Victory for Citizens' Rights in the Unorganized Territories of Maine as LD 828 Passes!

We have gotten few victories from the State Legislature, but the dogged determination of the Maine Citizens of the state's Unorganized Territories now have won a process to have a say about whether or not to be in the Wind Energy's Law's arbitrary "Expedited Permitting Zone".  Great job to the group "UT Citizens for Fair Policy".  Here is their press release:

Legislative Update - June 23, 2015

LD 828 Passes House and Senate

LD 828, An Act To Improve Regulatory Consistency within the Jurisdiction of the Maine Land Use Planning Commission
Lawmakers pass bill to let some Mainers pull out of wind permitting areas - Portland Press Herald
 

LD 828 on its way to Governor.
A Senate vote late Monday afternoon marked the final action LD 828 needed to send it to the desk of Governor LePage. On Friday, the Senate stripped an earlier, objectionable House amendment from the bill and replaced it with a more acceptable one. Monday morning, in a unanimous action, the House accepted the Senate amendment and enacted it a few hours later. Senate enactment followed soon after. 

Your help made the difference.
According to numerous sources in Augusta, LD 828 was the most heavily lobbied bill of the session. Your tremendous response to requests for legislator contacts sent a resounding message that got their attention. It was one of the very few tools we had to counter the huge lobbying effort of the bill's opponents. 

Understanding LD 828.
Once the Governor has taken action, I'll send an update to wrap up LD 828's long trip through the Maine Legislature. Those of you who live in the Unorganized Territory might have a particular interest in what LD 828 will do, so I'll also try to summarize the implications and expectations of the bill at that time.

For now, anyone with an interest can find the relevant documents at the following links. The final version of the bill that will be sent to the Governor is Committee Amendment A, as amended by Senate Amendment A.

Senate Amendment A
Committee Amendment A
 



Again, many thanks and much appreciation goes out to those of you who've been involved with this effort. Citizen involvement can and does make things happen.

Best,

Alan Michka
utcffp@gmail.com
(207) 860-8714

 



Helpful links

LD 828 chamber status - Access to official information and legislative records associated with LD 616.
Find your Maine legislators. A town by town listing of Maine senators and representatives. 
 


 

 

 

 

 You may also be interested in making on-line comments at: http://www.pressherald.com/2015/06/22/lawmakers-pass-bill-to-let-so...

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Comment by alice mckay barnett on June 24, 2015 at 11:56am

Congratulations on the public hearing process.

Comment by Monique Aniel Thurston on June 24, 2015 at 8:52am

In view of the massive imbalance of power they were facing , the victory of the determined group of citizens of the UT in regaining a say in their destiny is a testimony that a sense of justice and democracy still exist in the Maine Legislature and also that the profound unfair situation they had been put in by the Expedited Law was finally seen for what it was : a loss of citizens rights . 

Congratulation !

 

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/

Not yet a member?

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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