The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, in assessing the proposed Bowers Mountain Wind Project put forth by First Wind, recently arrived at the sensible conclusion to deny the application. At question was whether proposed 400-foot ridgetop wind towers with 60-foot rotating blades and 24/7 red strobe lights could have been seen from some of Maine’s most majestic lakes.
Surprisingly, the undeniable impact on the view was once in question by a state that has long since banned 40-foot-high freeway billboards but endured First Wind falsehoods that towers 10 times higher would have no impact. Neil Kiely, First Wind representative, told a Maine news station with a straight face that “Most folks find that [wind turbines] are either attractive or fade into the distance.”
President Obama has greased the skids for green power, funneling no-interest loans and stimulus funds to green energy companies such as Solyndra while instituting a hidden tax on utility consumers by requiring that their power usage increasingly come from green sources.
This energy is green in name only — energy derived from wind is far more inefficient and costly than First Wind and friends would have you believe. But energy and global warming have morphed into election issues.
Despite approval ratings at an abysmal 36 percent, the president still recycles the same energy rhetoric to galvanize his political base.
Obama recently spoke about the evils of traditional energy sources at the institution where I work, energizing the same volatile and naive university students who have become core support for his reelection bid.
In an Oct. 14 BDN OpEd, Tim Gardner and Jay Haynes wrote, “Wind power helps save Down East way of life.” This is not true. We have exported employment in the paper, furniture and textile industries once operating in central and northern Maine because of the heavy hand of Obama-style liberal politics that puts a premium on corporate regulation and stifling taxes on blue-collar companies. This leads to job export to developing countries.
The First Wind development that the Gardner-Haynes OpEd supports, which is funded by lavish grants and stimulus funds courtesy of the Obama administration, creates a miniscule number of permanent jobs while extending our tax burden and national debt.
Gardner and Haynes state that in supporting industrial wind power, Mainers “would like to have an additional revenue stream to offset the cost of taxes on their lands.” Gardner’s and Haynes’ companies already have this revenue stream; it’s the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law and it requires landowners receiving this break to permit the public on their land in exchange for reduced property taxes.
Why does Lakeville Shores want the Bowers wind project to be approved? Because it owns the same mountainsides that First Wind wants to develop. For Lakeville Shores, that’s a double dip. They remove 100-year-old trees off scenic Maine ridgetops and then lease their land to First Wind at rates subsidized by Obama stimulus funds.
Conservation groups such as Maine Audubon stand next to clear-cutters such as Lakeville Shores and extol the virtues of mountaintop wind development because they both get financial incentives from First Wind.
The most glaring and blatant omission from the Gardner-Haynes OpEd is the fact that public comments to LURC were overwhelmingly against the proposed Bowers project. This opposition speaks to the soul of Maine because only the opponents are trying to preserve a priceless view.
This overwhelming opposition to the Bowers project served notice to LURC that the vast majority of interested parties do not want to sacrifice first-class views for a disastrously so-called green development project that would have used your tax dollars and required thousands of tons of explosives, fossil fuels and mountaintop blasting to complete.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Wind Farm Follies
So much for the argument that renewables don’t compromise our national security the way fossil fuels do – but try telling an environmentalist as much. While it was first reported more than a year ago that wind farms were interfering with military radar, making airplanes disappear from sight on screens and cluttering those same screens with the blade-rotation changes of turbine blades, not much was said on the matter until this month, when the Department of Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) proudly unveiled the Renewable Energy and Defense Database. The REDD is an interactive tool that allows renewable-energy developers to locate military installations with a view toward avoiding them in deciding where to construct future projects.
According to a Nov. 9 DoD press release, the “labor-intensive, very time-consuming project” was primarily an effort of the NRDC and didn’t cost the federal government a dime. Unfortunately, this assessment fails to take into account the hefty national security toll wind farms have already taken – and will likely continue to take unless the current premium placed on “green” energy isn’t removed.
As of 2008, wind turbines had compromised almost 40 percent of U.S. long-range radar systems (h/t masterresource.org). Here’s just one example of how: In 2007, two wind-farm projects slated for the area near Travis Air Force Base in northern California came before the county planning commission. The base and a county airport land-use body sought to have the projects delayed until turbines’ effects on radars could be further studied. But when, the following year, a project supporter donated $1 million to the base, Col. Steven Arquiette, commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, “was told by his superiors to accept the money and withdraw his complaints,”according to Masterresource.org blogger Lisa Linowes, despite the fact that nothing about the plans had changed substantially.
Now pilots coming in to Travis are urged to turn on their aircraft’s transponders as a way of announcing their presence, since they still cannot be seen on radar. This poses a sizeable security threat given that it could easily be emulated by terrorists – and has been. As Linowes notes, among the first actions the Sept. 11 perpetrators did was turn off the transponders of the planes they hijacked.
Wind farms have also dramatically slowed the Federal Aviation Administration’s review time for project proposals. While it once took a month for construction of a project to be approved or be declared hazardous, now similar projects stand to wait up to three times that long.
We need look no further than the European Union’s disastrous “20/20/20” energy policy for a crystal-ball glance into what our future could be like should we continue down this reckless “green” path. The EU plan seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990’s levels. Not only is it likely to cost the union up to $250 billion a year, it has forced the EU to rely on gas from Russia because gas is less polluting than coal. Here’s what Russia’s been up to lately, in case anyone thought it had turned some sort of trustworthy corner: After refusing to support new sanctions against Iran, it hosted an Iranian security-council official for talks about Iran’s nuclear program. Nice.
Hope in wind as a replacement for proven, reliable, abundant and, most importantly domestic, fuels is the energy equivalent of trying to ram a square peg into a round hole.
According to a Nov. 9 DoD press release, the “labor-intensive, very time-consuming project” was primarily an effort of the NRDC and didn’t cost the federal government a dime. Unfortunately, this assessment fails to take into account the hefty national security toll wind farms have already taken – and will likely continue to take unless the current premium placed on “green” energy isn’t removed.
As of 2008, wind turbines had compromised almost 40 percent of U.S. long-range radar systems (h/t masterresource.org). Here’s just one example of how: In 2007, two wind-farm projects slated for the area near Travis Air Force Base in northern California came before the county planning commission. The base and a county airport land-use body sought to have the projects delayed until turbines’ effects on radars could be further studied. But when, the following year, a project supporter donated $1 million to the base, Col. Steven Arquiette, commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, “was told by his superiors to accept the money and withdraw his complaints,”according to Masterresource.org blogger Lisa Linowes, despite the fact that nothing about the plans had changed substantially.
Now pilots coming in to Travis are urged to turn on their aircraft’s transponders as a way of announcing their presence, since they still cannot be seen on radar. This poses a sizeable security threat given that it could easily be emulated by terrorists – and has been. As Linowes notes, among the first actions the Sept. 11 perpetrators did was turn off the transponders of the planes they hijacked.
