Hours into his new term, President Donald Trump hit the pause button on American wind power development, fulfilling a commitment he made after railing against wind energy on the campaign trail.
The move may hobble Maine’s plan to meet ambitious clean electricity targets.
Trump’s executive order puts a stop to federal leases for ocean wind power. And it suspends permitting and funding for offshore and land-based turbines until federal agencies review the environmental and economic impacts of wind projects.
The temporary halt to new wind power was made in light "of various alleged legal deficiencies underlying the federal government's leasing and permitting of onshore and offshore wind projects" along with impacts to navigation, national security, wildlife and potentially inadequate environmental reviews, according to the order.
The move is a reversal of former President Joe Biden's administration, which promoted widespread development of offshore wind energy.
Trump's order could hinder development of Maine’s demonstration floating wind farm on a federal Gulf of Maine lease. And a suspension of federal permitting could impact a planned wind power project in Northern Maine.
And it might affect Maine’s long term energy plans. A goal of using 100% clean electricity by 2040 leans on building 3 gigawatts of offshore wind according to a recently released state energy plan........................
...............Jacob Posik, director of legislative affairs at the Maine Policy Institute, a right-leaning think tank, said pumping the brakes on new offshore wind is a good idea.
The high cost of building ocean wind is passed onto consumers and raises electricity prices, according to Posik. Instead, he thinks the state should be focused on developing all forms of energy, including renewables, that can reduce costs and improve reliability.
"I think the problem is distorting the market to prop these certain forms of energy up when they wouldn’t otherwise be able to compete," he said.
Kyle Murray, with clean energy and climate nonprofit Acadia Center, said Trump’s order will allow permitted wind projects in Massachusetts and elsewhere to move ahead.
But if the administration maintains an anti-wind stance, it will likely challenge Maine’s plans, Murray added. And while he believes wind power is still viable, interrupting development may require New England states to redouble efforts in other areas to expand clean energy and lower greenhouse gas pollution, he said.
"We also need to focus on solar, energy efficiency, those types of things that can really help us meet our climate goals as well," Murray said.
The Maine Governor’s Energy Office said it is reviewing Trump’s executive orders, but it will be years before the planned floating research array is ready to apply for federal permits.
"Offshore wind remains important to addressing Maine’s energy challenges and the state remains committed to advancing responsible offshore wind, particularly through the research array," energy office director Dan Burgess said in a statement.
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Comment
Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!!! Thank you, Dan McKay. Common sense needs to make a much needed return to Maine!
First, get rid of Dan Burgess and his Governors Energy Office. The federal funds that bloated this agency is going away and Governor Mills knows this and is trying to move the GEO into a cabinet level agency aka the Energy Resource Department, starting with an 8 million dollar budget. This agency was purposed to push offshore wind, the Northern Maine fiasco and EVs. They are gone in a common sense world.
Then, get emergency bills into the legislature to repeal the Troy Jackson law that removes all obstacles to the Aroostook county wind project and billion dollar plus transmission lines.
Then, stop the wind port in Searsport, the Aqua Ventus project, (students at UMO should be learning nuclear)
Then, end RECs, end RGGI, end Long Term Contracts, tariff net energy billing projects and give the OK to expanding natural gas pipelines to lower prices for heating and electricity.
And, weight as well get rid of Efficiency Maine, the low hanging fruit of efficiency is all used up. They are into keeping their buddies in the green ( as in mula)
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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