State of Massachusetts: Maine Ratepayers Should Help Us Pay For Our Green Energy Mandates

Maine ratepayers have already helped fund the $1.4 Billion "CMP Upgrade" and would be forced to help fund more New England wind power transmission which could cost $20 to $30 billion more. Folks, we are out of money and when our businesses compete with those in other states that have not inflicted themselves with "mandates", the result is simply more economic strangulation. Voluntary economic strangulation conceived by and for the wind industry. It is a crime the gem of northern New England is being sacrificed for this essentially fraudulent feel good energy source at taxpayer expense. But now the ratepayer is being forced to purchase the getaway car.

NE States Debate Sharing Costs For New Power Lines

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EXCERPTS:

A rift has developed among New England states over who should pay for transmission lines needed to carry electricity from renewable energy projects.

The issue is whether ratepayers across the region should foot the bill for power lines needed for southern New England. The debate has pitted Vermont against some of the more populated states to our south.

Southern New England – in particular Massachusetts and Connecticut – needs more renewable generation to meet their clean-energy mandates.

The debate over who pays has centered on the concept of socializing costs. That’s the idea that all ratepayers should share the expense of projects that benefit society and the region as a whole. The cost of lines deemed necessary to keep the grid running reliably are now spread out across the region.

Proponents of socializing the cost of projects needed to meet a particular state’s renewable energy targets say the same logic should apply.

New England states are split on the issue. Opposing the automatic cost sharing for the new power lines are Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Officials from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine are in favor.

Barbara Kates-Garnick, is undersecretary for energy for Massachusetts. She said all the New England states should help pay, because the benefits – such as reaching greenhouse gas reduction goals – are shared regionally.

Please read the whole article here:

http://digital.vpr.net/post/ne-states-debate-sharing-costs-new-powe...

Related reading: http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/maine-electricity-rates...

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Comment by Hart Daley on November 17, 2013 at 5:29pm

When will this lunacy end? Our rates will double every two years for the foreseeable future? Insane!

Comment by Long Islander on November 14, 2013 at 1:35pm

One of the justifications for the CMP upgrade was population growth. But as can be seen at the following link, population growth for both Maine and New England is a non-factor. Population growth is just a smokescreen to conceal the fact that the CMP upgrade was built for one thing and one thing only - moving industrial wind electrons to Mass and Ct. The wind industry would have been dead without the new mega transmission as is the case wherever wind projects are built the world over. But enter into the picture PUC Chair Kurt Adams and the PUC commissioners (despite PUC staff reservations) and like magic, the ratepayer buys the transmission for the wind industry. This must have felt very satisfying for Mr. Adams when he left the PUC to become Director of Transmission for First Wind.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/what-s-all-the-fuss-abo...

Comment by Martha Thacker on November 14, 2013 at 12:56pm

MPUC members object to 1.4 billion dollar upgrades.

http://www.themainewire.com/2012/08/wind-power-agenda-fuels-cmp-inc...

With so many objections, one wonders why we have the 19% upgrade in rates.

I found these links by googling CMP and Bangor Hydro cost sharing for transmission lines.sorry for the typo below , I hate when that happens.

Comment by Martha Thacker on November 14, 2013 at 12:41pm

Back in 2010 the Sierra Club did not approve of new transmission line upgrades if there were an alternative. reason being wetlands..ME has strict wetland laws. Wonder if they applies for Stetson I and II which is built on wetlands.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/sierra-club-fights-cmp-project_2010...

Comment by Martha Thacker on November 14, 2013 at 12:23pm

 So the cat is out of the bag that wind farms were built without room for the power. Considering that the life of turbines is 20 years , conservative estimate,this article says that not only have we had a 19% increase, but more increases are on the way.    

"He argues staying in ISO will mean electricity rates for consumers will double every two years for the foreseeable future because of the ISO's penchant for approving transmission upgrades he says usually aren't necessary. That includes the CMP proposals, which he says stand to make the company's primary stakeholder billions. Iberdrola, the Spanish firm that is expected to complete its purchase of CMP's parent company, Energy East, this year, will be allowed to shelter the $2 billion in cost of the upgrades from taxes according to a tax loophole related to out-of-state construction, Buxton says.

"I don't blame CMP for being excited," he says. "It's not illegal, it's not immoral, but it's not logical to have this financial scheme to invest in lines we don't need."

http://www.mainebiz.biz/article/20080908/CURRENTEDITION/309089990/h...

U.S. Sen Angus King

THE UNTOLD STORY OF RECORD HILL WIND

The Untold Story of Record Hill Wind, continued

 

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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