Wind farms have also dramatically slowed the Federal Aviation Administration’s review time for project proposals. While it once took a month for construction of a project to be approved or be declared hazardous, now similar projects stand to wait up to three times that long.
We need look no further than the European Union’s disastrous “20/20/20” energy policy for a crystal-ball glance into what our future could be like should we continue down this reckless “green” path. The EU plan seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990’s levels. Not only is it likely to cost the union up to $250 billion a year, it has forced the EU to rely on gas from Russia because gas is less polluting than coal. Here’s what Russia’s been up to lately, in case anyone thought it had turned some sort of trustworthy corner: After refusing to support new sanctions against Iran, it hosted an Iranian security-council official for talks about Iran’s nuclear program. Nice.
Hope in wind as a replacement for proven, reliable, abundant and, most importantly domestic, fuels is the energy equivalent of trying to ram a square peg into a round hole.
Friday, November 18, 2011
First Wind wants to pull Bowers Mountain wind project — for now
LINCOLN, Maine — Saying it needs more time to answer critics, a Massachusetts-based wind company wants to withdraw its application for a permit to build a 27-turbine wind farm northwest of Grand Lake Stream on the Penobscot and Washington county line, it said Wednesday.
The Land Use Regulation Commission will review First Wind’s withdrawal application next month, said Matt Kearns, the company’s vice president of development in the northeastern U.S.
Nobody knows whether the withdrawal will be permanent, he said.
“We have to figure that out. We are very open to discussions with stakeholders,” Kearns said Wednesday. “We are going to take a look at the project. What we heard from the commission is that the project met 99 out of 100 siting criteria and the one they had issue with was the scenic criteria, which were difficult to evaluate.”
Commissioners directed staff during a meeting last month to write an order denying First Wind’s application because of the project’s potential for “unreasonable adverse impacts on scenic resources” in the area.
The commission is expected to review the order and First Wind’s request to withdraw the permit application at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 7 at the Waterfront Event Center on Prince Street in Lincoln, according to the commission’s website at maine.gov.
Catherine Carroll, LURC’s staff director, has said the project met the commission’s other criteria for approval of wind energy projects. But Carroll pointed out that it takes only one failed criterion to reject a project.
Kearns would not comment on whether the withdrawal was being sought to forestall a commission rejection or what that would mean to the project. Carroll did not immediately return messages seeking comment on Wednesday.
The Bowers Mountain project was to include 19 turbines built in Carroll Plantation and eight in Kossuth Township. The turbines — standing up to 428 feet tall from base to blade tip — could generate up to 69 megawatts of energy if operating at maximum capacity, company officials said.
The facility would be built on commercial timberland and would use existing access roads, although additional road construction would be required.
Project critics said the site is inappropriate for industrial wind development, would ruin land values and views, threaten wildlife and harm businesses that use the woods such as woodland guides.
Proponents say it would generate vast amounts of short-term investment and many short-term jobs in a region that needs it while producing pollution-free electricity. Kearns said Wednesday that the project, if built, would reduce Carroll Plantation property taxes by as much as 80 percent.
“We want to address the issues that have been raised. We feel we ought to be given a chance to do that,” Kearns said.
The Land Use Regulation Commission will review First Wind’s withdrawal application next month, said Matt Kearns, the company’s vice president of development in the northeastern U.S.
Nobody knows whether the withdrawal will be permanent, he said.
“We have to figure that out. We are very open to discussions with stakeholders,” Kearns said Wednesday. “We are going to take a look at the project. What we heard from the commission is that the project met 99 out of 100 siting criteria and the one they had issue with was the scenic criteria, which were difficult to evaluate.”
Commissioners directed staff during a meeting last month to write an order denying First Wind’s application because of the project’s potential for “unreasonable adverse impacts on scenic resources” in the area.
The commission is expected to review the order and First Wind’s request to withdraw the permit application at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 7 at the Waterfront Event Center on Prince Street in Lincoln, according to the commission’s website at maine.gov.
Catherine Carroll, LURC’s staff director, has said the project met the commission’s other criteria for approval of wind energy projects. But Carroll pointed out that it takes only one failed criterion to reject a project.
Kearns would not comment on whether the withdrawal was being sought to forestall a commission rejection or what that would mean to the project. Carroll did not immediately return messages seeking comment on Wednesday.
The Bowers Mountain project was to include 19 turbines built in Carroll Plantation and eight in Kossuth Township. The turbines — standing up to 428 feet tall from base to blade tip — could generate up to 69 megawatts of energy if operating at maximum capacity, company officials said.
The facility would be built on commercial timberland and would use existing access roads, although additional road construction would be required.
Project critics said the site is inappropriate for industrial wind development, would ruin land values and views, threaten wildlife and harm businesses that use the woods such as woodland guides.
Proponents say it would generate vast amounts of short-term investment and many short-term jobs in a region that needs it while producing pollution-free electricity. Kearns said Wednesday that the project, if built, would reduce Carroll Plantation property taxes by as much as 80 percent.
“We want to address the issues that have been raised. We feel we ought to be given a chance to do that,” Kearns said.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
It's official: Stout elected Orangeville supervisor
ORANGEVILLE — Gerald Stout has been elected town supervisor, according to the Wyoming County Board of Elections.
Final results released Wednesday show Stout defeated incumbent Supervisor Susan May 297-291 after absentee ballots were counted. The pair were initially tied after Nov. 8 voting.
Stout, 68, ran as an independent against May, who had gained the Republican and Democratic endorsements. He ran on a platform of re-uniting the town in the face of its ongoing Stony Creek Wind Farm controversy.
The Town Board approved the project’s special use permit and host community agreement on Aug. 11. Stout has said he will work to ensure the Invenergy corporation sticks to its agreements and promises.
Stout — who has traditionally ran as a Republican — served more than 20 years as Wyoming County district attorney before retiring this past January. He was on the state Attorney General’s Office task force that examined ethics issues involving wind development.
The wind debate wasn’t his sole reason for seeking the supervisor position. He also wanted to develop a long-range economic plan; create a long-range plan for maintaining the highways; and work for more transparency on the Town Board.
All other town winners remained the same, according to final results announced Wednesday.
In a close town council race, incumbents Hans Boxler Jr. and Andrew J. Flint were re-elected with 320 and 295 votes respectively. They ran on the Democratic, Republican and Taxpayer First tickets.
Challengers Mary Jo Hopkins and Steven Moultrup received 289 and 264 votes respectively. They ran on the People First tickets.
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Final results released Wednesday show Stout defeated incumbent Supervisor Susan May 297-291 after absentee ballots were counted. The pair were initially tied after Nov. 8 voting.
Stout, 68, ran as an independent against May, who had gained the Republican and Democratic endorsements. He ran on a platform of re-uniting the town in the face of its ongoing Stony Creek Wind Farm controversy.
The Town Board approved the project’s special use permit and host community agreement on Aug. 11. Stout has said he will work to ensure the Invenergy corporation sticks to its agreements and promises.
