ELLSWORTH, Maine — Recent statements from Gov. Paul LePage regarding wind energy are causing some angst in Maine’s wind power industry at a time changes in Augusta and Washington, D.C., are creating uncertainty over political support for renewable energy.
Since his election in 2010, LePage has questioned the economics behind wind power as part of his administration’s focus on lowering energy costs for Maine ratepayers. But the Republican governor’s rhetoric has intensified in recent months, suggesting that the technology is increasing energy costs and padding the pockets of “special interests.”
“We have people in Maine who say that wind is the answer. And it is the answer for people who lobby for wind,” LePage told a crowd in April. “Wind is costing us dearly. It’s costing us jobs, it’s costing us investment and it’s costing us big.”
Those comments came months after LePage repeatedly suggested that state policies designed to encourage development of wind power were partly responsible for Maine’s higher electric rates — a claim sharply disputed by renewable energy proponents.
More recently, LePage has used the debate over wind power to attack independent U.S. Senate candidate and former governor Angus King, repeatedly calling him “the king of the wind cartel” and suggesting he made “a fortune” on ratepayers backs. King was until recently a large stakeholder in Independence Wind that built the 22-turbine Record Hill wind farm.
While LePage’s statements have been welcomed by wind power critics in Maine, they’ve caused some discomfort in an industry that supporters point out has invested more than $1 billion in Maine — and much of that during a recession. They also suggest the comments stand in stark contrast to LePage’s mantra of being a pro-jobs and pro-business governor.
“The current administration has made some negative public comments which are not conducive to attracting investment and to the growth of the industry in the state of Maine,” said Paul Williamson, director and principal coordinator for the Maine Wind Industry Initiative.
Williamson, whose organization is a coalition of companies, researchers and port authority officials, said LePage’s comments are not factually based.
“Any time you have the top elected official in the state questioning whether wind energy is a good thing in Maine, that creates concern,” added Jeremy Payne, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association, an industry trade group. “However, legislators have been very clear about their support for the industry over the years.”
Maine is New England’s largest producer of wind energy, with 205 commercial wind turbines spinning at seven wind farms built since 2006. Construction of those projects involved hundreds of workers at a time with contributions from more than 300 Maine companies, according to a February 2011 study by Charles Colgan at the University of Southern Maine.
But despite the rapid growth of the industry, wind energy represented just 6.6 percent of the total electricity generated in Maine in January 2012, compared with 25 percent generated by hydropower. And there remains significant debate over whether wind power would be cost-competitive without subsidies, federal tax credits and state policies meant to encourage the development of renewable energy sources.
Kenneth Fletcher, director of the Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and Security, is less brash than his boss in talking about wind energy. But he insisted the administration’s policy has been consistent.
“I think what the governor is saying is if wind power is a source of energy that will lower the price of electricity, then he is in favor of it,” Fletcher said. “Our concern is: is this going to be sustainable over time?”
A big part of that equation depends on what happens in Washington, D.C., over the coming months. Action in Congress has been stalled on whether to renew so-called “production tax credits” that help wind power compete with cheaper fossil fuel-derived electricity generation.
On the state front, the LePage administration has also sought — without success — to rewrite Maine policies known as the “renewable portfolio standard,” or RPS, that require utilities to increase the amount of electricity they receive from renewable sources, such as wind.
Fletcher said the governor argues that both of those policies mean taxpayers and ratepayers are supporting the wind industry’s investment in Maine.
“If the federal tax credit wasn’t there and the RPS wasn’t there, you would not see the investment,” Fletcher said.
Regardless of the political debate over subsidies for wind energy, it is clear that the wind power industry was one of the few bright spots in the Maine economy during the recession.
The nine wind farms built in Maine since 2008 or currently under construction cost $974 million to build, according to industry data.
An independent January 2012 study commissioned by the Maine Public Utilities Commission estimated that construction of half of the wind energy proposals in Maine — or 625 megawatts of wind power capacity — could create 12,000 direct and indirect jobs and add $1.1 billion to Maine’s economy.
“The governor has been very clear about his support for jobs and we hope he will come around to embrace the industry,” Payne said.
One of the companies that benefited the most from Maine’s entrance into the wind energy industry is Reed & Reed, a Woolwich-based firm that has helped build many of the facilities.
“For the past 5 years, [wind power] has been about one-half of our business and that is a sector that did not exist 7 or 8 years ago,” said Jack Parker, president and CEO of Reed & Reed.
The company currently has about 200 employees working on a First Wind project in Hancock County as well as at a wind farm in Vermont. Those jobs range from carpenters and engineers to the skilled operators needed to run cranes with a 300-foot boom.
Asked whether his company could have provided jobs to employees during the recession without the wind power contracts, Parker said simply “not even close.”
Parker steered clear of critiquing LePage’s comments on the wind energy industry. But he said his company as well as others have had conversations with the governor and his advisors about wind power and lowering electricity rates, saying the two are aligned.
“I hope the Maine regulatory environment will remain stable,” he said. “That is certainly critical to the success of the industry.”
Fletcher speculated that some of the angst in the industry has to do with the fact that Maine shifted from a pro-wind governor in Baldacci to one who is more neutral.
“We aren’t against wind,” Fletcher said. “But we are saying let’s be more objective and make sure we understand the economics.”
But some industry representatives question whether the governor and his advisors truly do understand.
Williamson with the Maine Wind Industry Initiative — a coalition of companies, researchers and port authorities working to grow Maine’s wind power industry — said he believes LePage’s comments are based in ideology, not facts.
“It is incumbent on all of us within the industry to educate the governor and the public,” Williamson said.
Way to go Gov. LePage. I agree with his stance on wind energy. My electric bill has gone up exponentially since wind farms came to ME. Wind is only producing 28 to 30% of the energy that they claim they can produce. If you or I only produced 30% of our potential at work, we would be fired in a NY minute.
First Wind states in their SEC report that they do not have to produce energy to make money. …their power purchase agreements with foreign countries does not require them to produce energy either. That is why so much money has been invested in ME. They are close to Canada. Foreign country…get it? Same thing happened in NY, bordering Canada. Building Cohocton wind farm without the transmission lines to transmit the power. Just like ME. Wind farm power can only go to Canada…bottleneck in Orrington. It goes no further south.
http://www.maine.gov/mpuc/electricity/docs/MPUCMotiontoInterveneER08-190.PDF
transcript of the us govt. against FERC ‘s protest of the building of stetson mt windfarm. In the transcript , it is stated that the grid is at capacity and there is no room for any more power.
@MaryBelle – perhaps you can explain for us why the grid is “at capacity and there is no room for any more power.” Maybe I can steer you a little: what are the sources of the power (perhaps a few MW generated in and imported from Canada ?) ? Hmmm – at what cost ? What is the condition and average age of the grid components ? Could it be that it is simply inadequate to serve the current population ? How does that translate into the “Maine Prospectus” that businesses use to evaluate the pros and cons of locating here ?
We Mainers currently kiss the feet of the dictator of Venezuela for the priviledge of burning his oil to stay warm. Should we not attempt to light our lamps with home grown electrical energy ?
@50srock–You’d have better luck putting up your own windmill if you expect any electricity from them!
Could it be that it is simply inadequate to serve the current population ?
NO.
Please see the U.S. Census figures at the following link debunking the lies we were fed by Baldacci and Central Spain Power with regard to population and transmission lines:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/page/transmission-lines
The specific section on population is under the heading ”
10/24/11 – What’s All the Fuss About Population Growth in the Northeast causing a need for the Maine Power Reliability Project?”
