When the folks behind Highland Wind LLC put up their first website, they said that they would not impose themselves on communities where they were not welcome. Funny, but that page is no longer available…….
Eolian Energy made a similar statement in a Power Point Presentation to the People of Frankfort. I was there. Now the People of Frankfort are fighting for survival, because Eolian refuses to go away.
Peter Vigue of Maine Wind Limited LLC, told the People of Caratunk; “The last thing we want to do is impose ourselves on the community,” and, “We don’t impose ourselves on anyone. We will not do it.” Again, I was there, and I heard the words. And yet, Caratunk had to enact a very restrictive ordinance to make Mr. Vigue and his partners go away.
Just last year, Ignacio Galan, of Iberdrola, was quoted in the Portland Press Herald as saying that if Maine signaled that it wasn’t friendly to Wind, then they would go elsewhere. And yet, Iberdrola has plans for at least three large projects in Maine, coming right up.
Well, small towns all over Maine are passing ordinances to keep wind developers out, and the People of the Unorganized Territories and Plantations are petitioning the Governor and the Legislature to do the same for them. Hundreds of Mainers spoke before the Legislature in the last session, asking for relief from this scourge, and, although not enough to pass the measure, no less than 52 State Representatives voted in favor of a minimum one and a half mile setback between Industrial Wind Developments and the People of Maine.
Obviously, The People of Maine, at least, the ones who have bothered to educate themselves about the facts, are telling the wind developers that they are not welcome here. So, what gives? Why are these snake oil salesmen not living up to their word? Why are they still trying to impose themselves where they aren’t wanted?
Could it be that they are not honorable men? Could it be that they are still hoping that the ignorant will embrace them, and the rest of us will simply forget? Could it be that they are just so evil that they care for nothing except the free government handouts that they will collect with every new development?
I know that both Highland Wind and Iberdrola monitor this Blog. I also know that due to their relationships with the Maine Media, there is no way that I can get equal time to ask the hard questions, and demand answers in a major newspaper or television station. So, I will say this here, and offer equal, uncensored space, to any wind developer who wishes to respond. That is more than any major media outlet would do for the People of Maine.
I want to know why, after all their promises, Highland Wind and Iberdrola won’t go away? The People have spoken. They have told you that you are not welcome here. So, why are you still here?
I want to know why Angus King won’t tell the truth about his power line through Pleasant Ridge. The power line that he spent a LOT of time and money pushing through, against the wishes of the People of Pleasant Ridge Plantation. When I asked him, face to face, at a public meeting, he refused to tell me if it was being overbuilt to accommodate other wind projects. He refused to tell me that neither the power line, or the Highland Project itself, wouldn’t be turned over to another developer. He refused to tell me if either Iberdrola [who wants that line for their Lexington/Concord Project], or First Wind, [where Mr. King's son is a vice president], had anything to do with the power line or the Highland Project. In fact, when I pressed the matter, both he and his attorney, Eric Stumpfell [who just this week was shilling for First Wind in Oakfield], got quite upset with me….. Agitated, even….
I want to know why the People who are being imposed upon, can’t get any answers!
I want to know why, after being told that their project was totally unacceptable by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and also by the Residents and Tax Payers of Highland who would have to live with the consequences—why are Highland Wind, and their partners at Yale University, still moving forward with the project?
I want to know why, when the majority of the Resident Tax Payers of Lexington and Concord, as well as many of the non-resident Tax Payers, all say that you are not welcome here—why does Iberdrola insist on pushing its project forward?
I want to know why neither company has EVER held a well advertised public meeting—and not just a dog and pony show—but the kind of meeting where EVERYONE can sit together and have unlimited time to talk about the FACTS, not just the empty promises? What are you afraid of?
Are these honorable men? Are these good neighbors? Are these the kind of people and corporations that we want to invite to Maine, to destroy our land, our water, our animals, our economy, and our way of life?
I want some answers. And if they aren’t forthcoming, [and in two years, they haven't been], then I want these dishonest bastards to slink out of MY STATE with their heads hung low, and their tails between their legs, exposed for the liars, thieves, and cowards that they are!
And I want to make it perfectly clear: The People of Lexington, Concord, and Highland have spoken. They WILL hold the line, for their own communities, and for the rest of Maine, as well.
There are some lines that should not be crossed. This is one of them!
DC
Highland Wind and Iberdrola won’t go away for a very simple reason – $$$$$$$$$$. There are federal subsidies to be harvested and they’re not about to let a bunch of rural Mainers stand between them and US taxpayers’ money.
David, No one could have said it any better or more dead on accurate and truthful. Great job! Thanks.
Angus, if you continue to be such an arrogant and dismissive thug towards the informed people of this state who have learned the sleazy truths about industrial wind, you will surely be living out of state sooner than later as the people of Maine will grow to despise you more and more, as a greedy liar and thief. And that goes the same for you Rob and for you Ted Kaufman of Maine Audobon, and for the perpetual corporate tools of the Appalachian Mountain Club and the twisted pretzels of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, who took the lead in this destructive assault on the mountains and people of Maine. To all of you fools: STOP YOUR ASSAULT NOW and we will somehow forgive you. JUST STOP IT NOW.
Of course it is all about the money. But I want them to say it.
I want the men behind Highland Wind and Iberdrola to stand up on their hind legs, like men, and tell me that their right to collect Federal subsidies is more imoportant than my life, and the lives of my neighbors!
I want to hear it.
And if they have some other argument to make, then I want them to make it, fully, publicly, and openly–supported by DOCUMENTED FACTS!