Stout — who has traditionally ran as a Republican — served more than 20 years as Wyoming County district attorney before retiring this past January. He was on the state Attorney General’s Office task force that examined ethics issues involving wind development.
The wind debate wasn’t his sole reason for seeking the supervisor position. He also wanted to develop a long-range economic plan; create a long-range plan for maintaining the highways; and work for more transparency on the Town Board.
All other town winners remained the same, according to final results announced Wednesday.
In a close town council race, incumbents Hans Boxler Jr. and Andrew J. Flint were re-elected with 320 and 295 votes respectively. They ran on the Democratic, Republican and Taxpayer First tickets.
Challengers Mary Jo Hopkins and Steven Moultrup received 289 and 264 votes respectively. They ran on the People First tickets.
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Tell Maine DEP: Stop Oakfield Wind!
Why This Is Important
First Wind of Boston is seeking to drastically change the size and scope of the proposed Oakfield Wind Project.
First Wind (Evergreen Wind Power II, LLC) is seeking to build 50 wind turbines, almost double the original number proposed in their original application. The new turbines will stand at 459 feet tall - the equivalent height of a 45 story building. The proposed modification amounts to an enormous change; and the differences in the impacts of noise and vibration between the first turbines and their replacements are not comparable. The potential noise and health impacts alone warrant a public hearing and closer scrutiny.
In addition, the visual impact on the industrial wind farm cannot be mitigated and will forever change the wild character of the region surrounding Pleasant and Mattawamkeag Lakes. At least 20 turbines will be visible from Pleasant Lake, and over 33 wind turbines will be visible from Mattawamkeag Lake. More than half of the Town of Island Falls property owners are seasonal residents who come to enjoy the scenic and wild landscape. Many will be negatively affected by the impact of an industrial wind project in the midst this beautiful landscape.
Maine citizens who participated in the original Oakfield procedure dealt with data which was completely different than that in the original permitted application. First Wind seems to assume that such drastic alterations should slip by unchallenged.
Please join me in telling the Maine DEP that you don’t want an industrial wind farm to destroy this scenic landscape! Sign my petition calling on the Maine DEP to deny First Wind’s amendment application and to start the approval process from scratch.
First Wind of Boston is seeking to drastically change the size and scope of the proposed Oakfield Wind Project.
First Wind (Evergreen Wind Power II, LLC) is seeking to build 50 wind turbines, almost double the original number proposed in their original application. The new turbines will stand at 459 feet tall - the equivalent height of a 45 story building. The proposed modification amounts to an enormous change; and the differences in the impacts of noise and vibration between the first turbines and their replacements are not comparable. The potential noise and health impacts alone warrant a public hearing and closer scrutiny.
In addition, the visual impact on the industrial wind farm cannot be mitigated and will forever change the wild character of the region surrounding Pleasant and Mattawamkeag Lakes. At least 20 turbines will be visible from Pleasant Lake, and over 33 wind turbines will be visible from Mattawamkeag Lake. More than half of the Town of Island Falls property owners are seasonal residents who come to enjoy the scenic and wild landscape. Many will be negatively affected by the impact of an industrial wind project in the midst this beautiful landscape.
Maine citizens who participated in the original Oakfield procedure dealt with data which was completely different than that in the original permitted application. First Wind seems to assume that such drastic alterations should slip by unchallenged.
Please join me in telling the Maine DEP that you don’t want an industrial wind farm to destroy this scenic landscape! Sign my petition calling on the Maine DEP to deny First Wind’s amendment application and to start the approval process from scratch.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Mafia-Connected FirstWind Got $117M in Federal Loans for Kahuku Windfarm
A Gold Rush of Subsidies in Clean Energy Search
by Eric Lipton and Clifford Krauss, New York Times 11-11-11 (Excerpted)
WASHINGTON — Halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, on a former cattle ranch and gypsum mine, NRG Energy is building an engineering marvel: a compound of nearly a million solar panels that will produce enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes.
The project is also a marvel in another, less obvious way: Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar-and wind-power electric plants since 2009.
(NOTE: Among the 15—Hawaii’s Kahuku Wind Power project owned by a shell company controlled by Mafia-connected First Wind. First Wind’s shell company received a $117M ‘loan’ from the US Treasury.)
The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google.
A great deal of attention has been focused on Solyndra, a start-up that received $528 million in federal loans to develop cutting-edge solar technology before it went bankrupt, but nearly 90 percent of the $16 billion in clean-energy loans guaranteed by the federal government since 2009 went to subsidize these lower-risk power plants, which in many cases were backed by big companies with vast resources.
When the Obama administration and Congress expanded the clean-energy incentives in 2009, a gold-rush mentality took over.
As NRG’s chief executive, David W. Crane, put it to Wall Street analysts early this year, the government’s largess was a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and “we intend to do as much of this business as we can get our hands on.” NRG, along with partners, ultimately secured $5.2 billion in federal loan guarantees plus hundreds of millions in other subsidies for four large solar projects.
“I have never seen anything that I have had to do in my 20 years in the power industry that involved less risk than these projects,” he said in a recent interview….
Richard Legault, the chief executive of Brookfield Renewable Power, the division that oversees the Granite Reliable project in New Hampshire, declined to discuss his profit expectations in detail, but said the project might not have happened without government assistance.
“When everything has come together, it is a good investment for Brookfield, it is no doubt,” Mr. Legault said. “We are quite happy with it.” Brookfield is also the owner of the small park in Manhattan that is home to the Occupy Wall Street protesters.…
(NOTE: If you think this is a coincidence, you just aren’t paying attention. “Occupy” is bought and paid for by crony capitalists who, like the protesters, want to get rid of the capitalism/competition and keep the cronyism.)
… Obama administration officials said the subsidies were intended to help renewable-energy plants that were jumbo-sized or used innovative technology, both potential obstacles to getting private financing. But even proponents of the subsidies say the administration may have gone overboard.
Concerns that the government was being too generous reached all the way to President Obama. In an October 2010 memo prepared for the president, Lawrence H. Summers, then his top economic adviser; Carol M. Browner, then his adviser on energy matters; and Ronald A. Klain, then the vice president’s chief of staff, expressed discomfort with the “double dipping” that was starting to take place. They said investors had little “skin in the game.”
by Eric Lipton and Clifford Krauss, New York Times 11-11-11 (Excerpted)
WASHINGTON — Halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, on a former cattle ranch and gypsum mine, NRG Energy is building an engineering marvel: a compound of nearly a million solar panels that will produce enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes.
The project is also a marvel in another, less obvious way: Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar-and wind-power electric plants since 2009.
(NOTE: Among the 15—Hawaii’s Kahuku Wind Power project owned by a shell company controlled by Mafia-connected First Wind. First Wind’s shell company received a $117M ‘loan’ from the US Treasury.)
The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google.
A great deal of attention has been focused on Solyndra, a start-up that received $528 million in federal loans to develop cutting-edge solar technology before it went bankrupt, but nearly 90 percent of the $16 billion in clean-energy loans guaranteed by the federal government since 2009 went to subsidize these lower-risk power plants, which in many cases were backed by big companies with vast resources.