I’ll check it out. I know that my Bangor Hydro (a gross misnomer these days) bill keeps getting bigger and bigger, while I keep downsizing.
As long as you understand that the windtaskforce.org started as an opponent “no matter what” of wind energy, then you can understand why THEY continue to chant “no wind, no wind”. As for Maine being the Saudi Arabia of wind, READ THE FINE PRINT, they are talking about the off shore supply of wind, which is greater than anywhere on land in the US. But we wouldn’t want to mention that would we, it might give folks the idea that we could make a decent amount of wind energy in Maine. It would be like showing a picture of Maine versus Montana and saying Montana pulls in more fish per square mile (I made that up) without counting the fishing industry in Maine that operates OFF SHORE.
Wind is a new industry and will require some of the same leeway we gave the oil industries and the nuclear industries when they were young (and many are still getting significant tax breaks and grants for research). I for one what to decrease dependence on limited energy sources. Do it now or do it later, but later is fast approaching. As the rest of the world increases their demand for oil it will only get worse.
No. It is not worth the scalped mtns.
All energy has its downsides – Coal has its smokestacks and scalped mountains. Nuclear has its radioactive waste and scalped mountains. Gas has its smokestacks and fracked groundwater. Hydro has its dams and flooded bottomlands.
NO source of energy is very clean when it is done on an industrial scale.
check out the link. You know when you fill up a glass with water? And then it is full?
Same principal.
Your electric bill has gone up exponentially?
Wow. That’s means your rates have increased by over 1000% in ten years! Since rates in Maine haven’t increased by even the rate of inflation – that is really not believable.
… and your grossly misinformed interpretation of the SEC filing would be funny if you weren’t spreading it around so freely.
It appears First Wind may well have connections to organized crime.
Why should organized crime go into drugs or prostitution if government sanctioned scams like wind power are just as lucrative?
Read:
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/11/17/mafia-tied-to-wind-fraud-in-italy/
Wow. First Wind suddenly has connections to some Italian business which has no ties to first Wind.
Really? That’s your best argument? That one minor investor may have been involved in some way in crimes alleged that happened over 4,000 miles away?
Thanks for so clearly showing that you can’t find any actual VALID arguments against wind power in Maine.
There have been several articles on this.
By the way, when you wrote “First Wind suddenly has connections to some Italian business”, I should point out that First Wind was founded in Italy. Just stating the facts lest you distort them even more.
Former U.S. Congressman (D-NY) wrote that “First Wind has a business model of Lie, Cheat and Corrupt”.
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/a-business-model-of-lie-cheat-and-corrupt
It appears that saudi oil has connections to terrorists, and that opec is pretty much an illegal cartel monopoly, and yet we still subsidize oil with billions of dollars a year to make it affordable for you, who needs the mafia when we have that?
Ever heard of Enron? Energy crooks are often homegrown good old boys who want to make a fast buck, like the wind cartel.
Organized crime? Here’s 4 words that are synonymous with organized crime:
MAINE HERITAGE POLICY CENTER.
Based on what?
Wow. That’s means your rates have increased by over 1000% in ten years
Figure of speech.
and your grossly misinformed interpretation of the SEC filing would be funny if you weren’t spreading it around so freely.
Have you read the filing?
Do you work for First Wind?
Don’t work for First Wind or any wind related business and never had. I am a retired former business owner.
Making unfounded sweeping insinuations of some imaginary personal stake and bias just because someone presents sound arguments against your hysteria, when that entire insinuation only comes from your active imagination and possible paranoid delusions, is a clear sign that you have a very, very weak argument to begin with.
I am a trained financial manager with many decades of experience who can read, and did read and understand, the SEC filing . It deals with the basis of valuing and distributing stock and does not say anything even anywhere in the ballpark of what you claim it says.
Claiming something increased exponentially is not a figure of speech. In this case it is an outright lie.
Then why would you support wind power when it raises costs for businesses and everyone else? What sort of business were you in, were you beholding to tax dollar handouts to survive like First Wind?
Do you work for
Citizens’ Task Force on Wind Power ?
I’m certain that the ONLY factor affecting your electric bill is the presence of wind farms. I have no doubt that nothing in your lifestyle has changed – no new freezer, no pool pump, no 72-inch HDTV, no new electric gizmos of any kind, and no new smart meter replacing an old worn out mechanical meter. Yup, those wind farms suck the electricity right out of your house.
You are supporting an industry which is an env. disaster in China and will ruin the hills and ridgelines of Maine for power we do not need. Do you think covering the state with wind turbines is scenic? Do you appreciate the natural areas of Maine which willl be compromised with ugly turbinescapes? Why would anyone not directly profiting support wind sprawl? A good earthling should care about their home planet.
Just pointing out the realities of the situation. In my opinion, there are far worse problems than wind towers affecting our society. Wind towers are seen by many in Maine as the ugliest things ever to come down the pike, but in Denmark they are considered pleasing. Wind development is reviled here as a government boondoggle, with no hope of ever turning a profit, but in Europe wind development is all the rage. Both sides cannot be right. Wind power in America is still in the early stages of development. Improved turbines are coming out every year. Wind power has the potential to reduce or eliminate the need for additional fossil fuel burning power plants and/or nuke plants. Will it reach that potential? Maybe. Will the intrusion into the “quality of place” be worth it? Unknown and unknowable. We already have cell towers popping up all over the place, but they are not nearly as unpalatable as wind towers. Maybe because we only get one of those per mountain. Before cell towers, our pristine mountain tops were defiled by the installation of fire observation towers. For hundreds of years, logging operations have clear-cut hundreds of acres on those same mountains. Everything has an impact, and people can get used to anything. If you are not offended by a 200-acre clearcut, how can you be offended by a wind farm that takes up a fraction of that space? And don’t claim that the clearcut is only temporary, because before it grows back in to the point of invisibility, there will be another one just as big right next to it.
What is your solution? Which fuel extraction site is pretty? Which production facility is pretty? Which waste site is pretty? Would you rather pollute air, water, soil, or all three? Would you be willing to have your land flooded for hydro power? A good earthling should care about all of these thnigs. The status quo is not good for earthlings.
Uh? perhaps Im missing the point. You are against producing things in Maine, and selling them to other states or countries?
No comparison to manufacturing jobs. Energy gaming is another ball game.
If your bill has gone up because of wind, change your provider.
They should just erect a windmill in front of Paulie: Use the hot air for heat, and his blowhard style to create energy. It’s a WIN- WIN !!
Somebody forgot to take their meds…
He might be a blowhard, but he is right on windsprawl.
Maybe we coudl stop all the wasted money on wind and spend it on something that woudl make AFFORDABLE power for Maine.
—
God Bless Governor LePage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, who else can we count on to kill the few jobs we have left.
5 more months…
?
Pathalogical LePage hater
You mean LePage is a pathological hater.
Saul Ailinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” at work here I see.
Excuse me, but that is not what I said. If you actually listen to Gov. LePage, yes he is critical about a lot that has brought this state to such a tough economic situation. But he is a populist in many ways. He wants Maine residents to have the burden of high taxes and cost of living mitigated in any way possible and to position Maine businesses to be in a more competetive situation once this horrendous recession is over.
