Stop Low Cost Electricity for Mainers Now!
The following is excerpted from today's Sun-Journal:
LePage isn't the first governor to seek a deal with Hydro-Quebec. Gov. John Baldacci also turned an eye north seeking to capitalize on the mega-provider's eagerness to penetrate the New England market. But those efforts hit a series of roadblocks, including concern from Maine's wind power lobby that Canada's cheap, heavily subsidized electricity would halt a state initiative to become a regional provider of renewable energy.
That opposition likely will surface if the administration reaches terms with Hydro-Quebec, which has developed wind power to complement its ever-expanding development of hydroelectric facilities.
Rep. Stacey Fitts, R-Pittsfield, co-chairman of the Energy Committee, said it's unlikely that a company like Hydro-Quebec could flood the New England market with cheap electricity. However, he said, it could ask to be included in Maine's Renewable Portfolio Standard, which mandates that providers derive a certain amount of electricity from renewable resources.
The intent of RPS was twofold: first, to increase the use of renewable power by awarding providers credits paid for by ratepayers; second, to encourage in-state development of renewable power sources such as wind.
Fitts said that if Hydro-Quebec power can count toward the state's RPS mandate, it could stymie Maine's wind power development, which he said, is providing jobs while creating a homegrown source of power generation.
Said Fitts, "If we're going to sacrifice our generators and export dollars out of the state, out of this country, how is that different than what we're doing with oil?"
Bartlett agreed.
"To risk throwing (wind power development) away without seeing huge savings would be a real concern," he said.
Hydro-Quebec has already sought to have its power count toward the Renewable Portfolio Standard in its expansion efforts in other states. The issue became a sticking point in negotiations with state officials in New Hampshire. However, the company was successful in reaching an RPS deal with Vermont, a state that derives a significant amount of its electricity from Hydro-Quebec.
Fletcher, with the state energy office, said RPS has already come up during talks with Hydro-Quebec.
LePage has no love for RPS. Earlier this year, he unsuccessfully attempted to freeze the program's expanding renewable mandates, arguing that it was driving up electricity rates.
http://www.sunjournal.com/news/state/2011/12/01/lepage-hopes-canadi...
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Comment
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Comment by Harrison Roper on December 2, 2011 at 4:25pm
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Well,I am not very smart! I have always wondered why Maine defined Quebec hydro power, against all logic, as non-renewable. OF COURSE! It is non-Maine, and that is the reason! So much for high principle, climate change, global warming, CO2, etc. It's all about money - of course. Money is the green that really counts.
Harrison Roper Houlton, ME
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Comment by Frank J. Heller, MPA on December 1, 2011 at 4:34pm
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Bartlett is in the pocket of the wind industry and his pitiful comments reveal what a poor spokesman he is; but Stacy should respond to scientific and cost/benefit studies..what about 30% of name plate capacity doesn't he understand??
He def. has a conflict of interest or needs more transparency on how much his job, position and pay depends on wind industry contracts; or are there any other family members getting benefits of some kind?
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The real prize---and I'm hoping Ken and the Governor can deliver it, is a underground HIGH VOLTAGE line down the pike so it can power up a commuter train, or using one of the RR corridors, or long forgotten corridors like Baxter's ICE trail used to link radar sites to Mass.
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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