When the Obama administration and Congress expanded the clean-energy incentives in 2009, a gold-rush mentality took over.
As NRG’s chief executive, David W. Crane, put it to Wall Street analysts early this year, the government’s largess was a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and “we intend to do as much of this business as we can get our hands on.” NRG, along with partners, ultimately secured $5.2 billion in federal loan guarantees plus hundreds of millions in other subsidies for four large solar projects.
“I have never seen anything that I have had to do in my 20 years in the power industry that involved less risk than these projects,” he said in a recent interview….
Richard Legault, the chief executive of Brookfield Renewable Power, the division that oversees the Granite Reliable project in New Hampshire, declined to discuss his profit expectations in detail, but said the project might not have happened without government assistance.
“When everything has come together, it is a good investment for Brookfield, it is no doubt,” Mr. Legault said. “We are quite happy with it.” Brookfield is also the owner of the small park in Manhattan that is home to the Occupy Wall Street protesters.…
(NOTE: If you think this is a coincidence, you just aren’t paying attention. “Occupy” is bought and paid for by crony capitalists who, like the protesters, want to get rid of the capitalism/competition and keep the cronyism.)
… Obama administration officials said the subsidies were intended to help renewable-energy plants that were jumbo-sized or used innovative technology, both potential obstacles to getting private financing. But even proponents of the subsidies say the administration may have gone overboard.
Concerns that the government was being too generous reached all the way to President Obama. In an October 2010 memo prepared for the president, Lawrence H. Summers, then his top economic adviser; Carol M. Browner, then his adviser on energy matters; and Ronald A. Klain, then the vice president’s chief of staff, expressed discomfort with the “double dipping” that was starting to take place. They said investors had little “skin in the game.”
Saturday, November 12, 2011
First Wind–Trying To Pull A Fast One
I am an Intervener in the First Wind/Champlain Wind Bowers Mountain application currently before LURC. At their Last Meeting, the LURC Commissioners voted, unanimously, to deny the permit. They instructed Staff to draw up the denial, which is to be finalized at the next Commission meeting, on December 7, 2011. This was a great victory for the People of the State of Maine.
Yesterday I received an email from Juliet Browne, head Council for the applicant [and also, just coincidentally--- wife of State Representative John Hink, who sits on the Legislature's Energy/Utilities /Technology Committee, which makes the laws governing wind development....and a man who is now running for the U.S. Senate...]. In that email, and the attachments [see below], she has requested that the applicant be allowed to withdraw its application, and resubmit a modified application at a later date.
Basically, since the LURC Commissioners have done their jobs, and are ready to deny a very bad project, the Applicant now wants to change the rules. They want to deny the People of Maine a victory, and they want to be able to reapply, without the specter of an official denial hanging over them.
They just can’t lose gracefully, even when they have been proven to be in the wrong.
Instead, they are trying to game the system. They are trying to play the People of Maine, and the LURC Commissioners, for suckers. They are acting like they are ‘entitled.’ And they are proving that far from the generous benefactors that they would like people to see them as, they are really just another greedy, well connected, subsidy sucking corporation, who believes that they are better than the People, and the Laws, of Maine. They don’t believe that the rules should apply to them. They believe that if things aren’t going their way, they should be able to thumb their noses at the People of Maine, at the Commissioners and Staff of the Land Use Regulation Commission, and at all of our laws, rules and procedures.
In short, they are acting like spoiled children.
It’s time that the spoiled children were spanked.
The decision rests with the LURC Commissioners. If they reject First Wind’s request, and move forward with the denial of the Bowers Mountain project, they will be showing the People of Maine that they matter–That our laws and procedures can work, and that no corporation, no matter how well connected, can trample us.
If they cave in to the request and allow First Wind to pull their application and bring back a ‘modified’ version, they will telling us, once and for all, that the People of Maine, our principles and convictions, simply don’t matter.
PLEASE write to LURC and ask them to deny First wind’s request. Ask them to stand their ground and move forward with a full and absolute denial of the Bowers Mountain/DP4889 application at their December 7, 2011meeting. This is the decision that the Commissioners made at their last meeting. This is the decision that they made public. This is the decision that they should stand behind.
Please send your emails to fred.todd@maine.gov and put Bowers/DP4889 in the subject line. Please be polite, but please be firm! A carbon Copy to catherine.m.carroll@maine.gov as well as governor@maine.gov kenneth.c.fletcher@maine.gov and your State Representative and State Senator, wouldn’t hurt.
This needs to be done ASAP. Like, NOW. There will likely be a procedural order deciding this, issued soon, and they must hear from you BEFORE that order is issued.
Below you will find the applicant’s cover letter and request, as well as my response to LURC.
Please write, folks. The Commissioners have finally stepped up and made the right decision in a wind case—let’s encourage them to stand by that decision, and not let the lawyers play games.
DC
Yesterday I received an email from Juliet Browne, head Council for the applicant [and also, just coincidentally--- wife of State Representative John Hink, who sits on the Legislature's Energy/Utilities /Technology Committee, which makes the laws governing wind development....and a man who is now running for the U.S. Senate...]. In that email, and the attachments [see below], she has requested that the applicant be allowed to withdraw its application, and resubmit a modified application at a later date.
Basically, since the LURC Commissioners have done their jobs, and are ready to deny a very bad project, the Applicant now wants to change the rules. They want to deny the People of Maine a victory, and they want to be able to reapply, without the specter of an official denial hanging over them.
They just can’t lose gracefully, even when they have been proven to be in the wrong.
Instead, they are trying to game the system. They are trying to play the People of Maine, and the LURC Commissioners, for suckers. They are acting like they are ‘entitled.’ And they are proving that far from the generous benefactors that they would like people to see them as, they are really just another greedy, well connected, subsidy sucking corporation, who believes that they are better than the People, and the Laws, of Maine. They don’t believe that the rules should apply to them. They believe that if things aren’t going their way, they should be able to thumb their noses at the People of Maine, at the Commissioners and Staff of the Land Use Regulation Commission, and at all of our laws, rules and procedures.
In short, they are acting like spoiled children.
It’s time that the spoiled children were spanked.
The decision rests with the LURC Commissioners. If they reject First Wind’s request, and move forward with the denial of the Bowers Mountain project, they will be showing the People of Maine that they matter–That our laws and procedures can work, and that no corporation, no matter how well connected, can trample us.
If they cave in to the request and allow First Wind to pull their application and bring back a ‘modified’ version, they will telling us, once and for all, that the People of Maine, our principles and convictions, simply don’t matter.
PLEASE write to LURC and ask them to deny First wind’s request. Ask them to stand their ground and move forward with a full and absolute denial of the Bowers Mountain/DP4889 application at their December 7, 2011meeting. This is the decision that the Commissioners made at their last meeting. This is the decision that they made public. This is the decision that they should stand behind.