In that context, LePage understands what a loser wind power is and if we continue to increase renewables mandates not only in Maine but in other states, wind power ends up being a very costly source of power. It is totally unnecessary to go down that ruinous road and LePage understands that, unlike Baldacci, who sold out this beautiful state to the wind industry.
God Help Us!
I didn’t know God sent checks out on the first and third of the month, Dlbrt.
God is Republican ?
Sure! Ask Dubya.
Why doesn’t Kevin Miller ever write about how Maine’s wind resource per square mile is 89% below the national average? Snake oil selling fast talking pickpocket Angus King called Maine the Saudi Arabia of wind when in fact this has been told to about 15 other states. This entire enterprise is about slick insiders like King who make the laws and then use them to pick pockets of taxpayers while sticking it to ratepayers bigtime.
See the section entitled “5/12/11 – Maine is 89% Below the National Average in Wind Resource”:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/page/maine-s-wind-is-poor
Why is it that this newspaper simply shills for the wind industry and hardly ever questions their bald faced lies?
Angus King has made a career and millions of dollars on the backs of Maine taxpayers, and now he wants to stroke us again by convincing enough voters to send him to the U.S. Senate. No to the bogus business of wind, and no to Angus King for anything.
The following is a 3 part watershed investigative report on the scam that is wind power in Maine from the highly esteemed nonpartisan Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting — it is quite clear that Governor LePage has his facts straight on this farce of a power source and who the parasites are such as Angus King and the Enron boys from First Wind.
This article is part of the series A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT. Read more
→A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT: PART 1
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/2010/08/09/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT: PART 2
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/2010/08/11/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/
A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE WIND ACT: PART 3
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/2010/08/12/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
The “Untold Story of Angus King’s Wind Project” can be read here:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-untold-story-of-record-hill-wind-continued
The article says “The current administration has made some negative public comments which
are not conducive to attracting investment and to the growth of the
industry in the state of Maine,” Thank goodness Lepage has stood his ground against wind-power because he is 100 percent correct. While it may have given some people in Maine temporary jobs we will be paying for it forever. This is not sustainable or dependable energy and is a drop in the bucket at less than one percent of energy used. It is destroying the beauty of Maine and making life miserable for many at no benefit to anyone save those who have invested in it. Forty years ago it was a bust as a viable energy policy and we are getting saddled with an outdated notion that did not work then and will never work. It is time for wind-pwer to get off the government dole and go away before more of our beautiful state is destroyed to the benefit of a few investors.
Destroying the beauty of maine? But its okay to put a cell phone tower on every hill over 10 feet high, expand every rural road we can to interstate size, clear cut the north woods to put up housing developments, but bad and unsightly to put up a couple turbines? How many people hve ever even seen these things? Last time I was within site of a windfarm, I had to point it out to my friend, thats how unsightly it is.
Is he blind?
Were you also opposed to Bald Mountain mining? That will really create an ugly mess. Poison in the ground and mountain top removal. Quite a mess. Twenty years down the road, we will be paying to clean that up. And the east-west highway? How about that boondoggle? We can afford $300,000 for another study, but not healthcare for the mentally ill?
I live in Unity and can see the Freedom turbines from my home, and I actually think they are attractive. Much more attractive than coal or gas fired plants with which I am very familiar. How is producing wind energy a bad thing? If it is part of the energy mix, it is a good thing to have it. It creates energy that would not be created otherwise and can be produced here. If we have too much energy creation in the state, then the companies can sell it out of state. It provides jobs, revenue, and energy. Sounds like a win-win. I would much rather be paying subsidies to start-up renewable energy companies than to oil, coal and gas companies. Those create pollution in the air and add to global warming; pollute water; and are uglier than any wind turbine has ever been. They are costly to build as well so are usually subsidized by taxpayers and continue to be. There are huge wind farms all across the west and midwest spinning away, creating energy for power. This indicates something to me – that it is a viable and valuable power resource. There is a caveat, though, there should be adequate wind on the mountain tops if turbines are going to be placed there. Hell, if we were in the 19th century, I’d wager that you would not want electrical power because whale oil was all you needed to light your lamps.
Mr. LePage’s outrage over the wind industry, calling it a special interest as if gas companies, Koch Industries or Marden’s were not also special interests, is specious. His coziness with other special interests some of which also produce energy indicates a potential link to hostility here. All of them take your money and get subsidies and special tax breaks, too.
I think that Paul LePage is doing a lot of damage to the state of Maine. He is mean spirited and seems to think that attacking industries and the working people of Maine will create jobs. He bad mouthed the wind energy industry and tourism; both industries that provided jobs and income to the state during the recession. He attacks Maine working people by calling them lazy, corrupt, uneducated, and devious. He seems to be a poor manager of personnel and has not original ideas – they are all prepackaged from Maine Heritage Policy Centre. What business would want to relocate to a state that has so little to offer?
Well said and couldn’t put it anyway and maybe Maine people should stop and listen to what this governor is doing to our state. So far he has not done one thing to get business to move to Maine not one. All I hear is complaints about wind power which I have seen when I travel and then I thought about back in my grandparents days when there were wind mills for farmers and others. I think its time that people go back in time and see how their people live and to keep warm for they be surprise of how they kept warm etc. I guest Maine people really don’t want to improve or bring good businesses into Maine so that people who were layoff have jobs to support their family let alone this governor has cut programs for our children and education, health care and handicapped people who need help and the nursing home etc. these are things that matter to me then worry about some wind power or did they forget what was cut. I care about what this governor has done to us and I wonder with the money he claims will be save, where is this money going to, this is my concern. I get the feeling that we will never see this money or anything and when he leave office, he leave with our money tuck away in a place we will never find. So people of Maine you better start to worry for when he is gone we are stuck in a bad way that will take years to fix.
Oh, come on, give the guy some credit! He put up the “Open for Business” sign!
Professional wind mercenary Jeremy Payne says: “However, legislators have been very clear about their support for the industry over the years.”
The reality is that the legislators have been going with what their Energy Committee says and three of the members of the committee have mega conflicts of interest:
1. Alex “in the news of late” Cornell du Houx – works (ed) for Operation Free, a Soros funded group that has wind turbines on its logo.
2. Jon “I’m running for Senate” Hinck whose wife is the lead wind attorney in Maine
3. Stacey “you the people serve me” Fitts whose heavily wind-involved company boasts on its website that one of its engineers (Fitts) wrote the wind laws in Maine.
For backup documentation on these blatant conflicts, see:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/photo/abstain-for-maine
Jeremy is one of those LePage meant when he said the industry provides jobs.
“It is incumbent on all of us fighting WIND industry to educate the governor and the public,” Wind Warriors CRY. The legislature is being lobbied by PAID Shills. We need to keep pushing the government to stop spending stimulis money on WIND. Jobs were created overseas, not in America.
Name one issue before any legislature that is not being lobbied by paid shills. On both sides.
Does that make it right? Or the process democratic?
The citizens of this state NEVER EVER had any chance to weigh in on wind power. Baldacci appointed his Governor’s Task Force with cronies ready to create a pre-determined outcome. LD 2283, the infamous “Wind Law” was rammed through an unknowing Legislature in the waning hours of the Short Session in April 2008. The bare minimum to meet the legalities of pushing through legislation was applied. This is huge favoritism to one industry and has begun the destruction of miles of Maine’s mountains for a folly. This is a crime against our state’s beauty and natural resources and Maine’s “Quality of Place”.
