WIND SHILL FACTORS: EUT Co-Chairman Stacey "Deaf Ears" Fitts and Jeremy Payne

Comment

Comment by Linda Miller on June 4, 2011 at 7:00am

This report does not surprise me one bit.  It is the norm for the media.  It's all political just the same as it is in Washington, DC.  There is always a bias toward one side or the other.  Reporting should not be that way.  Only the facts should be reported on.  The "facts" do not support wind energy though.  Thus the one-sided slant.  God Bless Art Lindgren for having the courage to stand up in front of the committee to "tell it like it really is" for him and many others.  How sad that it fell on deaf ears!  Stacey Fitts will find that the "great green scam" will come back to bite him one day.  By then, it may well be too late to save our beautiful state from destruction.  Mainers must continue to stand up to the wind industry for as long as it takes.  Our voices must be heard above those of reporters such as Chris Rose.

Comment by Brad Blake on June 3, 2011 at 10:17pm

It would be nice to have reported on the blatent conflict of interest of key members of the Energy, Utilities and Technology committee that led to thwarting not only of citizen initiated bills sponsored by various legislators, but squashed the Governor's excellent idea for freezing the ridiculous mandate for ever increasing renewables.  Yeah, Stacy Fitts did his best to protect the interests of the wind industry,  I hope his employer, which contracts with the wind industry, gives him a nice fat bonus.  Yeah, Stacy, lets "study" the "concerns" raised by citizens for another year or so.  In that period of time, another hundred miles of Maine's beautiful uplands get blasted away and 400+ foot tall industrial turbines come to dominate our beautiful state; hundreds of people get ill from the effects of turbines being too close---did you even listen to Art Lindgren?---and hundreds more lose property value and our natural resource based tourism takes a big hit.  All for a scam.

Comment by Brad Blake on June 3, 2011 at 10:08pm

What a horrible report, Chris Rose is always so biased in his reporting.  When is the media in this state ever going to set their bias based on years of wind energy propaganda aside and really take an investigative look at an industry that is poised to destroy Maine?  Chris Rose---its about the rights and wellbeing of the citizens of Maine , not the interests of the wind industry. 

Why is it every time citizens who are affected by wind in this state try to have a say, you more than counter their side with the spin of the paid industry shills and their supporters, but you never, ever seek out very obvious, known citizen critics for the citizens view when you report on the wind industry?  Biased reporting every time.

Comment by Long Islander on June 3, 2011 at 7:36pm

Note the image above where Wind-Power Subsidy Chaser in Chief Jeremy Payne has his dirty shoe on the wall of the State House, typical of the callous disregard he has for the citizens of Maine.

Comment by Whetstone_Willy on June 3, 2011 at 7:09pm

 

Stacey Fitts, co-chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology, works for Kleinschmidt Associates, an engineering, licensing, environmental service firm offering specialized technical services to the renewable industry.

Co-Chair Fitts was quoted in the February 7, 2011 Sun-Journal as saying "Everyone wants to find the conflict, the snake in the grass. But every legislator in the building is conflicted if you were to take that same standard and apply it to everyone else. It’s the nature of being part-time legislators."

But what happens when the legislator’s employer actively approves of its employee’s work as a legislator and perhaps encourages such legislative endeavors to exceed simple part-time work? As can be seen above, Kleinschmidt’s website brazenly boasts, “we have been very active in the development of state regulations in Maine where one of Kleinschmidt’s engineers is a member of the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force.

The following is the definition of Conflict of Interest from the Maine Government website:

"The Legislative Ethics Law lists several situations involving a conflict of interest. These include situations in which a Legislator or a member of the Legislator’s immediate family has a unique and distinct interest in legislation, or accepts or engages in employment that could impair the Legislator’s judgment. In some cases, a conflict can exist if the employer or client of a Legislator — or another person or organization in close economic association with the Legislator — has a direct financial interest in legislation."

Other possible conflicts on this committee:

Jon Hinck is married to Juliet Browne who is a lawyer and partner at Verill Dana whose main practice deals with the defense of wind power companies .She has been extremely busy in the past few years representing wind developers on the local level, before Maine DEP ,and LURC and defending the companies in numerous appeals and lawsuits . She has represented First Wind, TransCanada and Independence Wind and is quite possibly the wind industry’s leading attorney in Maine.

Alex Cornell du Houx, an avid supporter of wind power, is the outreach coordinator of the Truman National Security Project. This organization states a deep philosophical belief that climate change is a national security threat. On that subject one of their position papers includes the following statement concerning the threat of climate change to our country’s national security, "Even if you do not have complete information, you still need to take action! Waiting for 100% certainty during a crisis can be disastrous." That sounds awfully like, “Shoot first then ask questions “. A sister organization of the Truman National Security Project is Operation Free, where Mr. Du Houx serves as Campaign Director. Operation Free lists as its first core motivational principal “get America running on clean energy”. In fact, the organization’s logo prominently features industrial wind turbines.