Searsport Offshore Wind Port Meeting Scheduled for Nov. 18
By The Maine Wire
November 14, 2023
The following is a letter to the editor from Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport):
As a member of the Energy, Utilities, and Technology (EUT) committee, it is unfortunately customary to be expected to vote on legislation that comes before us with very little information provided.
LD 1895 “An Act Regarding the Procurement of Energy from Offshore Wind Resources”, sponsored by Sen. Mark Lawrence (D-York), is no exception.
We had no idea what the costs to ratepayers would be, what the environmental or economic impacts were (even though the sponsor admitted there would be an impact to Maine’s residential electric bills), if decommissioning planning and funding were in place, what the impacts to the local economy and culture were going to be, as well as impacts on property values and the noise, sound, and air pollution impact, etc.
In addition, the bill that was presented during the public hearing was very different from what was actually passed, due to various substantive amendments.
In reality, there was no public comment for the bill that passed the last day of the legislative session and has since become law.
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For those reasons, the actual stakeholders impacted by this bill are holding an informational meeting to voice concerns and to learn more about the proposed project.
The Searsport Offshore Wind Port Meeting will be held on November 18th at the Searsport Community Building from 9am-12pm. It be a time to hear from the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, and former energy advisor in the governor’s energy office, Jim Labrecque.
A Question & Answer session will follow their presentations.
Everyone is welcome to attend and learn more about this project and what it means for the Gulf of Maine.
That includes those who want the port on Sears Island, those who want the port on Mack Point, those who want the port anywhere but Searsport, and those who would like to see the project permanently discontinued.
It is not too late, but we cannot remain silent anymore.
It is high time we stop dividing ourselves among Rs and Ds if we want to protect our coast from permanent devastation and being ravished by a potential man-made ecological disaster.
Weblink:
https://www.themainewire.com/2023/11/searsport-offshore-wind-port-m...
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Comment
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Comment by Willem Post on November 15, 2023 at 10:43pm
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Legislators vote on a set of paragraphs that have no meaning to any of them, and the Governor signs the set of paragraphs into law?
Wow, the epitome of no-thinking wokeness?
You mean something open ended, that later will be used to authorize the implementation of all sorts of very expensive physical facilities, which may never be fully used; like a HUGE WHITE ELEPHANT?
At present, the whole world has about 150 MW of floating wind turbines
Impoverished Maine has a a law to have 3000 MW of floating wind turbines by 2040, for about $25 billion, plus a few $billion for on shore grid expansion/upgrading
No state or nation in the world, rich or poor, capitalist or socialist, has such a feel-good, fantasy goal!!
About 30% will be put up by private sources, who want to earn about 10% per year on their investment
About 70% will be put up by banks that will make loans at about 6.5% per year for 20 years
Just these two annual payments divided by the produced kWh/y, gives about 28 c/kWh, without subsidies
O&M, plus all other expenses is about 12 c/kWh, without subsidies
Total cost about 40 c/kWh, without subsidies, about 20 c/kWh with subsidies, the price at which the electricity would be sold to utilities
Such an electricity cost will impoverish Maine even more for future decades
Somewhere, a whole bunch of screws are loose
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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