The efforts to modify the Wind Law that took place last year was done entirely by the citizens of this state going up against a cadre of pro-wind lobbyists. The Citizens’ Task Force on Wind Power is made up entirely of regular Maine citizens. www.windtaskforce.org
And, the people who support wind power are not regular Maine citizens?
You do have the power to do something if you are concerned about this in your community, too. Get active and spear head an ordinance that prohibits large wind generation in your town. Of course, this will have an impact on the property rights of those who want a wind generation tower on their property, but what the heck. You can also demand that cell towers and other ugly manifestations of modernity be prohibited as well. Oh, and power lines, there are lots of those and they have those wires that often hang kind of low. Myself, I think that dairy barns should be banned, but that’s only because after we bought our house the farmer who owns the field behind it decided to plunk his dairy barn right smack behind our home. The place is a dump, ugly and smelly. He makes a living, but why should dairies be allowed to operate? How did they get the right to build a barn without having to even notify abutting property owners of the planning board meeting?
There is always favoritism when industry is involved. It usually involves who spends the most money conning people one way or the other. And, of course, there is that money that goes to politicians. When one company that produces something has competition we are supposed to applaud, after all that is capitalism. Unfortunately, these capitalists really don’t like the way capitalism works if it damages their own interests.
Here’s another Baldacci crony who needs to be painting license plates – KURT ADAMS:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/some-must-reading-about-how-mainers-got-played-by-the-previous
I’d like to see Bruce Poliquin painting license plates.
For what alleged crime?
Republicans fully support continuing the government subsidies of Big Oil and Big Oil repays them with lots of campaign money and also gifts through the lobbying industry, which is a legalized form of bribery.
We have (yet another) simple case of Republicans doing exactly what their corporate masters want. It has turned our country into a cauldron of corruption, with all the stagnation, frustration and financial inequality and unfairness you could possibly want.
People have stopped buying this sort of tripe and you will really know this the morning after Election night.
So what kind of Phoney Baloney are they buying now?
“People have stopped buying this sort of tripe”
So they’ve abandoned common sense and reason? Unfortunately, I’m afraid you might be right …
Are you saying that Republicans do not support subsidies to Big Oil and that they do not get campaign money and gifts from lobbyists? That we do not have financial inequality and unfairness in this country?
People are also not buying the kind of tripe that have been coming out Bruce Poliquin and the Maine Heritage Policy Center.
It is incumbent upon the people of Maine to fix the ‘Wind Energy Act’ that has created a rush to build wind projects in inappropriate sites. Also, what private industry in the U.S. is so special that it should be guaranteed ‘certainty’? The wind act created a cyclonic swirl of economic activity, that is driven by taxpayer subsidies, federal government grants, artificially high RPS standards, put in place to attract wind companies, to force Maine businesses to buy the power, and ruin the landscape to say nothing of the wildlife and quality of life for abutting property owners. Yes we do need to reduce uncertainty. We need to fix the wind law so the people of Maine know for certain that their state government actually cares about the state’s greatest assets – its people and its gorgeous landscape. We need to make sure our reps and senators vote NO on extending the Production Tax Credit for wind.
LePage’s way or the highway.
It’s so refreshing to see a Governor who truly cares about the people of Maine. It’s been a long time coming!
Wind simply is not competitive with other forms of energy. Wind energy plants, like solar and hydro, are not energy generating facilities, they are energy HARVESTING facilities. That means they can’t just be put anywhere. They must be located where there is wind, sun and flowing water. That generally means they are not near the population centers that use the power. Wind, therefore is critically dependent on transmission. In calculating the cost of a KWh of wind energy, the cost of transmission must be taken into account.
Unlike other forms of energy wind energy is not reliable. It is intermittant and unpredictable. It will therefore wreak havoc on the grid unless the energy can be stored. While there is promising storage technology on the horizon, it’s not here yet. In calculating the cost of a KWh of wind energy, either the cost of grid disruption or the cost of storage must be taken into account.
When you perform an accurate analysis of the cost of wind-harvested energy, it is more costly than any other source. Period.
Governor LePage, you are absolutely correct. Please don’t back down. The ratepayers and businesses of Maine are depending on you. But the time for rhetoric is quickly passing. We need action! Thank you for your courage.
Is this a joke? Hmm, we will have to pay a couple extra pennies now, while the wind industry expands production and gets the learning curve behind it, to save dollars later. I can see why lepage is so against that, because he is a dinosaur, which is the MOST charitable reason. I also love how these people parrot the talking point about wind only being a couple percent of the total amount of power produced, like that has ANY bearing on ANYTHING. I dont know if its hypocritical or just stupid, but when you vote against developing something, how can you argue that its bad that it doesnt produce more?
Wind farms are not a new technolagy they have been in Europe for along time. Plenty of time to “work the bugs out” in maine they are the state of the art. The few that we have cost 974 million. Considering it will take a wind farm the size of Conneticut to power New York City, yes I would call it a joke.
Think of the Green Energy Tax credit GE could get from Obama for that job. They wouldn’t pay income tax for the next thousand years.
The Governor is the best thing that has happened to this state in the last 30 years.
hahahahaha…oh, your not joking.
Sure, as long as you don’t count about forty million other things that have happened.
Yeah, But, Not until his Tenure is UP!
You musta been asleep for thirty years. This guy is a trainwreck waiting to happen.
But he is right about windsprawl.
And wrong about everything else?
Paul Williamson – a man whose name in sentence construction is often two to three words away from the word “blithering”.
LePage is questioning the economics of wind? That’s a polite way to approach it. The fact is, there is nothing about the economics of wind power that needs to be questioned at the moment. It’s not economical and it’s not competitive in our current energy market. If it were, we wouldn’t have federal taxpayer giveaways or state renewable mandates designed solely to provide life support to the industry. Whether it has other qualities that justify its high price tag (it doesn’t) or not is another argument. On economics alone though, it’s a loser at the present time – no question about it.
We had Federal Subsidies for Co-Generation from Biomass Boilers at Paper Mills all through the 80’s and 90’s
These plants couldn’t stand on their own Economic Start up Merit then, but they reduced the use of coal and oil fired boilers.
Huh!
What do ya Know!
Where was all the protest then?
The paper mills provided thousands of long-term, full-time jobs. Mountaintop wind farms produce a few hundred short-term jobs. Perhaps that is why subsidies for bio-mass were not protested as loudly.
Well, perhaps the public decided the biomass plants had attributes that justified those subsidies. Maybe the public was just disengaged and not even aware they were subsidizing the plants. Either way, if the plants couldn’t survive without federal or local intervention to prop them up, then they must have been economically uncompetitive, just as wind power is today.
As I alluded in my post, if one wants to make a sound, fact-based argument that the benefits of wind power universally outweigh it’s economic, social and environmental costs, that’s a separate argument, one that I would welcome. But, I believe the person taking up that argument has their work cut out for them. The superficial, propaganda-based arguments made by industry lobbyists, such as Payne and Williamson, fall well short of the sound, fact-based standard.
Thorium reactors?
“On economics alone though, it’s a loser at the present time – no question about it.”
“Time”
Now, Here is a thought,
Wind Energys start up costs are expensive as they include capital such as machinery, suitable land and infrastucture to support , Once built those costs are fixed or diminish over time. Although initial costs are high the fuel source is free, it’s competetitor coal and oil do not have that luxury as they have an exponetially riseing fuel cost.
Inherantly wind generators require a back up source of energy to support them to make their variabile generation manageable.
