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.
No project I have worked on ever proposed placing a tower within two miles of a residence. Communities I have worked in are always 100 percent in favor of the projects. No one ever has an issue with a landowner giving an easement for cash, nor does anyone take issue with the constructor.
So, why can't we find places in Maine two miles or more from residences on low-lying areas that don't go against the wishes of local citizens and throw up 2,000 wind towers so the governor can feel green?
Answer: greed. It's all about money.
Change the state's ordinance to embrace those simple rules and see how much money the developers throw at projects in Maine.
I am also aware of the cost of wind power. Adding 20 percent wind to the Maine power mix is voting to increase a monthly light bill by 25 to 40 percent when the transmission and distribution costs are added in.
Evidently, the people involved in the sweetheart deals made in Augusta with developers aren't too worried about that.
Wind is the most expensive power in America. No one disputes that.
Tom Powell, Dixfield
Report a correction
Industrial Wind is a Travesty for Maine
Mr. Powell is absolutely correct when he notes that setbacks from humans need to be two miles or better. (World Health Organization recommendation) He is also absolutely correct when he speaks of the higher cost of this capital intensive investment in unreliable, unpredictable intermittent source of electricity being overly expensive. (Companies signing contracts for 2-3 times the current cost by ISO-New England) I had an occasion to hear Mr. Powel speak and he really has command of the facts and credibility from having actually worked as project consultant on wind developments. Credibility that nobody in the gang of politicians in Augusta has. The gang who have followed the lies and lobbying by the wind industry like lemmings that can't take the time to actually research a multi-faceted issue before approving it as public policy.
Who in Augusta ever asked if Maine should be part of REGGI and thus have mandates for renewable energy (aka wind) thrust upon us? Who in Augusta ever made the effort to gain public input before rushing through the heinous "Expedited Wind Permitting" statute as an "Emergency" in 2008? Just what was the "Emergency"? Was it Baldacci's haste to grease the skids for First Wind, Angus King and the other thieves eager to prey on rural Maine so they can collect taxpayer subsidies by the millions? Who in Augusta has pushed the expansion of 345 killer-volt transmission lines which are totally unnecessary except for the sole purpose of tying industrial wind sites in rural Maine to southern New England? Who in Augusta ever asked the long suffering ratepayers if they wanted to increase their rates significantly for electricity we don't need from the most expensive source?
Industrial wind sites cattered across rural Maine from Aroostook County to the New Hampshire border are a scam and a travesty that must be stopped. We cannot afford to let it go forward.
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Here's my solution...those
Here's my solution...those who support wind power should be forced to buy wind power...today in Massachusetts it was announced that the rates for Cape Wind would be slightly more than double normal electric rates in massachusetts for other means in electricity. Let those who beleive in it, or who are involved (jobs) in it have to pay for it at the higher rate. That would include governors and legislators who support such efforts and have it be a lifetime of wind power they pay for, h and with NO federal or state subsidies....yeah what was I dreaming?
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Finally--Wisdom on the Wind
Mr. Powell, I thank you for standing up and stating the obvious... the TRUTH. As a worker in the industry, you are one of very few to come forward and state the realities of Industrial Wind.
Once Mainers have received the facts about the governor's and the wind industry's plan to develop Maine's mountain summits, they will stand together and put a stop to this disastrous scheme. You are right. If tax-payer monies-- those things labeled 'stimulus funds' and 'government subsidies'-- were not available in the billions of dollars to fund these projects, I am positive that we would not hear another word about how 'green' wind turbines are. We'd hear nothing of how they will stop foreign wars and bring American soldiers home. Nary a word would be spoken about silver bullets or silver buckshot, or how one small, 48 turbine development will power the city of Portland. Portland, and the rest of our state, already has its power supply. If more is needed, we can purchase renewable hydro-power from our good neighbors in Canada at a fraction of what it would cost us to purchase the Maine Wind power back from the New England grid.
