Dudley Gray: So-called alternative energy has not delivered results for Maine
Since 2018 residential supply rates have more than doubled from 7.85 to 17.63 cents per kilowatt hour. During the same period many solar panels and wind turbines have been installed, supposedly to save Maine ratepayers costs and improve the environment. Neither has occurred. We can thank the Legislature for breaking up our two utilities at the behest of former Govs. King and Baldacci for the expedited wind law. Now Gov. Janet Mills wants to continue the damage with offshore wind. Instead of approving a potentially $13.5 billion bond issue creating a self-serving public boondoggle, Pine Tree Power, let’s buy every power dam sold since 1999. Wall Street investment geniuses can repackage the entity and pay Maine back plus a profit. Also, when the New England Clean Energy Connect wins their court case, let’s string a more power lines for Maine and require Massachusetts to pay for that as well. This would eliminate the need to wreck Aroostook County with power lines, windmills and solar panels. These so-called alternative energy policies were sold to us as valid energy saving and environmental saviors, but they have failed miserably.
~ Dudley Gray, Rangeley Plantation
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/03/11/opinion/letters/letter-s...
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Comment
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Comment by Dudley G. Gray on March 16, 2023 at 7:03am
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The BDN mistakenly printed my piece on 03/11 and 03/13 and edited it as follows:
MY Title- "more electricity price Pain"
BDN Title Alternatives failed us
Para 1. I wrote-"100's of thousands of solar panels and 1000 or more wind turbines have been installed"
edited: too many solar panels and wind turbines have been installed
Para2 BDN deleted entirely
I wrote "our public advocate,Mr. Harwood responded to this writer by blaming high natural gas prices.Well,from a one month high of $8.41 per million BTU last August to the present March price of $2.45 should it not follow that the current price decline would announce an imminent supply price reduction to be reflected in our bills ? I'm patiently waiting."
Para3 I wrote" creating a self service public boondoggle"
edited to What I think will be a self serving public boondoggle
Para 4. I Wrote "overturning the referendum"
edited: overturning the referendum, as I expect
This is so typical of BDN. Convert any opposing point of view to their agenda, turn mine into Milquetoast then run it
Dudley Gray. Rangeley Plantation
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Excellent opinion letter, Dudley Gray. Thank you!
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Comment by Dan McKay on March 13, 2023 at 5:50am
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How bad is it ?
Maine's carbon tax from 1-1-2018 to 1-1-2021 (3 years) = $30,958,534
Maine's carbon tax from 1-1-2021 to 1-1-2023 (2 years) = $46,854,799
This money, paid by Maine ratepayers goes directly to Efficiency Maine Trust, an agency created by legislation with promises of 1. energy savings, 2. price reductions and 3. less emissions FAIL, FAIL, FAIL
Maine people have paid $176,031,057 to reduce carbon emissions since this tax was created in 2009.
Maines' fossil fuel generation plant output has increased 108% since 2019.
No transparency from the Public Advocate, the Maine PUC or legislative documents.
Efficiency Maine Trust spins a narrative of falsehoods and takes in ratepayer money to make even more money from other programs.
We are underwriting this failure with our money.
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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