If you where to make two overlapping graphs of Renewable and Fossill fuels with exponets of time verses costs the two would be inversley proportional, with wind being the winner over time.
However,
Due to the fact that wind requires a back up to be managable from a load stability perspective, fossil fuels will always have to be there for that support. As we near peak energy fossil fuel supply after only 100 years and haveing the rest of the third world countries aspiring to our lifestyle , it would not be unreasonable to assume that we will run out at some point in the next century.
That being said, prundence dictates that for every kilowatt of energy generated ‘Now’ by that Free fuel source that s one kilowatt of nonrenewable energy saved in the ground for that future “necessary “load stabilising energy source.
Time, lets not forget our childrens, children.
New, cleaner energy sources should be sought and will, in all likelihood, continue to be found. New efficiencies and conservation methods follow the same rule. Some things will prove to be economical and effective – others, not so much. Just because a particular generation method captures the imagination of the public (with a lot of help from industry marketing) it’s not necessarily the best path to follow – certainly not in all situations. That determination needs to be made in the absence of the hype that characterizes most of what the public is presently given in lieu of solid, realistic information on wind power.
Maybe some wind power has a place in New England, maybe not much. For sure, there is no urgency or emergency that will be meaningfully addressed by wind development in Maine. So, why not take a long hard look at what we’re jumping into before we take this big leap of faith in the dark.
If you read the article above thoroughly, you will notice a distinct lack of any argument for wind power other than the promise of jobs, the vast majority of which are just those involved with building wind projects – a very temporary and isolated perk. Maybe that’s just not enough reason to put on blinders and charge forward with mountaintop wind development in Maine.
Yes, exactly. Our kids need intact scenery and mtns. to climb. They do not need the state covered with wind turbines on every mtn,. hill and nubble. When one realizes there will never be enough energy for such a gluttonous species, cutting back wasteful lifestyles will surely happen eventually. By then there will be nothing left of the natural world with the resources used up if we continue on with scams like wind turbines. How will the millions of turbine gearboxes stay turning when the oil is gone someday? People will be forced to reduce their lifestyles someday.
There are far less windmills in the state than cell, TV, and radio towers. How’s ’bout we start there?
Astonishingly, the governor and I have just found something we agree on.
Here is a good one for all of the wind power fans out there I was recently working at one of the windmill sites. It was a windy day and none of the windmills were turning, they told me it was not windy enough. I had already noticed that the blades were turned straight into the wind, and I stated that the reason they were not turning was because of the blade angle. That was when they told me they were restricted to only feeding a maximum of 50 mw into the system between three wind sites. Millions of dollars in windmills on the taxpayers back and regulations dont allow them to turn. It is bad enough that the windmills are the most costly and least efficient way to produce power out there now they dont want them turning
So much for feeding extra to the lines and being able to resell it to other areas.
There is no room for wind energy in ME. That is why we need 1.4 billion dollars worth of “upgrades” . Not be cause the transmission lines are old or outdated….but because the grid was at capacity before the Stetsom Mt wind farm was built. Mars Hill power goes to Canada. Read this link for the evidence. This is a gigantic rip off of tax and rate payers.
http://www.maine.gov/mpuc/electricity/docs/MPUCMotiontoInterveneER08-190.PDF
This is from the Forward Capacity Market filing from ISO-New England to FERC earlier this year. It helps to explain not only that the projects have miserable output, but the transmission is overloaded. To put wind into the grid, ironically. here in Maine the hydro dams must close the gates and reduce output. So we reduce a clean, emissions-free renewable source for wind rather than curtail any coal fired plant anywhere.
Evergreen Wind Power III, LLC.
The Rollins Wind Plant project requested to be qualified with a summer Qualified
Capacity of 10.390 MW in the Maine Load Zone. The overlapping impact analysis
determined that the Orrington South interface would be overloaded after the addition of
the Rollins Wind Plant project. The ISO has determined that the upgrades associated
with the transmission project are unlikely to be completed by the start of the 2015-2016
Capacity Commitment Period.
Evergreen Wind Power V, LLC.
The Stetson Wind project requested to be qualified with a summer Qualified
Capacity of 10.000 MW in the Maine Load Zone. The overlapping impact analysis
determined that the Orrington South interface would be overloaded after the addition of
the Stetson Wind project. The ISO has determined that the upgrades associated with the
transmission project are unlikely to be completed by the start of the 2015-2016 Capacity
Commitment Period.
Stetson Wind II, LLC.
The Stetson Wind II project requested to be qualified with a summer Qualified
Capacity of 4.070 MW in the Maine Load Zone. The overlapping impact analysis
determined that the Orrington South interface would be overloaded after the addition of
the Stetson Wind II project. The ISO has determined that the upgrades associated with
the transmission project are unlikely to be completed by the start of the 2015-2016
Capacity Commitment Period.
I wonder how many RECs they are selling even though the energy is not used?
They still get full credit as long as they are turning even if the power is not used. It s an Enron energy game and we are all playing along, willing or not.
I am strongly opposed to most of Governor LePage’s ill advised, right wing policies that exclusively favor the well to do, but I have to admit he is the only major politician I know of who does know the facts about energy matters. Mr. Payne is wrong. Wind has increased our power rates just as it has every where. It has not been reported in US press, but several German industrialists have been selling off their once world class assets in Germany and intend to make their future investments in South America and Asia. The reasons? They say it is because of the high cost and unreliability of wind power as well as the incompatability of wind signals with large scale manufacturing processes. One German firm lost $750 million over the past few months because there are split second pauses in the signals that cause the machines to bind up. But it is the mandated 2% annual increase in the use of wind power as well as the cost of paying for unneeded taransmission lines that are driving up the cost of electric power in Maine. Clyde MacDonald, Hampden
Uh huh. It has been reported followed by unsubstantiated myths does not fly.
Germany is increasing its wind power use and businesses are flourishing because of the stability and predictability of energy costs because of that investment in their future.
http://www.windtaskforce.org/page/the-truth-about-europe
An organization created for the sole purpose of spreading propaganda is not a credible source no matter which side it is on.
There are no LEGITIMATE news sources to back up the fanciful tales about the “failure” of wind power in Germany, where the measured reported energy output increased by over 30% in the last 2 to 3 years.
Dream on Bub.
“Although Germany’s promotion of renewable energies is commonly portrayed in the media as setting a “shining example in providing a harvest for the world” (The Guardian 2007), we would instead regard the country’s experience as a cautionary tale of massively expensive environmental and energy policy that is devoid of economic and environmental benefits.” – Economic impacts from the
promotion of renewable energies: The German experience
October 2009
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/germany/Germany_Study_-_FINAL.pdf
Thank you for reaffirming my points with your lack of a meaningful response.
Like all the pro-wind organizations aren’t propagandists for the wind lobby? My link cited German sources, not lawyers and Angus King. Of course I’m sure you didn’t bother reading them.
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/germany/Germany_Study_-_FINAL.pdf
And however you view wind power, the fact remains that they generate nowhere near what they promise and never will (http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/05/19/business/first-wind-satisfied-with-electricity-output-in-2011-spokesman-says/), and that they could not survive without the most absurd levels of subsidization of any energy industry going.
I have not quoted any pro wind organizations because I know they are biased. Which is why I clearly said no matter which side it is on.
You certainly can find unbiased information, straight from the governments involved. If you go to UnclePaul12’s link to German production (
http://www.gwec.net/index.php?id=129) and do the math, you find that in 2010, German wind turbines produced a whopping 15.6% of their advertised capacity. Which is one reason why Germany is ramping up their nuclear power. If you think that kind of performance is a recommendation FOR wind power, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Try February articles in Der Spiegel on line.
