Wind industry: Replace transmission after only 25 years to accommodate wind - after all, it's not our money!

If building wind projects on the Maine woods' skyline is the crime, then building the required new transmission amounts to forcing the people to pay for the getaway car.

Read the article at: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/08/renewable-powe...

RELATED:

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.”

http://pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-sk...

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Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on August 21, 2016 at 7:34pm

I was informed by a Sangerville selectboard member that the town must Maintain Paper copies, it was optional to store for the public or their quick access on computers. Anything generated with a town computer also had to have a hard paper copy once the work is completed a particular use, I.E. Monthly reports or weekly reports. Once the Report is for use and is used, it is subject to being a public record. Notes passed in Selectboard meetings are also part of a public record and are subject to the public requesting a copy.  This is also true of any notes made during executive sessions and the reason that MMA highly recommends that they NOT make any notes in Executive sessions. 

Comment by Paula D Kelso on August 21, 2016 at 7:00pm

Thanks for checking that out. Yes, who knows what's been accidently 'lost'. Our town office has had 'the computers were hacked, so we lost those documents' excuse a time or two. There was one neat experience though. The Town Office opened a letter from the town's sound consultant before forwarding to the Planning Board. I happened to make an FOAA request that day for correspondence and the assistant clerk included that letter as well. The next night at the PB meeting the members made a big deal of reading the letter to themselves and not saying anything. The consultant had told them the ordinance as written was too complicated to understand and enforce. Gee, could I resist, no, I mentioned something directly from the letter and enjoyed their displeasure at my having had access to the criticism. Soon after the Board members started commenting on how they didn't agree with their consultant and felt they knew better how to write an ordinance. Regardless they ended up with a bunch of **** that is going to come back to bite them someday. There are smart crooks and then there are dumb and pathetic screw-ups. We just get to sort them out and deal with their mess. Lucky us.

Comment by Long Islander on August 21, 2016 at 4:51pm

Paula - as promised:

http://pinetreewatchdog.org/36000-for-state-emails-the-back-story/

By the way, I don't fully trust FOAA requests because the scoundrels could delete the evidence and you would never know.

Comment by Long Islander on August 21, 2016 at 1:01pm

On July 1, 2013 CMP customers suffered a 19.6% increase in electrical transmission rates. OVERNIGHT. They did so rather unknowingly because to the best of our knowledge none of the state's newspapers thought this was news enough to write about -- to say nothing of connecting the dots with wind power in an investigative piece.........

More here: http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/maine-electricity-rates...

Please do not assume the current PUC commissioners are precisely aware of this history. Would a letter to today's PUC from concerned ratepayers be sufficient to trigger an investigation of how the $1.5 billion MPRP was sold to Mainers in the press under false pretense, i.e., "aging lines" rather than the real culprit, wind power? Also, time to put our so called "Public Advocates", past and present, under extreme scrutiny. 

Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on August 21, 2016 at 12:29pm

Multiple requests may put some pressure on. 

Comment by Paula D Kelso on August 21, 2016 at 12:25pm

Being a relative newcomer, hadn't thought about the change in the PUC. Also that statement by Naomi was written 5 or 6  years ago. May be a good idea to follow up on if they got more information and with the PUC. Will give it some attention. Any suggestions anyone?

Comment by Long Islander on August 21, 2016 at 12:04pm

Paula - I recall that at one time the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting was thwarted with an FOAA request due to high cost but eventually, the cost barrier was either reduced or eliminated. I can take a look for that - I cannot recall if it is the same or different than the Kurt Adams request. That said, if it is different, would there be any harm in resubmitting this request given that there is a new PUC today?

Comment by Paula D Kelso on August 21, 2016 at 11:50am

From the Naomi Shallit's Pine Tree Watchdog's article:

State wants $36,000 for public records

As part of its reporting on the Wind Energy Act of 2008, the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting filed a state public records request, called a “FOAA request.”

However, The Center never received much of the material it requested from the state because the cost was prohibitive: $36,239.52.

That’s what the state Public Utilities Commission wanted from the Center to search for emails from 2005-2007 between then-PUC Chairman Kurt Adams and any representatives of wind company First Wind (where Adams took a job after leaving the PUC); between Adams and Gov. John Baldacci, for whom Adams had previously worked as legal counsel; and between Adams and several prominent wind power attorneys employed by the law firm of Verrill Dana.

The Center wanted those emails because Adams’ input had been crucial to the deliberations of the governor’s wind power task force.

Initially, PUC attorney Joanne Steneck told the Center that a search of backup discs containing email records for the period prior to January 2008 could be done for a cost of upwards of $10,000.

The center then asked for a waiver of the $10,000 cost, under provisions in the state’s FOAA that allow waivers to be granted for noncommercial use of public information.

They refused to grant the waiver and revised their estimate of the cost for the Center to get the information to $36,239.52.

Comment by Long Islander on August 21, 2016 at 11:45am

Paula - what do you mean $37,000 needed for Kurt Adams correspondence?

Comment by Paula D Kelso on August 21, 2016 at 11:42am

As these two articles point out, again I say oh what a tangle web they weave when first they practice to deceive. If someone put up the $37,000 needed to go for Kurt Adams correspondence as PUC chairman, maybe the public could learn some very interesting information. However, how far would that go toward solving all the problems the wind law has created for Maine and it's people? The pivotal time for an about face has passed. The state now must deal with the problems. Probably full disclosure and public understanding of the dirty deeds of the past would help, but where are we to find the ways and means for going ahead from here with an open and honest process for developing a reasonable energy policy for Maine and it's people? Leadership, where are you? Oh yeah, over there with your snout in the trough.

 

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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