Maine Voices: Power line referendum sets a dangerous precedent

By Robert Daigle Special to the Press Herald

Central Maine Power is trying to build a power line to bring hydroelectric power from Canada into New England and some people are not happy about it. Recently, these opponents submitted enough petition signatures to the Secretary of State to likely trigger a public referendum on the project this November. The referendum would direct the Maine Public Utilities Commission to, contrary to their findings, reverse their decision and rule against the project.

Regardless of how you feel about the project, everyone should be concerned with the precedent that would be set if this citizen initiative process is successful.

In today’s world, all projects, from a transmission line to a new addition on your house require a permit.

For this new transmission line to get a PUC permit, it had to meet hundreds of standards proving it was in the public interest.

The PUC held weeks of public hearings, with multiple intervenors in support and in opposition to the project. They commissioned independent analyses. They took 18 months to determine if the burden of proof had been met. They concluded it had.

The PUC is led by three full time commissioners nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. The PUC is known as a highly competent and politically neutral organization.

In this case, after a lengthy and public process, the PUC ruled that CMP’s project met the requirements in Maine law to earn their permit and the Public Advocate agreed.

The same process applies if you want to build an addition to your house. There are local standards you must meet. If your neighbor objects because they don’t want to look at it, they can participate at the Planning Board and/or appeal the decision. Everyone may not be happy with the outcome, but they have an opportunity to present their case, based on a set of rules adopted by publicly elected representatives.

Note that regarding the NECEC project, the referendum backers do not say the public was not heard, because they were. The referendum backers do not say arguments were not considered, because they were. These opponents to the project are not seeking intervention by the courts because they know the PUC did nothing wrong.

The opponents simply want the PUC to ignore all their evidence and hard work and say something that is untrue. It’s as if the PUC correctly ruled the sky was blue, but by a referendum vote the opponents want them to say it is green.

Continue reading at:

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/03/09/maine-voices-power-line-refe...

7 ideas that almost changed Maine forever

March 7, 2020 1:00 am
Updated: March 8, 2020 7:10 am

Maine celebrates 200 years of statehood this year. Much has changed in the Pine Tree State since it broke away from Massachusetts in 1820, while much — its rural nature, the vast wilderness of the North Woods and the outmigration of its youth — hasn’t changed at all.

As much as things have changed, many ideas over the years could have made the state unrecognizable as we know it today. Oil refineries, megadams, sugar beet crops and vast “natural preserves” at one time or another came close to reshaping Maine. In each case, Mainers debated what was most essential to the state’s character.

Here’s a look at seven ideas that came close to changing Maine forever.

Continue reading here:

https://bangordailynews.com/2020/03/07/news/state/7-ideas-that-almo...

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Comment by Stephen Littlefield on March 9, 2020 at 1:37pm

Odd that many of the same people that are so offended by the corridor are so silent about the tens of thousands of acres clear cut all over the state and mountains destroyed forever as well for useless wind turbines. Seems that leftist indoctrination has been a success. 7/8ths of the corridor is already there, has been for years, the only new section is at the top of the existing corridor that crosses into Canada. Not saying it's perfect, though it's a far sight better than the destruction of our vacationland status and creation of pinwheel land where no one come to visit.

Comment by Paula D Kelso on March 9, 2020 at 12:24pm

Gag. Puke.

Comment by Willem Post on March 9, 2020 at 12:20pm

"Regardless of how you feel about the project, everyone should be concerned with the precedent that would be set if this citizen initiative process is successful."

BULL MANURE.

The people's interests often are NOT respected by government power centers, because of political pressures and favors and untraceable cash money being passed around.

These power centers basically do what they can get away with.

If that means CLEAR CUT logging several square miles of trees to make a 200-ft wide transmissions corridor, so be it.

However, that line should be buried.

That costs more, but the corridor would be only about 20 ft wide, and NO UNSIGHTLY TOWERS AND WIRES.

Such lines would have MINIMAL public opposition, and therefore would save a lot of time and money to implement.

 

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

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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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