If they can’t, or won’t, do this, then they will prove themselves to be lower than a snake’s belly at the bottom of Death Valley–and worthy of nothing but contempt.
DC
If this had been a test it would have said so!
A good man will admit his mistakes, apologize when appropriate and change his ways.
A man without ethics will bulldoze his way and not consider the damage left in his path.
Men of wind power, it is time to use your hindsight, listen to the people and use your foresight to see your pathway out of Maine. You and your wind projects are not wanted here. We the Wind Warriors of Maine will and have made our stand. We will educate, unite and grow to show your lies and deceptions. It is not safe to believe the words of a man who can not see the truth.
i am the ferret…..seeker of truth or answers.
jesus name
go to the mountains, befriend the animals
In time, we will see just how bad wind power projects really are. You will see it every month in paying your electric bill. The EIA in it’s report to congress reveals each wind project is given $56.29 per megawatt hour for each megawatt hour of production. OK, this isn’t in your monthly bill, but is part of your federal tax payments. If transferred to your electric bill, it would be about $6.40 per year per household and climbs as each subsidized turbine is installed.
The real secret to how much more your electric bill will be is the Power Purchase Agreement between the wind developer and electric utility. It’s secret because no wind developer will disclose the terms of such contracts. Bits and pieces are coming forth and from what we hear , the rates are in the $85 to $100 per megawatt hour range. The current bidding process by ISO-NE has electric supply costs in the $55 per megawatt range averaged annually. The PPA places further pressure on rising electric bills and again, the more turbines , the more electricity costs.
OK, that’s the supply cost side. The delivery side , facing the problem of the intermittent nature of wind, will have to adapt ( increased transmission, computer predictions, resolving congestion within the network, etc. ) The Maine PUC added a clause in the contract between Rollins Ridge Wind and CMP and Bangor Hydro that allows them to determine the added costs of delivery due to wind and pass this cost to ratepayer. And again, the more turbines, the more problems in transmission.
There is and never will be any downward pressure on our electric bills from wind. It will just keep going up and up. Their ability to proliferate must be cut off and soon.
A thing of beauty Dave.
I hope Snowe, Collins, Pingree, Michaud, Fletcher, LePage and the rest
of the so-called Representatives of the people monitor your blog also.
love you
I assure you Mr. Remian …
A number of us so- called Representatives of the people do in fact monitor this blog…
Larry, you are one of the true gems in the Maine legislature. I am very happy to have you on our side, the side of the people of Maine, the side of protecting the soul of this state, our natural heritage. We can have honest disagreement on other things, but when it comes to being protectors and good stewards of the eternal beauty of Maine’s mountains and the very health of those mountains and the life they support, there must be unity. What kind of Mainer, what kind of person, would sacrifice the magic and innocence of our fragile mountain ecology, at the altar of bottomless corporate greed???
My thanks to all who hold the line. To all who know the truth, and aren’t afraid to stand up for it.
And my special thanks to Representative Larry C. Dunphy, one othe very few true Representatives of The People that I have been privelaged to know.
DC
Great piece, Dave. Just FYI, if you want to revisit an old website, even if its owner has pulled it or replaced it, go to http://www.archive.org/web/web.php. Enter the site name and it’ll make available snapshots of each time their bot visited the site. Using the archive you can get Angus’s quote/lie from that original site.
Well said Dave. They will never say that it is all about money and selling RECs. They will never reveal that to the citizens who unknowingly give them a TIF for ruining their areas. They will never admit they couldn’t care less about C02 or climate change. Hello to Larry!!! Thanks again for your help. I hope Bob is with us too.
Dave, great piece as always. And leading the way in tenacity. But, Bob Goldman! WOW!!! Your response should be shouted from every mountain top and ridgeline and echo across every lake!!! It is a cabal of evil enablers to the windustry that is more widespread than you cast your net. They need to STOP IT—NOW.
Thanks, Brad.
We must let all the people of Maine know who each of the money-crazed destroyers are, then we’ll have a much better chance of defeating them. The best way of confronting and defeating any evil doer is to shine a bright light on them and their scheming for all to see. And make no mistake about it, destroying Maine’s mountain ecology and making Mainers physically and emotionally sick over the destruction of their mountains, in order to serve the lies of the corporate wind industry, is pure evil.
The old line “environmental groups”… Appalachian Mountain Club, Maine Audobon and the newer ones… NRCM, etc are rallying behind industrial wind = destroying the mountain ecology for a pack of lies, because a number of their wealthy members have “invested” their supposedly hard earned money, in this federal tax payer funded scheme. The wealthy look for what they consider sure bets to grow their money and what is a better bet than feeding like a heroin addict from the vast pool of federal taxpayer subsidies. These greed crazed addicts are the reason industrial wind has not collapsed yet. The wealthy have their lobbyists to lobby for fulfilling their heroin addiction. Follow the money and there lies the problem. These people should be outed as first degree environmental criminals.
Thank you, Dave, for being the voice that you are in this battle. As usual, you are “right on the money” – and we know that is what all of this wind power business is about. As it was recently brought out in a congressional hearing by our energy czar, there is $10 billion set asde to cover federally guaranteed private loans that go bad with renewable energy projects. So besides taxpayers footing the outright grants and tax production credits which cover about 2/3 of the cost of a wind power projects, when these scamming wind power developers decide to dissove their LLC’s in about 10 years ( after putting hardly anything into a decommisioning fund) we taxpayers will have to go good for those private loans. History tends to repeat itself – just look at what happened with Enron in the 1970′s.