander. He was the best. Was he removed for being the best at what he did?
If the best aren't here , what are we left with? Same 'ol boring boring stuff.
If a group is actually making change , will they always be co opted in this day and time. cohoctonwindwatch seems to like smart people
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Comment by Whetstone_Willy on January 21, 2010 at 6:06pm
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"...if we are going to create democracy in this situation, we need to organize and we need to organize outside this room and we need to apply pressure in all kinds of different ways".
Yes - and those opposing the unnecessary transmission scam need to unite with those opposing the wind scam, both being inextricably related to each other.
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Comment by Long Islander on January 19, 2010 at 12:07am
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"The pro wind farmers knew what they were doing at Friends of Lincoln Lakes. I have never seen anything like it . And have read a lot of blogs. Never could understand why it was allowed to go on and eventually shut down the online discussion".
"Public integrity remains a top priority of my office and if dirty tricks are used to facilitate even clean-energy projects, my office will put a stop to it.” - NYS Attorney General Andrew Cuomo after serving subpoena on First Wind/UPC Wind
http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2008/jul/july15a_08.html
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It isn't censorship if people make comments just to disrupt. It is more like throwing out the trash not to allow it. All good blogs do it.It is showing respect to readers. Just like a newspaper would not print vile remarks out of respect to readers.
The pro wind farmers knew what they were doing at Friends of Lincoln Lakes. I have never seen anything like it . And have read a lot of blogs. Never could understand why it was allowed to go on and eventually shut down the online discussion.
Nobody likes to read the kind of comments that were on Friends of Lincoln Lakes.
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I agree completely. Nothing vile has appeared here. But is there a movement afoot to close this down? If pro-winders got on and began to be vile, would you would say let it happen, let the discourse go on? I hadn't thought of that. It would certainly be a shame if we had to resort to that but I think vileness is worthy of "censorship" if it's our forum. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
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Art...
I have never seen any criticism of personalities here or personal insults. The only uncivil discourse I have ever seen was from pro wind farmers on the Friends of Lincoln Lakes blog. They had to shut down comments because of the vile nature of their accusations. So now we are back at shutting this one down for what is the reason now?
Information sharing is vital. Anyone who wants to stop it is suspect to me. I have never seen disagreement on core issues. Just different ways of going about change which is part of the human condition.
Re. Haiti ..I read a great book on it. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.It is about the work of Dr. Paul Farmer there. He thinks the people are wonderful. A rifle stuck in your face does not always solve the problem.
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Hmmm. Good question, Martha.
Polite where possible...employing decorum....embracing disagreement yet refraining from disparagement....critical of a person's actions and ideas, but not of personalities....considerate of opposing views, even if agreement is impossible.... I don't know, Martha. It's probably like that definition of pornography: you know it when you see it. What do you think civil is? And do we need to worry about it here?
Those two links I posted below are civil throughout. Possibly too civil if Big Wind is as nasty there as it is here. I think the members on this site are almost always civil. And I don't see it devolving to a point where it is uncivil because this group is pretty strongly united. That said, we don't hesitate to speak plainly and to call out Big Wind and its supporters with heartfelt criticism. Only occasionally have personal insults been aired, and even they are not so offensive that we would need to filter, administer, or censor our submissions. Some of the spoofs that are posted are ingenius and poignant, like the political cartoon genre that has endured for two centuries. We're up against powerful and ruthless forces. We can't always be expected to let them abuse us because we're the ones with manners. People in Haiti today were crushing each others' skulls over a bottle of water. Those same people were probably quite civil with each other a week ago, but now they're desperate. Whole countries have been overthrown by desperate people who deemed their leaders to lead them the wrong way. Our Maine leaders are leading us asunder right now, in my opinion, aided and abetted by Washington. We will be desperate if our government doesn't start listening and acting. We might not "overthrow" Congress and the White House this year, but we sure as hell can overthrow Augusta. In a "civil" way, of course :-)
As someone here said: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to...."
Anyway, I made a suggestion a few weeks ago to re-configure our "front porch" page to be more simple and generally centered around our "About Us" info page. I think that makes a "civil" first impression, and it quickly identifies our MO, but still allows us to remain as frank as we want to be in pointing out scurrilous acts.
However they design it, the people and the content here are invigorating, informative, and effective.
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Art
Could you share with us your thoughts on just what constitutes civil discourse?
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Following is another citizen's testimony from the 11/24/08 PUC Public Witness Hearing in Lewiston regarding the so called Maine Power Reliability Program. These are the transmission lines that enable the wind farms in much of the state.
"I feel compelled to note my objection to this unseemly proposal to charge taxpayers and rate payers with the cost of its implementation. It is a proposal by elitists to expand beyond public needs Maine's share of power production and power transportation to benefit not only Maine corporate interests, but also interests in other New England jurisdictions and other states in our country and in Canada. It's a plan that has allowed elitists to influence the specific location of high tension lines to service large incineration plants. These facilities are illegal under LD 141 2006 through a faulty legislative procedure that precluded public commentary that would address proposals for incinerators that can generate hazardous air, ground and water pollution when they are allowed to burn hazardous waste, much of which is imported from other states. Maine arrested the public citizen who exposed that fraud and New Hampshire banned the incineration of demolition and construction hazardous waste which unfortunately Maine allows, so Maine is the willing trash repository for hazardous waste no one wants and Maine residents suffer the environmental consequences. Such environmental terror is foisted on us in order to maximize corporate profits and I resent these inappropriate threats to our health and our welfare. Such mistreatment of taxpayers is commonplace in Maine...May I suggest that as in Maine's as in Maine's arbitrary and capricious crime of poisoning its people with MTBE, your proposed expansion of the electric power grid in Maine and the unresolved health aspects of such a move are once again arbitrary and capricious capricious invasions of our peaceful communities and potential attacks on our collective health. One of the most insidious aspects of your power grid crime is the power grab and cover-up of your real reasons for the theft of our space, namely, to benefit your corporate friends. Your arrogant attack on the commonweal is naked, publicity publicly financed corporate terrorism. It does not befit your office of public responsibility. Please bring such activities to a halt. "
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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