Please send your emails to fred.todd@maine.gov and put Bowers/DP4889 in the subject line. Please be polite, but please be firm! A carbon Copy to catherine.m.carroll@maine.gov as well as governor@maine.gov kenneth.c.fletcher@maine.gov and your State Representative and State Senator, wouldn’t hurt.
This needs to be done ASAP. Like, NOW. There will likely be a procedural order deciding this, issued soon, and they must hear from you BEFORE that order is issued.
Below you will find the applicant’s cover letter and request, as well as my response to LURC.
Please write, folks. The Commissioners have finally stepped up and made the right decision in a wind case—let’s encourage them to stand by that decision, and not let the lawyers play games.
DC
Friday, November 11, 2011
Orleans passes stricter zoning amendment on wind power
I am a resident of the Town of Orleans and I live in the wind district. Last night the Town Board accepted modifications to the 2007 Town’s Wind Law (Ordinance).
A town wind law’s purpose is to protect the health, safety and welfare of residents who will live among these wind turbine machines. It has been a long process of 5 years working with the Town Board, the Town Zoning Board, the Town Planning Board, the Town Citizens Wind Committee, the Town Attorney and the Town’s Economic Committee. We all have spent Hours and Hours of education and research, along with presentations by professionals in acoustic sound, wildlife preservation, communication technologists and other environmental and financial researchers to conclude that the 2007 Town Wind Law was NOT protective for the health safety and welfare of the residents. I thank all of these residents and members of these boards for taking the time to fully research and understand the technology of wind energy and the positives and the negatives how these machines will impact our town’s environment and lives of the residents. We all worked very hard. Amending the town’s wind law had to be done. It existed for one purpose only the developer. The new law will protect residents. Thank you to all my fellow residents who have worked so hard and given of their time and finances.
Patty Booras-Miller
LAFARGEVILLE — The Orleans Town Council passed a zoning law amendment on Thursday night to beef up its restrictions on wind turbines.
Compared to the town’s original zoning law on wind turbines, the new amendment decreases the allowed height of turbines from 500 feet to 400 feet. It establishes relative noise standards, as opposed to the absolute 50 decibels in the old law.
The recommendation from the town’s wind committee and Planning Board had been property-line setbacks of 3,000 feet when the total height allowed was 500 feet.
The council talked about a relative standard.
Read the entire article
A town wind law’s purpose is to protect the health, safety and welfare of residents who will live among these wind turbine machines. It has been a long process of 5 years working with the Town Board, the Town Zoning Board, the Town Planning Board, the Town Citizens Wind Committee, the Town Attorney and the Town’s Economic Committee. We all have spent Hours and Hours of education and research, along with presentations by professionals in acoustic sound, wildlife preservation, communication technologists and other environmental and financial researchers to conclude that the 2007 Town Wind Law was NOT protective for the health safety and welfare of the residents. I thank all of these residents and members of these boards for taking the time to fully research and understand the technology of wind energy and the positives and the negatives how these machines will impact our town’s environment and lives of the residents. We all worked very hard. Amending the town’s wind law had to be done. It existed for one purpose only the developer. The new law will protect residents. Thank you to all my fellow residents who have worked so hard and given of their time and finances.
Patty Booras-Miller
LAFARGEVILLE — The Orleans Town Council passed a zoning law amendment on Thursday night to beef up its restrictions on wind turbines.
Compared to the town’s original zoning law on wind turbines, the new amendment decreases the allowed height of turbines from 500 feet to 400 feet. It establishes relative noise standards, as opposed to the absolute 50 decibels in the old law.
The recommendation from the town’s wind committee and Planning Board had been property-line setbacks of 3,000 feet when the total height allowed was 500 feet.
The council talked about a relative standard.
Read the entire article
Clayton's new turbine noise limit based on "invalid" sound test, acoustics expert says
CLAYTON — The town board is set to approve a new turbine noise limit next month based on an “invalid” sound demonstration, according to the acoustics expert who performed the noise test.
Charles E. Ebbing, a retired acoustic engineer, said the Town Council had already made up their minds to set the new limit at 45 dBA, in accordance with the World Health Organization’s guidelines, and refused to hear anything else he had prepared for the noise test at the council’s request.
“It was not a valid test,” Mr, Ebbing said Thursday when reached for comment. “They really, as a body, don’t know what they’re doing.”
The town proposed in September what it called a “defendable” noise limit for Clayton after Mr. Ebbing’s demonstration on Grindstone Island.
Read the entire article
Charles E. Ebbing, a retired acoustic engineer, said the Town Council had already made up their minds to set the new limit at 45 dBA, in accordance with the World Health Organization’s guidelines, and refused to hear anything else he had prepared for the noise test at the council’s request.
“It was not a valid test,” Mr, Ebbing said Thursday when reached for comment. “They really, as a body, don’t know what they’re doing.”
The town proposed in September what it called a “defendable” noise limit for Clayton after Mr. Ebbing’s demonstration on Grindstone Island.
Read the entire article
Lyme passes comprehensive plan to limit towers as a hurdle for wind power
CHAUMONT — Revisions to the proposed Lyme comprehensive plan allow for the Town Council to either outlaw wind turbines in the town or place strict rules on their placement.
The council got its first look at the revisions, which were supposed to reflect the results of the town’s recent survey of residents on wind restrictions, during the council’s meeting on Wednesday night.
“We incorporated the latest wind survey results into the comprehensive plan created a year prior,” said Andrew R. Nevin, senior planner for the Jefferson County Planning Department, who assisted the town’s Planning Board on the comprehensive plan. “We tried to make a square peg fit in a round hole.”
The town sent out surveys on the comprehensive plan in 2009, from which they developed a revised comprehensive plan. But after the plan was finished, the debate over wind turbine zoning continued to rage.
Read the entire article
The council got its first look at the revisions, which were supposed to reflect the results of the town’s recent survey of residents on wind restrictions, during the council’s meeting on Wednesday night.
“We incorporated the latest wind survey results into the comprehensive plan created a year prior,” said Andrew R. Nevin, senior planner for the Jefferson County Planning Department, who assisted the town’s Planning Board on the comprehensive plan. “We tried to make a square peg fit in a round hole.”
The town sent out surveys on the comprehensive plan in 2009, from which they developed a revised comprehensive plan. But after the plan was finished, the debate over wind turbine zoning continued to rage.
Read the entire article
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Wind Farms Disrupting Radar, Scientists Say
This one's really off the radar.
Wind farms, along with solar power and other alternative energy sources, are supposed to produce the energy of tomorrow. Evidence indicates that their countless whirring fan blades produce something else: "blank spots" that distort radar readings.
Now government agencies that depend on radar -- such as the Department of Defense and the National Weather Service -- are spending millions in a scramble to preserve their detection capabilities. A four-star Air Force general recently spelled out the problem to Dave Belote, the director of the Department of Defense’s Energy Siting Clearinghouse.
