More GQP Environmental Policy: Proposed Permanent Ban On All Offshore Wind In Maine

[hatrack]

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The testimony on L.D. 101 from lobstermen, their families and town officials from fishing communities drew a clear line in the sand: Any offshore wind development, they told told lawmakers on the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, would threaten the very survival of their iconic industry and way of life. In his testimony, Faulkingham said offshore wind was the worst kind of green energy, and went on to list examples that, in some instances, conflated fact and opinion. He said offshore wind was three-to-five times more expensive than market prices, which may have been a reference to a single state-approved contract for the power from a demonstration project off Monhegan. He said offshore wind farms would cover 850 square miles, four times larger than Casco Bay, an apparent reference to a megawatt target set by an ocean energy task force in 2009.

He said offshore wind would enrich foreign corporations with taxpayer money, without noting that the private partnership behind the Monhegan project is investing $100 million on top of $47 million in federal grants. And he called nuclear power and Canadian hydro better options, ignoring the steep opposition and multibillion-dollar cost overruns associated with nuclear power and the ongoing fight over building a transmission line through western Maine from Quebec. “It is time to put a permanent halt to offshore wind development,” Faulkingham said, calling it “a science project.”

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But despite Tuesday’s emotional support for an all-out ban, L.D. 101 faces a steep challenge in its current form. The Legislature is controlled by Democrats. A sweeping offshore wind ban would scuttle one of Mills’ signature policy initiatives – fighting climate change through the carbon-cutting goals set out in the state’s Climate Action Plan.

A blanket prohibition also would be ineffective, said Chris Wissemann, chief executive of the $147 million joint venture project off Monhegan, New England Aqua Ventus, because the vast majority of wind leases are in federal waters. Instead, he said, the ban would send a message that Maine is “closed for business” for offshore energy investment. “But what L.D. 101 would stop is economic development,” Wissemann said, “hundreds, if not thousands, of new jobs, and a burgeoning new industry from developing in Maine. Maine’s loss would be a gain for Massachusetts and New Hampshire.”

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https://www.pressherald.com/2021/05/04/maine-fishing-interests-plead-for-total-offshore-wind-ban/

[jpak]

1. Some people piss me off

GW and over fishing have and will destroy Maine's lobster, clam and cold water fisheries.

There is no scientific evidence that offshore wind damages marine fisheries.

Morans

Yup

[SWBTATTReg]

2. Idiots. Someone should ask why in a lot of republican states, there are tons of windmills operating

without damage to the environment? The fossil fuels industry is like the cigarette industry trying to find anyone who could fight the vast medical opinions against the perils of smoking decades ago.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. This sounds fishy to me

Down here near the Gulf, we’ve learned that fish LIKE things like sunken ships and abandoned off-shore drilling platforms. They like them so much that they breed and grow more plentiful.