Thank you for standing up and doing what is right. Thanks for caring about the truth. There is a multitude of people like me--NIMBYs proud and free--who are standing there beside you... proud of protecting our home turf, free to voice our objections, and determined to put an end to this scam. If the good out-weighed the bad, things would be different. But the facts show the opposite. Industrial wind on Maine's mountains is a foolhardy plan... and we Mainers aren't fools.
You're a brave man, Mr. Powell. Welcome to the club.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Pease, Lexington Township
www.highlandmts.org
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.We won't be lied to any more!
The "Cat is Indeed Out of the Bag", Mr. Powell concerning Windgate, Maine!
Mr. Powell, there is truth in what you say however,
The corporate liars like First Wind have been exposed in Maine. The schemers, the self-serving greed mongrels that use their positions like Kurt Adams and Angus King to deceive for their own financial aggrandizement are being exposed. Outside interests like Yale and Bayroot are now in the light of day.
We know that oil consumption is not reduced by electrical producing Blow Toys, anywhere. Spinning power reserve is always needed for feckless wind machines, as they really do nothing for CO2 displacement. Would be better to grow trees Mr. Powell.
You do state a fact however, and congratulations for the honestly. Mainers electric rates, business electric rates everywhere, will double with this wind scheme if left unchecked.
All of Maine will suffer economically. Mountaintop industrialization will be ruinous to Maine’s future. This is a bunco scheme of epic proportions on many fronts.
Follow the World Health Association concerning turbine noise and a dialogue will begin. Look at the results of Germany and Spain and others concerning the feasibility and failures to date with this industry, and decisions will be thoughtfully made. Follow real acoustic science like that of Kamperman/James acoustic experts , and we will talk. Follow our Constitution, respect our rights, and we will listen.
Maine DEP will once again do its mandated job of Environmental Protection with real noise regulations for this industry. It will be stopped from being the Department of Environmental Destruction. Stop having LURC paid off for desecrating the view shed of Maine.
Show the real numbers concerning the high costs of Grid Scale Wind, and be Transparent.
The lives of Mainers will not be overrun by the financial aggrandizer snake –oil selling Power Elites and Subsidy Devouring liars like First Wind , Ever.
The fight is engaged. Our Constitutional Rights will be honored. The Laws will be followed to site these things ,if prudent and beneficial for Mainers to do so. Or else, they will be stopped.
Maine is not a plantation of Wind Scammers.
Mainers are not pawns to be lied to and played with.
Reasonable people will always listen. Deceptive liars and scam artists the likes of which have been exposed in Maine on this issue will continue to be ,condemned and STOPPED!
Revolutions have been made of lesser stuff!
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Why?
Yes, Mr. Powell, I wish someone could answer that for us. Not a peep from Baldacci or anyone else who is supposed to represent us. Those who don't live at the coast have been forgotten. As Mr. Rooks laments in Sunday's paper, these were seemingly flying under the radar and they hoped it would always be that way. But the smart folks of inland Maine are educating themselves and we are not buying it.
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.The Big Lie
The Big Lie is that wind will save the planet.
The reality, whether one believes in global warming or not, is that all the wind power envisioned by our misguided governor would be equal in annual CO2/cooling effect to what only 1% of the Maine woods do naturally. We are going to sit back and watch this wholesale rape of the countryside that keeps us here for something that small when there are infinitely better ways?
Please see the real CO2 story at:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/maines-wind-goals-co2-and-the
Time to start checking some politicians' offshore bank accounts. Enough is enough.
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Mr. Powell
is against wind power generation that is improperly sited and subsidized by the public. If its profitable, then let the businessmen pay the bill. No TIF's. No Federal subsidies
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.I hope Mr. Powell has made
I hope Mr. Powell has made enough money from wind to pay his electric bills.
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.expensive wind power
It is very late, so maybe my mind is not functioning properly. However, I have read this several times, and I do not know whether the writer is for or against wind power.
- Permalink
- Is this comment inappropriate?
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.