"Look there’s a radar here -- one of our network of Homeland surveillance radars -- and [if you build this wind farm] you essentially are going to put my eyes out in the Northwestern corner of the United States,” Beloite related during a web conference in April.
Spinning wind turbines make it hard to detect incoming planes. To avoid that problem, military officials have blocked wind farm construction near their radars -- and in some cases later allowed them after politicians protested.
Shepherd’s Flat, a wind farm under construction in Oregon, was initially held up by a government notice that the farm would “seriously impair the ability of the (DoD) to detect, monitor and safely conduct air operations."
Then Oregon’s senators got involved.
“The Department of Defense's earlier decision threatened to drop a bomb on job creation in Central Oregon,” democratic Senator Ron Wyden noted in a press release.
Beloite told FoxNews.com that the project was given the green light by the military only after scientists at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory assured the Department of Defense “that there were algorithms and processors they could design for not too much money that would mitigate the problem.”
Beloite said that the MIT technology has proven successful in the last few months.
"[The problem] has been addressed. And I have a letter from the deputy director of operations from U.S. NORAD that says 'step one of the two-step fix worked so well that we recommend we don't spend any more money on step two.'"
The fix the MIT scientists came up with tells the radar not to pay attention to signals in a very small area.
“You just tell the radar processor, ‘you're going to have clutter here. Don't display it.’ You create a tiny blank spot [in the radar map] directly above the turbine,” Beloite told FoxNews.com.
In addition to the cost of the radar development, taxpayers are on the hook for more than $1 billion in subsidies for the construction of the Shepherd’s Flat wind farm, according to a 2010 memo from Larry Summers and two other White House economic advisors.
The fix for military radar doesn't work so well for weather forecasters, however.
“It's a lot easier to filter out interference for aviation,” Ed Ciardi, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Radar Operations Center in Norman, Okla., told FoxNews.com. “The real problem is when rain and the wind turbines are mixed together [on the radar map.] And it's all confusing… sometimes [forecasters] throw up their hands and say, ‘who knows?’”
When the situation is unclear, Ciardi said, “they'll play it safe and maybe extend a warning.”
Ciardi said there have been occasional false alarms due to wind farm interference, but the Weather Service hasn't failed to issue any storm warnings yet.
“We're more worried about the future ... we've seen quite a few proposals for wind farms around our radars. And we have been ... trying to convince them to stay a good distance away,” he said.
One strategy is to ask wind farm owners to turn off the propellers during storms. Another is to convince them to install devices that measure wind speeds and rainfall, so that there would no longer be much need for radar there.
“It all comes down to money and who's going to pay for it,” he noted.
Meanwhile, top radar scientists are working on developing a fix that works for weather radar.
“It's slow progress, and they say it's extremely difficult -- that they need more money and more time. The solution, I would say, is probably five years down the road," Ciardi said.
Wind farms, along with solar power and other alternative energy sources, are supposed to produce the energy of tomorrow. Evidence indicates that their countless whirring fan blades produce something else: "blank spots" that distort radar readings.
Now government agencies that depend on radar -- such as the Department of Defense and the National Weather Service -- are spending millions in a scramble to preserve their detection capabilities. A four-star Air Force general recently spelled out the problem to Dave Belote, the director of the Department of Defense’s Energy Siting Clearinghouse.
"Look there’s a radar here -- one of our network of Homeland surveillance radars -- and [if you build this wind farm] you essentially are going to put my eyes out in the Northwestern corner of the United States,” Beloite related during a web conference in April.
Spinning wind turbines make it hard to detect incoming planes. To avoid that problem, military officials have blocked wind farm construction near their radars -- and in some cases later allowed them after politicians protested.
Shepherd’s Flat, a wind farm under construction in Oregon, was initially held up by a government notice that the farm would “seriously impair the ability of the (DoD) to detect, monitor and safely conduct air operations."
Then Oregon’s senators got involved.
“The Department of Defense's earlier decision threatened to drop a bomb on job creation in Central Oregon,” democratic Senator Ron Wyden noted in a press release.
Beloite told FoxNews.com that the project was given the green light by the military only after scientists at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory assured the Department of Defense “that there were algorithms and processors they could design for not too much money that would mitigate the problem.”
Beloite said that the MIT technology has proven successful in the last few months.
"[The problem] has been addressed. And I have a letter from the deputy director of operations from U.S. NORAD that says 'step one of the two-step fix worked so well that we recommend we don't spend any more money on step two.'"
The fix the MIT scientists came up with tells the radar not to pay attention to signals in a very small area.
“You just tell the radar processor, ‘you're going to have clutter here. Don't display it.’ You create a tiny blank spot [in the radar map] directly above the turbine,” Beloite told FoxNews.com.
In addition to the cost of the radar development, taxpayers are on the hook for more than $1 billion in subsidies for the construction of the Shepherd’s Flat wind farm, according to a 2010 memo from Larry Summers and two other White House economic advisors.
The fix for military radar doesn't work so well for weather forecasters, however.
“It's a lot easier to filter out interference for aviation,” Ed Ciardi, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Radar Operations Center in Norman, Okla., told FoxNews.com. “The real problem is when rain and the wind turbines are mixed together [on the radar map.] And it's all confusing… sometimes [forecasters] throw up their hands and say, ‘who knows?’”
When the situation is unclear, Ciardi said, “they'll play it safe and maybe extend a warning.”
Ciardi said there have been occasional false alarms due to wind farm interference, but the Weather Service hasn't failed to issue any storm warnings yet.
“We're more worried about the future ... we've seen quite a few proposals for wind farms around our radars. And we have been ... trying to convince them to stay a good distance away,” he said.
One strategy is to ask wind farm owners to turn off the propellers during storms. Another is to convince them to install devices that measure wind speeds and rainfall, so that there would no longer be much need for radar there.
“It all comes down to money and who's going to pay for it,” he noted.
Meanwhile, top radar scientists are working on developing a fix that works for weather radar.
“It's slow progress, and they say it's extremely difficult -- that they need more money and more time. The solution, I would say, is probably five years down the road," Ciardi said.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Hirschey defeats White in Cape Vincent; victory for anti-wind group
CAPE VINCENT — Town supervisor Urban C. Hirschey defeated challenger Harvey J. White, who ran on the Conservative line, 518-388 Tuesday in what appeared to be a victorious night for Cape Vincent’s anti-wind group.
In the race for Town Council, Wind Power Ethics Group member Clifford J. Schneider, with 471, led the pack in a tight race. Incumbent and wind lease holder Marty T. Mason received 453 votes, just ahead of Republican WPEG member John L. Byrne, with 448 votes. Incumbent Donald J. Mason, also a wind-power advocate, polled 423.
However, with 503 absentee ballots issued, many of them to seasonal residents who registered to vote in Cape Vincent and who nearly exclusively supported Mr. Hirschey in the Republican primary, the anti-wind forces appear confident they will control the council.
