Green Energy



  • In just under nine months, the residents of several Somerset county communities might see our beloved landscape and soundscape changed drastically for the remainder of our lives. Likewise, all the people of Maine could lose the scenic value of some of the state’s finest natural treasures, and few even know of the threat. Under recently amended state laws, all could occur with little consideration to the wisdom or long term implications of such a move. Times Record

  • ‘Trading our environment for wind power’. Nancy O’Toole is a member of the Friends of the Boundary Mountains, a nonprofit that intervened in the Kibby Mountain project as well as the Sisk Mountain project before LURC now. She has a bachelor of science degree in environmental engineering and 10 years of experience with high mountain road construction and hazardous waste cleanup in towns in Utah. Sunjournal.com

  • I have been advocating for wind power for decades. I never thought I would see the day when I would be opposing wind power development. However, the current frantic rush to install industrial wind on every viable mountaintop is both shortsighted and ecologically damaging. All one has to do is look at the impact of the Kibby TransCanada industrial wind operation in the remote Boundary Mountains of western Maine. This is nothing more than industrial wind mountaintop removal. It is being driven by dollars and cents, not ecological sense. Mountaintop industrial wind power is not ‘green’. By Jonathan Carter. Times Record

  • Fast-Tracking of Wind Power Projects Generating Resistance. Now that Plum Creek's controversial development plan for Moosehead Lake has been approved by the Land Use Regulation Commission, the state planning agency is turning its attention to another controversial subject: wind. Today LURC heard advice from state officials, environmental groups and members of the public about how to proceed with an expedited permitting process for siting wind projects. Some are skeptical and angry about the fast-track for wind, while others believe it's essential to reach the state's alternative energy goals. MPBN.net

  • (NECN: Amy Sinclair, Augusta, Maine) - Another wind power proposal is coming under fire in Maine, and this time, so is the commission that oversees the permitting for many of Maine's industrial scale wind power projects. NECN's Amy Sinclair explains why protesters are asking Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission or "LURC" to put on the brakes. NECN.com/Boston

  • Industrial wind sites are not economically feasible nor environmentally sound. The industry would not exist if it were not for the tax credits, production subsidies, accelerated depreciation, guaranteed purchase of kilowatts by the grid, etc. Due to the unreliable, intermittent nature of wind energy and the inability of the grid to store electricity (unlike individual units with storage), the grid must power down fossil fuel baseline power plants because they are mandated to accept wind energy whenever it is produced. Thus, the powered down baseline plants operate at less efficiency, which produce greater pollution. So, your "green" energy ends up increasing pollution---how ironic! How green is an energy source that blasts away ridgelines and creates clearcuts in rural Maine?

  • Cost and Quantity of Greenhouse Gass Emissions Avoided by Wind Generation. By David MacGay www.withouthotair.com

  • Throwing Caution to the Wind: the growing threat of Industrial Wind Energy Development in Pennsylvania to Wildlife, Habitat and Public Lands. By Dan Boone, Consulting Conseration Biologist Boone 2

  • 'Green' ideas don't work with real numbers applied. Read more

  • Today we are faced with many issues regarding the previous ecological misuse of our planet. In our mad dash to correct the maligning of our environment we are grasping at alternative sources of energy: mainly wind, solar and hydro. Wind power is the concern of this letter, and Harley Lee's project on the Redington Range is the center of that concern. I wonder if, in our rush to seek alternatives to foreign oil, we may be overlooking our most valuable local natural resources. Green, at any cost?

  • On Sept. 15, 2008, turbine #10 at the wind facility experienced a catastrophic failure when one of the blades came in contact with the turbine's tower, causing it to buckle during high winds. The turbine's 28-ton nacelle and three-blade rotor assembly crashed to the ground, scattering debris several hundred feet from the structure. Approximately 20 gallons of heavy oil spilled from the unit when its fluid reservoirs were damaged. Times Argus, Vermont

  • Maine's 'wind rush' an abuse of the public trust. An Editorial by WindAction

  • This paper contains a simple analysis of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided by wind power and the cost per tonne of emissions avoided. It puts these figures in context by comparing them with some other ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation. The conclusion: wind farms connected to the National Grid provide low value energy at high cost, and avoid little greenhouse gas emissions. Cost and Quantity of Greenhouse Gas Emissions avoided by Wind Generation. By Peter Lang




  • Wind power the most expensive. I read with concern the Sun Journal articles, op-eds and letters on wind power. I work for wind power constructors all across America as a project controls consultant and have been in the power industry for the past 30 years. Let me offer some observations before this paper and others rush to support jamming wind towers on the mountains in Maine. Sunjournal.com

  • Wind farms could be more valuable to local communities than riverboat casinos, but not if they don't pay their fair share of local porperty taxes. “The ones we've looked at, on average, the state is assessing each windmill an average of $1 million," said accountant Gregory Guerrettaz, president of Financial Solutions Group in Indianapolis. "So right there, you could be losing a differential of $4 million on taxes during the life of that windmill." the starpress.com

  • We do not understand why IER gets the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) so spun up. Maybe it’s because of our opposition to government subsidies. Maybe it’s because we don’t believe that government mandates forcing people to buy energy from expensive, inefficient sources is good for the economy. Or perhaps it is because of our belief that consumers, not Washington, should choose the sources of energy they think is best for them. Institute for Energy Research

  • Though proponents of so-called government-funded ‘green jobs’ often reference the ‘success’ European countries have enjoyed in their experiments with such regulations and mandates, a study released today in the United States sheds new light on Germany’s experience with renewable energy and heavy taxpayer subsidies. Entitled ‘Economic impacts from the promotion of renewable energies: The German Experience,’ the study was published by German think tank Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI). Institute for Energy Research

  • The powerline that both Stetson Mt. and Rollins are being plugged into is already at its maximum capacity. If First Wind is going to build Stetson II (17 turbines) and Rollins (40 turbines) it will be without adequate powerline capacity! Just to improve the southern part of Maine‚Äôs grid, costs will be about 1.4 billion. An additional tax of 2.1 cent is added for every kW generated by wind mills. This cost will show up in your Bangor Hydro bill and you will be paying for something we don't need nor derive any benefit.

  • Clean energy has a dirty secret. It isn't cheap. Consumers already are starting to feel at least a modest pinch in their electric bills. The impact is expected to grow in the next few years as utilities accelerate their investments to meet state quotas requiring a portion of clean energy in their generation mix. USA Today.com


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