The following is a letter to the editor from Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport):
As a member of the Energy, Utilities, and Technology (EUT) committee, it is unfortunately customary to be expected to vote on legislation that comes before us with very little information provided.
LD 1895 “An Act Regarding the Procurement of Energy from Offshore Wind Resources”, sponsored by Sen. Mark Lawrence (D-York), is no exception.
[RELATED: Another Offshore Wind Project Scuttled as Maine Charges Forward with Mills’ “Roadmap”…]
We had no idea what the costs to ratepayers would be, what the environmental or economic impacts were (even though the sponsor admitted there would be an impact to Maine’s residential electric bills), if decommissioning planning and funding were in place, what the impacts to the local economy and culture were going to be, as well as impacts on property values and the noise, sound, and air pollution impact, etc.
In addition, the bill that was presented during the public hearing was very different from what was actually passed, due to various substantive amendments.
In reality, there was no public comment for the bill that passed the last day of the legislative session and has since become law.
For those reasons, the actual stakeholders impacted by this bill are holding an informational meeting to voice concerns and to learn more about the proposed project.
The Searsport Offshore Wind Port Meeting will be held on November 18th at the Searsport Community Building from 9am-12pm. It be a time to hear from the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, and former energy advisor in the governor’s energy office, Jim Labrecque.
A Question & Answer session will follow their presentations.
Everyone is welcome to attend and learn more about this project and what it means for the Gulf of Maine.
That includes those who want the port on Sears Island, those who want the port on Mack Point, those who want the port anywhere but Searsport, and those who would like to see the project permanently discontinued.
It is not too late, but we cannot remain silent anymore.
It is high time we stop dividing ourselves among Rs and Ds if we want to protect our coast from permanent devastation and being ravished by a potential man-made ecological disaster.
The “feel good” no fuel cost energy dreams have become an abrupt realization there is no free rides with wind or solar.
It’s really sad how so many blindly follow these false crises and fake solutions. Wind is not a solution to producing dependable energy, it is intermittent at best and that creates problems when dependable energy producers have to keep coming on line then off again to the whim of wind. And because the state government has mandated that CMP and Versant have to buy wind energy which is drastically higher rate which has caused everyone’s bill to rise. So every time another ‘wind farm’ or solar field comes on line your rates will be going up again. And all the while we are supporting communist China and slave and child labor! So the ‘save the world’ bunch is in fact everything they supposedly stand against! And solar panels and turbine blades are not recyclable, so when their life span comes to an end right now there is few places to to put them.
Just look at your electric bill to see all the added on fees, for community solar, your neighbors solar , Efficiency Maine, etc.