“I think you’ll see a lot of changes in our local government,” Mr. Hirschey, a Republican and past member of WPEG, said late Tuesday. “Will there be a wind moratorium? Probably. You’ll just have to come to our January meeting to find out.”
Read the entire article
In the race for Town Council, Wind Power Ethics Group member Clifford J. Schneider, with 471, led the pack in a tight race. Incumbent and wind lease holder Marty T. Mason received 453 votes, just ahead of Republican WPEG member John L. Byrne, with 448 votes. Incumbent Donald J. Mason, also a wind-power advocate, polled 423.
However, with 503 absentee ballots issued, many of them to seasonal residents who registered to vote in Cape Vincent and who nearly exclusively supported Mr. Hirschey in the Republican primary, the anti-wind forces appear confident they will control the council.
“I think you’ll see a lot of changes in our local government,” Mr. Hirschey, a Republican and past member of WPEG, said late Tuesday. “Will there be a wind moratorium? Probably. You’ll just have to come to our January meeting to find out.”
Read the entire article
Monday, November 07, 2011
Steuben official: Any new windfarms a year away
Any action on locally proposed wind farms is still in the future, according to Steuben County Industrial Development Agency Executive Director Jamie Johnson.
Johnson’s agency is exploring wind farm development and the impact of the state’s renewed Article X energy generation siting law.
“Part of what they had to do was to develop regulations to begin with,” Johnson said. “It will take at least a year for that to happen. And the state won’t accept any applications until then.”
The law was signed on Aug. 4 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and calls for a state commission to review any project generating more than 25 megawatts of electricity.
The commission includes the heads of the state energy-related boards, and commissioners from the state departments of Environmental Conservation, Health and Economic Development. Two members from the community also will sit in on the reviews of projects affecting their home area.
The law was enthusiastically endorsed by the energy industry, which hopes for a more streamlined process in siting projects. Opponents charged the law takes away towns’ right to home rule and argue the commission may be swayed by industrial lobbyists.
So far, the local focus has been on wind energy, but the siting law includes all energy projects, including nuclear, geothermal, coal and natural gas, Johnson said.
However, for those involved for years in bitter disputes over proposed wind-turbine projects, the issue has thrown more fuel on the fire.
Supporters of wind farms have long held the multi-billion businesses are a source of renewable energy, and provide needed revenues and services in their towns. They maintain legal delays forced by opponents have cost the towns millions of dollars in revenue — money they fear will go into state coffers.
But the siting commission has no say in what revenues and services counties, towns, and schools receive, Johnson said.
“What it does is take the environmental review out of the hands of industrial groups, such as (SCIDA),” Johnson said. “That’s all it does.”
According to nationwide reports, the wind-energy industry is looking at new technologies, in order to make turbines — now highly inefficient — more productive, and answer critics complaints the 400-foot tall machines endanger humans and the environment.
Those changes may mean companies have to start over again for the commission’s environmental reviews, Johnson said.
As far as revenues, Steuben’s laws mandate any energy development firm enter tax incentive agreements through SCIDA, or face full taxation by the county. That means the towns will receive the lion’s share of multi-million payments, with the schools and county dividing the remainder.
“On the town level, what they negotiate with a company (for extra services) is up to them,” Johnson said.
The county is now the site of two wind farms, in Cohocton and Howard. In Prattsburgh, both sides in the dispute between wind developer Ecogen and the town claim a favorable ruling by the state Supreme Court earlier this year. The town of Troupsburg is reportedly studying a wind project there.
Johnson’s agency is exploring wind farm development and the impact of the state’s renewed Article X energy generation siting law.
“Part of what they had to do was to develop regulations to begin with,” Johnson said. “It will take at least a year for that to happen. And the state won’t accept any applications until then.”
The law was signed on Aug. 4 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and calls for a state commission to review any project generating more than 25 megawatts of electricity.
The commission includes the heads of the state energy-related boards, and commissioners from the state departments of Environmental Conservation, Health and Economic Development. Two members from the community also will sit in on the reviews of projects affecting their home area.
The law was enthusiastically endorsed by the energy industry, which hopes for a more streamlined process in siting projects. Opponents charged the law takes away towns’ right to home rule and argue the commission may be swayed by industrial lobbyists.
So far, the local focus has been on wind energy, but the siting law includes all energy projects, including nuclear, geothermal, coal and natural gas, Johnson said.
However, for those involved for years in bitter disputes over proposed wind-turbine projects, the issue has thrown more fuel on the fire.
Supporters of wind farms have long held the multi-billion businesses are a source of renewable energy, and provide needed revenues and services in their towns. They maintain legal delays forced by opponents have cost the towns millions of dollars in revenue — money they fear will go into state coffers.
But the siting commission has no say in what revenues and services counties, towns, and schools receive, Johnson said.
“What it does is take the environmental review out of the hands of industrial groups, such as (SCIDA),” Johnson said. “That’s all it does.”
According to nationwide reports, the wind-energy industry is looking at new technologies, in order to make turbines — now highly inefficient — more productive, and answer critics complaints the 400-foot tall machines endanger humans and the environment.
Those changes may mean companies have to start over again for the commission’s environmental reviews, Johnson said.
As far as revenues, Steuben’s laws mandate any energy development firm enter tax incentive agreements through SCIDA, or face full taxation by the county. That means the towns will receive the lion’s share of multi-million payments, with the schools and county dividing the remainder.
“On the town level, what they negotiate with a company (for extra services) is up to them,” Johnson said.
The county is now the site of two wind farms, in Cohocton and Howard. In Prattsburgh, both sides in the dispute between wind developer Ecogen and the town claim a favorable ruling by the state Supreme Court earlier this year. The town of Troupsburg is reportedly studying a wind project there.
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Republican congressman pushes for an end to all energy tax credits
A Republican congressman from Kansas plans to introduce a bill this week to end all tax credits for the energy sector, saying he believes it’s time for conventional and alternative sources alike to show their worth without government help.
Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., told lawmakers in a letter last week that his bill would save the U.S. government up to $90 billion over 10 years in what he says is spending that distorts the market. He pointed to the ongoing scandal over the Energy Department’s $535 million loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt Fremont, Calif., solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC.
“The Solyndra scandal has demonstrated the danger of government interference in energy markets,” he wrote, calling his bill “a reasonable approach to ending the decades-long practice of trying to pick winners and losers.”
Among the credits the bill would end are the renewable electricity production tax credit, which rewards companies for each kilowatt-hour of generating capacity they install from sources such as wind, biomass, geothermal, landfill-gas, municipal-waste or hydroelectric. Credits for plug-in electric and fuel-cell vehicles and alternative fuels would also end.
The bill would also end credits for enhanced oil recovery and technologies that reduce emissions from coal.
Pompeo wrote that his bill would preserve “general deductions available to multiple industries.”
But his legislation is sure to face resistance. Democrats, who control the Senate, have sought to target tax breaks for oil-and-gas companies but may be hesitant to end federal support for alternative sources, which they say can help address pollution and climate change.