Please stop. You are too funny.
http://www.gwec.net/index.php?id=129
UnclePaul12, according to YOUR link, if all German turbines installed in 2010 were running at nameplate (advertised) capacity, they would have generated 238.55 TWh of power per year. Also according to your link, they actually generated only 37.3TWh, which is a performance factor of a whopping 15.636% of what they were sold to do. What a bargain, huh? And this is your argument in FAVOR of adding them here?
Wanna buy a bridge?
That is simply not true.
The energy output from wind in Germany has increased by more than 30% in the past 2 to 3 years. This has helped Germany mitigate much of the financial crisis hitting many countries all around them because they have had lower, more stable and predictable electricity costs.
Why don’t you move to Germany then? Leave Maine to Mainers.
What an ignorant comment.
I am a native Mainer and have been a Mainer for 80 years now.
You have just proven that you are a complete jerk and have NOTHING of substance to add.
I believe you to be a bald faced LIAR and a turbine hugger. Move back to Massachusetts and ruin your own state and leave Maine to those of us who appreciate the woods, fields, lakes and hills.
Get your head out of the sand Mary:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13592208
Germany is also ending ths use of nuclear plants.
Germany is decommissioning their aging nuclear plants as wind and other safer, cheaper energy sources come on board to help replace up the resulting loss of power.
Germany is now increasing their massive imports of coal.
So be it for global warming and CO2 reduction.
Do you have a link to back up that fairy tale?
They are looking into thorium reactors. Much safer.
“Although Germany’s promotion of renewable energies is commonly portrayed in the media as setting a “shining example in providing a harvest for the world” (The Guardian 2007), we would instead regard the country’s experience as a cautionary tale of massively expensive environmental and energy policy that is devoid of economic and environmental benefits.”
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/germany/Germany_Study_-_FINAL.pdf
Got anything less than 5 years old?
Yes, the one I posted was 2.5 years old and is dated as such. Typical pathetic and reckless attempt at distortion on your part.
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/germany/Germany_Study_-_FINAL.pdf
Here’s a newer article:
http://www.gwec.net/index.php?id=129
In the comment I replied to the original link (it could have been edited and changed since then) was to a 5 year old article, not the one you have just linked to.
The report at the following link, which is the original one and only one I posted on Germany, is from October 2009, making it 2.5 years old.
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/germany/Germany_Study_-_FINAL.pdf
Here’s a more positive article:
http://www.gwec.net/index.php?id=129
Great link with actual facts. Thank you.
Tyke is partly correct. The Merkel government in Germany has gone overboard on wind power. yes, Germany is now relying more on wind power and that precisely is the reason theat major traditional firms are leaving, selling out to foreign firms, and/or leaving for other countries. When the news of the departures rech our shores, I wonder in Tyke then will change his mind.
The cost of the off shore wind farm in Nantucket Sound has gone up 300% ..and hasn’t even been built. Parent company of First Wind wants to build it. Push back from the state of Mass , even Wal Mart, because they are objecting to increases in power bills. It is amazing how wind power people lie. Refusing to admit the noise, the health hazards to people, animals and the environment and increases in electric bills. These people know nothing but lies.
And they are good at it!!!
Right on. Professor Dagher at the Univ. of Mzine But the editors of all of maine’s daily newspepers support wind and off shore wind. They remind me of the Aaskans and their infamous “road to nowhere>” Any magnet to attract federral funds will do.
Thanks Clyde for a sensible post.
And thank you. I am of the belief that nearly all critics of wind power have sensible points of view!
REALLY???? “Wind is costing us dearly. It’s costing us jobs, it’s costing us investment and it’s costing us big.” ???? What investments? What Jobs? What is it costing verses dependance on foreign fuels? Are the jobs the ones associated with pollution? Destroying the environment?
There is an interesting aspect to start-up operations — especially when the technology is proven in other locates — the up-front cost is high. That fact that there are people who would rather disrupt things for everyone, so they can have a “view” they never look at, or look at for the week or so they are in the state (their earnings and taxes and legal residences being out of state … reminds me of LePage & Florida), that doesn’t matter to LePage. Block lawsuits stopping projects and you’ll immediately reduce the start-up costs significantly.
Every industry has a critical point … reach that and economies of scale take over. Costs drop and costs to consumers drop. If you don’t understand that, look at computer prices … What were they were they, and the cost of an internet connection, when I wrote a half page editorial BDN article on the coming internet superhighway (back around 1994)? What was the cost of a Model III computer (64kilo-byte memory) back then, and what is the cost of a 500 mega-byte, or the newer 1 terra-byte, computer today? Economies of scale ! LePage doesn’t grasp the concept.
Turbine costs go up every year. Computer costs or at least price/value goes down every year.
The cost of oil refineries has gone up much faster than the cost of wind turbines.
Oil having zero to do with wind power.
The MO of the online “wind army” supporting wind is to introduce irrelevant material and introducing oil is a common distraction.
See:
”
Wind Industry Sponsored Online Blogging Alive, Well and Against the Law?”
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/wind-industry-sponsored-online-blogging-alive-well-and-against
Wind has n0thing to do with getting us off “foreign fuels”, because we don’t generate electricity with oil (less than 2% nationwide, less than that here in Maine). The jobs, the money, and the power all go out of the state, and out of the country. If you look at the NREL’s wind map of Maine and the published power curves from Siemens for Angus’ preferred turbine, you will see that the Oxford “farm” will average about 17% of the nameplate capacity they used to sell it to us. Those turbines only approach rated capacity with 29 mph winds! Oxford averages 12 mph. First Wind is “satisfied” with their performance of no more than 32% of the capacity they promised when they sold us the things. Would you buy a Prius if the sticker said 50 mpg but you only really got 8? Wind power doesn’t, never has, and never will, work.
Even if the wind farms could produce the energy that they are supposed to be able to ….the grid in ME is full. NY grid is too. Why build wind farms when there is no room on the grid in Cohocton NY and all over ME?(Turbines only last 20 years)
The RECs and subsidies. First Wind’s SEC report states that they do not have to produce energy to make money. Those people should be in jail, as well as baldaci and his merry men.
Rip offs to tax payers and rate payers. Gigantic con game that doesn’t work with republicans. Makes me glad we have a two party system. Baldaci and his gang were in bed with wind energy.
How is this for rip off of Taxpayers: These are the outrights gifts of taxpayer money given to the wind power developers. 30% of the construction cost!
ARRA Sec.1603 Grants Awarded to Maine Wind Projects
Name of Project Grant Amount Date
Evergreen Wind Power III, LLC $53,246,347 12/29/2011
Evergreen Wind Power V, LLC $40,441,471 9/1/2009
Stetson Wind II, LLC $19,328,865 5/27/2010
TransCanada Maine Wind Dev. $43,946,534 6/7/2010
TransCanada Maine Wind Dev. $44,591,705 3/24/2011
Notes: Evergreen III is the “Rollins Project in Lincoln Lakes region; Evergreen V is the original Stetson Mt. project near Prentiss; the TransCanada is the Kibby Mt. project near Chain of Lakes & Eustis.
Comparing internet superhighway and cost of computers to wind energy is hilarious. The wind farms in ME are performing at app. 30% capacity. If we did that at our jobs, we would be fired. Wind farms NEVER produce the energy purported by their paid shills.
