Weld Rejects Six Month Moratorium on Wind Power
For some reason, this article does not allow comments. In any event, I think this was a mistake on the part of Weld's voters, but when there is not a wind proposal on the table, it's my sense that moratoriums are harder to get.
http://www.sunjournal.com/node/809451
WELD — Voters rejected establishing a six-month moratorium on wind development facilities on Saturday. However, they decided informally to set up a committee to explore options on setting guidelines for commercial facilities to be built in the town.
More than 50 residents turned out for the morning portion of the annual town meeting, but those numbers dwindled in the afternoon as the meeting went on for more than four hours.
Voters approved spending 472,581 to operate municipal government this year. Of that amount, $231,760 will be raised through taxation, not factoring in the town's share of school or county budgets.
Officials did not immediately know what the difference in spending was from last year to this year, but the amount to be raised through taxation was $8,239 less than last year.
Residents agreed to give the town clerk and tax collector, both positions held by Carol Cochran, a 50-cent per hour raise for each job, bringing her hourly rate for each to $14.50.
Voters also voted to give the town's roads and ground foreman three paid holidays — Memorial Day, Labor Day and Columbus Day.
Townspeople also OK'd $28,500 to do a valuation update. The total cost is $57,000.
Selectman Nancy Stowell said that currently, waterfront property is being taxed on 35 percent of its market value, while residential property is being taxed on 70 percent of its value.
“It is time for us to do something,” Stowell said. “Essentially, people who not have waterfront property are subsidizing those who have lakefront property. This will make it more equitable.”
The most talked-about article was one that asked residents what they wanted to do with the $44,451 made from the sale of the former Weld school.
Resident Joanne Stinneford motioned to set up a Weld Community Scholarship Trust Fund. Her husband, Neil Stinneford, who was away, submitted a written proposal to have the scholarship recognize academic excellence and to go each year to one resident senior graduating from Mt. Blue High School in Farmington.
However, concerns were raised that some students who graduate from another school would not be eligible.
Resident Gary Labbe said he was opposed to setting up a scholarship and instead wanted the money to be used to gain public access to Webb Lake.
The town does not own waterfront property and residents, if they don't own property on the lake, have to pay to access it, he said.
Voters decided to take no action on the article and to set up another committee to decide what should be done with the money.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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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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