The American Wind Energy Association, a wind-power trade group in Washington, has issued a statement blasting Pompeo’s bill.
“Representative Pompeo seems to misunderstand how a key federal tax incentive has built a thriving American wind manufacturing sector and tens of thousands of American jobs,” CEO Denise Bode said in a statement, referring to the production tax credit for wind electricity, which will expire after Dec. 31, 2012, without action from Congress.
Bob Deans, associate director of communications for the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, has criticized Republicans for using the Solyndra scandal to target all clean energy: “We should learn the lessons of Solyndra, to be sure, but then move forward — because, as China and our other global competitors have grasped all too well, solar energy, wind, and other emerging technologies hold the promise and potential to help power the world into the 21st century.”
Pompeo also said his bill would be revenue-neutral by including a corporate tax rate reduction that corresponds to the money his bill saves.
The bill isn’t meant to raise money for the government, Pompeo said, “but rather to correct decades of taxpayer funded handouts to industries more than capable of thriving in the open market.”
A list of tax credits his bill will target, according to the letter:
•Plug-in electric and fuel cell vehicles
•Alternative fuel and alternative fuel mixtures
•Cellulosic Biofuel Producer Credit
•Alternative fuel infrastructure
•Production Tax Credit for electricity produced from renewable sources, including wind, biomass, and hydropower
•Investment Tax Credit for equipment powered by solar, fuel cells, geothermal or other specified renewable sources
•Enhanced oil recovery credit, and credit for producing oil and gas from marginal wells
•Advanced Nuclear Power Generation Credit
•Clean coal investment credits
Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., told lawmakers in a letter last week that his bill would save the U.S. government up to $90 billion over 10 years in what he says is spending that distorts the market. He pointed to the ongoing scandal over the Energy Department’s $535 million loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt Fremont, Calif., solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC.
“The Solyndra scandal has demonstrated the danger of government interference in energy markets,” he wrote, calling his bill “a reasonable approach to ending the decades-long practice of trying to pick winners and losers.”
Among the credits the bill would end are the renewable electricity production tax credit, which rewards companies for each kilowatt-hour of generating capacity they install from sources such as wind, biomass, geothermal, landfill-gas, municipal-waste or hydroelectric. Credits for plug-in electric and fuel-cell vehicles and alternative fuels would also end.
The bill would also end credits for enhanced oil recovery and technologies that reduce emissions from coal.
Pompeo wrote that his bill would preserve “general deductions available to multiple industries.”
But his legislation is sure to face resistance. Democrats, who control the Senate, have sought to target tax breaks for oil-and-gas companies but may be hesitant to end federal support for alternative sources, which they say can help address pollution and climate change.
The American Wind Energy Association, a wind-power trade group in Washington, has issued a statement blasting Pompeo’s bill.
“Representative Pompeo seems to misunderstand how a key federal tax incentive has built a thriving American wind manufacturing sector and tens of thousands of American jobs,” CEO Denise Bode said in a statement, referring to the production tax credit for wind electricity, which will expire after Dec. 31, 2012, without action from Congress.
Bob Deans, associate director of communications for the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, has criticized Republicans for using the Solyndra scandal to target all clean energy: “We should learn the lessons of Solyndra, to be sure, but then move forward — because, as China and our other global competitors have grasped all too well, solar energy, wind, and other emerging technologies hold the promise and potential to help power the world into the 21st century.”
Pompeo also said his bill would be revenue-neutral by including a corporate tax rate reduction that corresponds to the money his bill saves.
The bill isn’t meant to raise money for the government, Pompeo said, “but rather to correct decades of taxpayer funded handouts to industries more than capable of thriving in the open market.”
A list of tax credits his bill will target, according to the letter:
•Plug-in electric and fuel cell vehicles
•Alternative fuel and alternative fuel mixtures
•Cellulosic Biofuel Producer Credit
•Alternative fuel infrastructure
•Production Tax Credit for electricity produced from renewable sources, including wind, biomass, and hydropower
•Investment Tax Credit for equipment powered by solar, fuel cells, geothermal or other specified renewable sources
•Enhanced oil recovery credit, and credit for producing oil and gas from marginal wells
•Advanced Nuclear Power Generation Credit
•Clean coal investment credits
Friday, November 04, 2011
Vote Republican for Cape Vincent's future
There are not many times when a local election can be called the most important since a town was founded. Nevertheless, this aptly describes the importance of this year’s election in the town of Cape Vincent. What is at stake is Cape Vincent’s future and, fortunately for voters, the choices are clearly defined this year.
One future, endorsed by Conservative Party candidates for supervisor and council, proposes two wind projects totaling 135 turbines, which when combined with the Wolfe Island Wind Project would represent the largest commercial wind complex east of the Mississippi River — even larger than Maple Ridge.
The other future, supported by Republican candidates, would follow the “Joint Comprehensive Plan for the Village and Town of Cape Vincent 2003.” The plan represents the foundation for our zoning law and provides a guide to future growth and community development. Cape Vincent’s plan prescribes maintaining the Cape’s “small-town quality of life.” It advises to “further develop the tourism industry.” The plan also dictates what not to do: “discourage the location of towers, prisons or utility facilities where their impact would have a negative impact on scenic vistas and tourism assets.”
The Republican Party of Cape Vincent not only asks for your vote on Tuesday, but also your support for their efforts to work toward the future represented in our village and town’s comprehensive plan. By voting the Republican line on the ballot, you can also be assured that all our candidates have no contracts with commercial wind developers, no conflicts of interest and will serve all the residents of Cape Vincent. Republican candidates John Byrne, Clif Schneider, Colleen Knuth, Pam Youngs and Harry Landers all strongly endorse the spirit of this letter and want to thank you for your support and your vote.
Urban Hirschey
Cape Vincent
One future, endorsed by Conservative Party candidates for supervisor and council, proposes two wind projects totaling 135 turbines, which when combined with the Wolfe Island Wind Project would represent the largest commercial wind complex east of the Mississippi River — even larger than Maple Ridge.
The other future, supported by Republican candidates, would follow the “Joint Comprehensive Plan for the Village and Town of Cape Vincent 2003.” The plan represents the foundation for our zoning law and provides a guide to future growth and community development. Cape Vincent’s plan prescribes maintaining the Cape’s “small-town quality of life.” It advises to “further develop the tourism industry.” The plan also dictates what not to do: “discourage the location of towers, prisons or utility facilities where their impact would have a negative impact on scenic vistas and tourism assets.”
The Republican Party of Cape Vincent not only asks for your vote on Tuesday, but also your support for their efforts to work toward the future represented in our village and town’s comprehensive plan. By voting the Republican line on the ballot, you can also be assured that all our candidates have no contracts with commercial wind developers, no conflicts of interest and will serve all the residents of Cape Vincent. Republican candidates John Byrne, Clif Schneider, Colleen Knuth, Pam Youngs and Harry Landers all strongly endorse the spirit of this letter and want to thank you for your support and your vote.
Urban Hirschey
Cape Vincent
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