Way to go Governor…Keep up the good work…
There are several of my customers put up windmills. They spent about $6500 each, on getting the windmill and getting it running etc. One of them opened his light bill the first month. His bill was $9 less than the month before. It would take almost 14 years to pay off the windmill before it would profit. I am finding this to be the case with most windmills :-(
The only economically feasible form of wind power is small residential turbines charging batteries, and those only pay for themselves before the turbines wear out if you build your own turbine. Industrial wind is a scam, and not even remotely “green”.
LePage wants Maine to import expensive Canadian Electricity to pay off his buddies for his draft Sanctuary years ago.
He still has 2 daughters who are Canadians and one of them married into a family with financial interests in non wind energy.
LePage’s Canadian son in law is an executive with the Canadian company Eastern Greenway Oils, Inc.
Wind has NOTHING to do with oil. We have educated you on this many times over.
Are you the only pro-wind blogger working this holiday weekend? How did you pull this shift – it seems you would have some seniority, having constantly repeated the same bull for years.
OK lets take this S L O W L Y … the objection to wind that it requires government subsidies makes the comparison to other energy sources which also required government subsidies for many, many decades entirely valid and pertinent.
Logic and argumentation should be left to logical people.
Do you know any?
And he’s going to do it again if he get’s the chance with the E-W Highway and Bald Mountain project’s.
No. LePage is more for Canada to supply Boston area than GRID scale WIND turbines ruining Maine’s Ice-age eco-systems on our mountain tops.
Boston is insatiable , WIND will never power them. Hydro is as green as it gets.
Once again, Kevin Miller writes a piece for the wind industry in Maine. Once again, Kevin Miller goes to the hired shills and those who profit from wind development for their comments. Once again, Kevin Miller fails to ask the people leading the fight against this blight on our beautiful state what their opinion is about Gov. LePage’s comments.
Kevin Miller, you know who we are and how to contact us. It is unbalanced reporting to ask Jeremy Payne and Paul Williamson to comment and not ask the leaders of the Citizens’ Task Force on Wind Power or people who are impacted by the wind power developments for their comments. It is about time that First Wind or some other developer just put you on their payroll because your reporting always has a definite pro-wind angle.
Typical BDN. Once they set their sites on an issue they never change. Keep an eye on the ongoing pimping of Angus King, by BDN “journalists.”
When your industry is one that simply would never be competetive without unduly high subsidization, ability to sell Enron-inspired RECs, and mandates, that is what creates uncertainty. The uncertainty is not from a Governor who is true to his pledge to try to lower the cost of electricity to Mainer’s can save and our businesses can compete better.
The uncertainty over the expiration of the production Tax Credit is giving the windustry far greater fits than statements from Gov. LePage, for the windustry has admitted its additction to Congress in saying it can not continue without the PTC.
After Baldacci shoved wind development down our throats, it is refreshing to see Gov. LePage speak some truth about wind power. It is a scam and it’s continued proliferation is ruining our mountains and our state’s “Quality of Place”.
Oil would not have been competitive either without the start up subsidies and continual financial propping up by the government that continues to this day.
If you like him in ‘Gone with the Wind’ you’ll love him in ‘The Road to Morocco’. Paulie has made it abundantly clear that he’s using political ideology, not economic’s, to drive State policy’s in the energy sector. UMFK’s recent bio-mass system is an example of using what we have, as a State, to generate our own power. What’s so sad is that no more is being done to see if there are any more technologies that are out there to get the State’s electrical bill lower. The fact that there are abundant Hydro-site’s not being used is alone a serious issue that needs to be addressed as is the obvious use, courtesy of UMFK’s new system, the use of bio-gas. Bangor already has it, and Casella is making money from it. Why not expand it’s use ? It’s here, it’s proven and it’s affordable.
Paul LePage is not against self supporting biomass systems. Where did you get this idea from? The liberal media?
It’s obvious what kind of scam has been perpetrated on Mainers if one looks at the facts: the rapacious devastation of pristine wilderness areas like Kibby Mountain, Bald and Spruce Mountains and host of other wildlife refuges; taxpayer extortion by complicit politicians to enrich a handful of Quixotic swindlers like Angus King; and an economic model that is utterly unsustainable based on the net cost to generate one Kw of electricity. Not that long ago liberal environmentalists intoxicated with sickly-green agendas advocated to restrict the development of hydro sites in Maine, a decision for which we now pay one of the highest utility rates in the country. The irony of all this is almost amusing, if it had not been so damaging to our economy. Governor LePage appears intent on evaluating the economics vis a vis what will be in the best interest of Mainers. That’s a refreshing change from years of chronic abuse by swarms of Orwellian thieves and tramps.
“It is incumbent on all of us within the industry to educate the governor and the public,” Williamson said.”
Yes it is, start by telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God!
We do not need wind power. It costs everyone. It cost money (tax dollars) trees, animals, birds, bats, and peace and quiet.
Le Page is the best Gov. this State has had in many years.
Maine Heritage Policy Center’s Paul LePage’s rhetoric creates enough wind to power a small village. I look forward to the day he drys up and blows away!
At least his rhetoric is powering a small village. It could be causing its demise like the rhetoric of previous administrations in the past 40 years.
notice is said CONSTRCUCTION of the projects gave jobs- wind turbines do not belong in Maine for SO many reasons and high electricity costs is one- look at Europe for an example- thank goodness LePage has had the courage to call a spade a spade in Angus King and both he and Mr. Fletcher have every right to question the long tern benefits (none) to the people of Maine. Of course the comments about electricity rates are facts- look for Denmark and other countries in Europe where electricity prices have skyrocketed with the idea wind is part of the global warming answer and putting up many of them.
There is NO way you can align wind and lower electricity rate..oxymoron.
Did you run that by Lance?
Also, it’s funny, we don’t hear from supporters of wind-derived energy how wind mills in Texas are creating climate change. If wind-generated power is so clean why are they causing climate change? This is no joke.
No Valid arguments says someone below? YIKES! they are aplenty and REAL..ask those who have been negatively impacted by them in the State- Mars Hill, Vinyhaven and other places/
and I spelled construction wrong in my other comment,,but that is why it LOOKS like job creation, it is extremely short term…and short sighted.
Im not even going to read the article, well, perhaps I will, but if lepage is against it, I can in general say that Im for it. He is such a dinosaur. I can just imagine his comment on wind turbines “Stupid things dont work, they dont produce as much wind as I do blathering away at press conferences”
Now, that sounds like an irrational comment on the merits of wind-generated power. I hope you don’t live your life opposing people who disagree with you on some issues. Aren’t there any issues you have in common with the governor and all those other people you disagree with? Right now you are fighting a good part of the world, it seems.
I think wind power has an incredible amount of potential. One small windmill in Iowa powers a school. A second slightly larger one brings in $120,000 a year of electricity they sell to the grid and pays for up to 3 school teachers. It only takes winds of 8 mph to generate electricity. If I built a house I would have a small wind mill and solar panels and have electric heat and save a lot of money.
In order for wind generated power to have any real significant impact on our energy usage, wind plants would have to dominate the landscape everywhere, and Mainers would have to be willing to put up with associated exorbitant high costs of electricity. Electricity derived from energy just isn’t feasible. Natural gas offers a much better fit for Mainers.
The last place I lived was switched over to natural gas…and it stunk so bad I couldn’t stand it. The water quality changed too…went from tasting great to tasting like vomit. The whole family also were sick all the time. SO glad I don’t live there anymore.
