A wind power development firm behind a proposal that state officials think will pose a threat to birds is offering to conserve 5,800 acres of woods and wetlands in Hancock and Washington counties as wildlife habitat.
Longroad Energy, which has applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection for approval to erect 22 turbines in Eastbrook and Osborn in Hancock County, has the support of the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in the mitigation proposal, which in effect would serve as compensation for the adverse impact the turbines would have on birds.
In 2015, the DIF&W publicly opposed the Weaver Wind project, which at the time was being proposed by the now-defunct SunEdison renewable energy firm. Officials with DIF&W noted at the time that the impact on birds of the existing Bull Hill Wind farm nearby in Township 16 already was significant and that erecting more turbines a few miles away “will represent significant adverse cumulative impact to migrating birds.”
At the time, wildlife officials said that mortality studies suggested that over a period of several months, a dozen or more birds or bats are killed by each of the 19 Bull Hill Wind turbines.
The Weaver Wind project now is being proposed by Longroad Energy and has been resubmitted to the state for approval. Earlier this month, wildlife officials said they still have concerns about how the project would affect birds but that they were not sure that reducing or temporarily halting the use of the nearly 600-foot tall turbines during peak migration periods would have any meaningful effect on bird mortality rates.
Instead, state officials are considering whether conserving nearby land as wildlife habitat might be considered adequate mitigation for the impact the turbines might have on birds.
Read the full article here:
https://bangordailynews.com/2019/04/25/news/hancock/wind-developer-...
Gov. Mills has charged Hannah Pingree, director of the state’s first Office of Innovation and the Future, with assembling a Climate Council to tackle the complexity of taking on climate change in Maine. This very positive step moves us closer to assembling a coordinated plan that looks at how we generate and consume energy. We must update the report of the 2008 Governor’s Task Force on Wind Power Development; the report on Maine’s Climate Future, and other statewide efforts that identify a path forward.
What have we learned these past dozen-plus years? How has renewable-energy technology changed? How have recommendations from these reports been enacted, ignored or modified? What recommendations are coming from leading conservation organizations, university programs and renewable-energy businesses around development of offshore wind and tidal energy, expansion of solar power, deployment of battery technology and distributed electricity generation? The supposedly “low-hanging fruit” of energy efficiency still remains just out of reach for many among us. We must consider the growth in these fields as we chart a course for the future.....................................
Alexander Buck Jr. is president of Horizon Foundation, Inc., in Portland.
Read the full piece here:
https://www.pressherald.com/2019/04/25/maine-voices-state-should-pu...
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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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