UT Residents take the next step in their journey to regain rights taken in 2008 by the passage of the Wind Energy Act

Please read and SHARE this post previously published on "Lexington and Concord Townships-Help Protect Rural Maine" on November 25th.

Tomorrow, January 4, 2016, is the first day LUPC will begin accepting petitions from UT residents requesting removal from the Expedited Permitting Area for wind. Please take advantage of this opportunity to regain your voice in matters of zoning and development within your communities.

https://www.facebook.com/LexingtonConcordProtectRuralMaine/?ref=boo...

The countdown is on.

On January 1, 2016, Maine residents living and voting in the state’s Unorganized Territories can submit petitions to the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) for removal from the Expedited Permitting Area for industrial wind development. On June 30, 2016, this opportunity will expire.

The application process is simple. Contact Tim Beaucage at LUPC by email at Timothy.Beaucage@maine.gov; by phone (207) 287-4894; or at 18 Elkins Lane, Harlow Building 4th floor, Augusta, ME 04333. Request a petition for your UT, as well as the “target number” of signatures needed.

In order for LUPC to consider a UT for removal, your petition must be signed by no less that 10% of the registered voters who voted in the last Gubernatorial election. For example, if you live in 'East Overshoe' and 75 of your citizens voted in the November, 2014 election, you would need a minimum of 8 signatures on your petition in order to be eligible. These signatures MUST be of REGISTERED VOTERS.

In order to obtain a list of the registered voters in your UT, you can call Tina at Maine’s Division of Elections. Her direct number is 624-7651. She will send you a request form and once that has been received, she will mail you the Voter Registration list for your community.

Obviously, it is a good idea to get as many signatures as possible. There is always the chance that one or two signatures can’t be verified, or that a mistake was made by the petitioner when filling out the form. Protect yourselves and your community by acquiring the largest number of signatures possible within the time constraints.

Once LUPC has received a completed petition, they will post notification on their website. At that time, a person has 45 days to request a “substantive review” of the petition.

A request for substantive review is effectively a request to LUPC that they NOT allow that UT to be removed from the Expedited Permitting Area. If such a request is made, it will likely come from wind developers, i.e. NextEra, Iberdrola, First Wind/Sun Edison, etc. It may also come from legal firms or lobbyists working for the Industry, such as Verril Dana, Eaton Peabody, Bernstein Shur, Maine Renewable Energy Associates, et al; or from large landowners hoping to develop their land (maybe Plum Creek, Bayroot or Wagner.)

If someone requests a substantive review, the Commission will schedule one. If at least 5 or more individuals request a Public Hearing, LUPC will include said Public Hearing as part of their review process.

If no one requests a substantive review within the 45 day time-frame, your UT will automatically be removed from the EPA. Such an action will RESTORE to your residents the ability to ‘have a say’ in future industrial wind development by reinstating the process in which a developer would have to request a zoning change in your community prior to applying for a permit to build an industrial wind facility. And a request for a zoning change triggers a Public Hearing…which is where each of us gets the opportunity to give our testimony, submit expert testimony and cross-examine the Industry’s witnesses. It’s where what WE want for our communities gets taken into consideration.

Please avail yourselves of this one-time (and short-term) opportunity to have your equal rights restored; rights which more than 99% of your fellow Mainers still retain. Many of you helped during the arduous process of getting this opportunity passed into Law…and your efforts are greatly appreciated. Now, you have the chance to take back your power as citizens.

We’re here to help. Just send us a PM if you have any questions and we’ll direct you, as best we can.

Happy Thanksgiving from the peaceful and beautiful communities of Lexington and Concord Townships!

For more information, please visit this link: http://www.maine.gov/…/wind_expedited_…/wind_expedited.shtml

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Comment by Karen Bessey Pease on January 3, 2016 at 11:58am
:) You are kind...but my part in this was small. We can be thankful to the many MANY Mainers (you included!) who had a part in the passage of this bill. :) Without the groundswell of citizens willing to write, call or testify in person, we wouldn't have this opportunity. Let's make sure we don't squander it...and do our best to see that all Mainers have equal rights restored to them. :) Happy New Year!
Comment by Pineo Girl on January 3, 2016 at 11:27am

Thank You Thank You Thank You Karen!!!

 

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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Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi 

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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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