Sounds like there was a ground leak contaminating the water, and maybe a dangerous situation to boot. I hope you informed the landlord or the next person who took over the place for the sake of safety. Natural gas lines when properly installed should not cause any problem.
Once again we are talking about clean energy and how it is producing jobs. BS. Think of all the jobs that have been lost in the coal industry, nuclear,and now how many more will be lost in the oil industry. If any of you can go without seeing a Dead River,Webber,Irving,R.H.Foster or your local dealer any day let me know. Those are jobs that we have now and clean energy will never equal the number of job created in the past by these industries.
Wind generated power only appears to be clean energy. The energy used to manufacture these generators is usually not clean energy. I’d rather see more focus on natural gas that is clean, and wood pellets that leave no net carbon footprints. The governor supports that idea apparently.
The mars hill project had too many lawmakers involved too reduce power costs the electricty generated by the turbines is sold to the power grid on the east coast the power leaves the state of maine.the only people to make money were the people that thought of themselves and not the good of the town.as far as people complaining as soon as they found out the company putting up the wind farm was a viable company and was going forward then they were out for everything they could get.
God Bless Our Troops of the the past ,the present,and the future.
I would like wind power more if a good portion of the energy produced remained in Maine. Also, I do not believe that the TIFs are necessary. If they at least reduced the percentage of the TIFs wherein the windpower companies would still pay some taxes. Plus, reduce the agreement from 20 years to 10 or 15 years. The life of the windmills is about 20 years — I do not believe the windpower companies need a TIF for the full life of the project. I think the windpower companies have been greedy and local governments have been naive in that they did not ask for a percentage of the power produced and TIFs more favorable to the local community.
If the power stayed local it would cost 10 fold.. and your mthly bill would reflexed that…
They will never, ever pay for themselves. The numbers are not there.. It is impossible for these windmills to pay for themselves. That is not where the money is. the money is in adminstration fees. Charging the government to use taxpayers money
I say, sell all the wind power to those states who place a premium on it with energy credits. Then use the money to buy cheaper power for Maine users.
Lepage is a corrupt lair who will be gone soon. Nothing he says will matter once we toss the thieving Republican’s out of office this November.
What does your perception of LePage have to do with his stance on wind power? If you disagree with his stance, then tell us why.
I disagree with the draft dodging Paul Lepage because I don’t want anyone else to have to die so that pigs like him can drive around in his gas guzzling limo sucking on a glass of vino.
Wow, you don’t sound like a Lord to me. What side of the bed did you rise from this morning? Be careful, hatred has a way of turning its back.
Thats right, the last sentence in that article. Educate the governor and the public.Stop wasting our tax dollars.Wind farms will not make a difference.
Let me see, you spend 3 millon per windmill installed, it sells $50,000 worth of power per year times 20 yrs(lifespan of windmill) which equals 1 millon dollars.
What smart investor wouldn’t put his money in that?
What is “creating uncertainty” for the wind industry is their lying, scoundrel like, snake-oil
deceptive business model, which is doomed after this election.
No Subsidies, No grants, No RGGI, No PTC…NO WIND INDUSTRY SCAMMING!
The JIG IS UP IN MAINE for the liars, the “CARTEL OF WIND LIARS “eXPOSED!
THE SELF -sERVING is now on display for all to see.
Even Angus King can’t lie through his past history this time!
The digital age has reached his lying self-serving deceptive rhetoric .
Thanks Paul!
You bet there is uncertainty for the Wind Cartel!
The reason?
It is now known that Wind is an Expensive Farce of Epic Proportion That Does Not Work!
and,
Maybe this governor can’t be BOUGHT!
and the citizens know the game.
Forget about Angus King. What about Jock McKernan and his energy investments? Face it people – the rich have played us all for funding their pet projects with our tax dollars. King just happens to be more convincing than most at brainwashing the gullible masses.
We should consider the source, here, folks: Gov. Lepage is not going to support any kind of alternative energy that conflicts with his “pet project,” gas. I’m not a big supporter of land-based wind power, but I do support offshore wind power. When it comes to Lepage, it’s wise to follow the money.
Hydro Quebec – a Quebec government utility – is building 3100 MW of wind power capacity to sell to the New England power market.
Vermont currently pays $69 per MWh to buy electricity from Hydro Quebec.
LePage’s Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and Security reported that electricity from Maine’s Rollins wind project costs $53 – 65 per MWh.
LePage wants us to buy expensive wind power from Quebec, when we can produce it cheaper here in Maine – and have millions in taxable assets that will reduce property taxes in Maine communities that host wind farms.
As usual, LePage has it all wrong.
Yessah
this is a scientist- and in a radio interview he just did on gary null he spoke about the LARGE # of bats in VA and one other state that are found dead around the turbines plus the other negatives on wind, including reduction of CO2..the wind company says what they want to, please listen to objective science,,…and research shows electricity rates skyrocket where there is wind power-
http://www.masterresource.org/2009/12/the-wind-farm-scam-by-john-etherington/
White nose syndrome – caused by an invasive fungus – is the biggest threat to North American bat populations and may result in the extinction of some bat species.
It is not caused by wind turbines.
Peer reviewed scientific studies have calculated that wind turbine bat mortality in the US is 0.07 to 2 bats per turbine per year.
Sorry – wind turbines are not a significant factor in bat mortality.
Yessah
How much of that almost $1 billion was government funded projects or government guaranteed loans?
Williamson needs to stop spreading fantasies as fact. The legislators who listened to his foolishness were too lazy to do their own research. Payne needs to get a real job. Both need to stop pretending people are not educated about the wind industry and realize it is because we are educated that we do not believe the falsehoods and misrepresentations the wind industry continues to spread. As for Parker, exactly how many crane operators are you employing in Hancock County? 1? Stop scalping the mtns. and stop ruining the ridges with roads and erosion. The RPS needs to go, we cannot afford it. Parker knows nothing about energy, only construction. Wind cannot compete with out freebies and special deals. Enron is alive and well.
I didn’t link to any five year old articles. The following I linked to about Germany is 2.5 years old, which I pointed out:
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/germany/Germany_Study_-_FINAL.pdf
It is dated October 2009.
Your customers on’t sound too bright, you can make a windmill out of an old car altinator for next to nothing
Your “customers’ don’t sound to bright. You can make a windmill out of an old car altinator for next to nothing.
Somebody did not contribute to LePages campaign, that is clear. I cannot wait until he serves out his four and is gone.
Strange how a man with so much hot air can be against wind power. My IQ decreases each day Le Putrid is in office.
enter
Now I can see why the oil cartel is so much more attractive. Endless profits, endless wars trying to stabilize
the Middle East and all great effects on the environment. The debate is about power but not electrical.
The US Administration has funded many “shovel ready” projects over the last 3 years or so with our tax dollars, while they keep borrowing from China at an ever increasing rate. Maine’s past Democratic controlled or like minded Administrations (King) want to be “green” so they can feel good about themselves? and maybe make some cash on the side?? and be like Europe at all of our expense. So now the US economy is looking like some countries in Europe, while the current Maine government administration is trying to dig it’s way out of the hole that are European minded past Administrations has got us into. Canada appears to have figured out that homegrown oil is cheaper than from the Middle East and are even making a profit from it. I don’t wish to suffer at the expense of the Democratic agenda and those like minded, I can’t afford it. How about you?