Give the power to the state and local government and see how fast our economy grows..............Wacko's

When local control is lost, citizens lose big time. When local selectmen go against the majority of their constituents they should be replaced. Too often the big corporations threaten very expensive lawsuits that small towns cannot afford. On the other hand as far as the Gulf of Maine wind power potential goes, if the state doesn't own the proposed development and give to tax paying residents a low flat rate, and property tax paying owners a flat rate and only after the needs of Maine residents and businesses sell the surplus to the grid that takes our resources down south, then we the citizens of Maine will be at the whim and greed of cartels, whether they be Saudi cartels(oil) or Spanish cartels(CMP). LNG is a loser, do the reading.....if we own the electricity that comes from our own Gulf of Maine and sell to ourselves first ( taxpayers, not out of state corporations) businesses will beat a path to our state, and the plethora of uneven tax breaks that is awarded to businesses from away can be done with and we will all benefit and not feel taken advantage of when profits go south or overseas.

Natural resource, wind, water. I can't believe our state is so rich we can afford not to use it. Oh wait were broke. Use the power that is laid beneath and above us. If that fails bring back a nuclear power plant.. If the United States is the supposedly such an open minded country why are we closing it to the many benefits we have developed.. Use the natural resource more solar panels and stop the outsource of bringing in power from others. Hog fuels to mills= jobs for logging= stronger economy. Windmills in maine= jobs=stronger economy. Why is it we whine about being broke and no jobs when there are ways for jobs to be had. Yes it seams to me we are ready to all wear green outfits and tell tourists where the parking is.....Huge parking lot in Elliot maine then hike in from there. We can all live together in a huge dome and share cookies and soy milk. (maine doesn't see the need of farmers either I guess)

Oh, good, ......we already have one hot nuclear deposit site, build another nuclear plant so we can have two. Ridiculous! Too many people are saying green jobs are airy-fairy, they only lack the popular and political will to get them started. Suppose we re-fix the dollar limits we put on dairy farmers product and put it on the processors and supermarkets instead, farming locally is a growth industry and about to become more so. Let's add another giant greenhouse like the one that produces those yummy tomatoes so we can have locally grown greens throughout the winter? Tourists, yes.....it amazes me how many of Maine's citizens disparage the tourist industry when it's the #1 money producer in the state. the cleaner and more open space we have the better we will look to other more crowded states and their citizens.

linkesc14, Hunter334 and, mccojay,

I realize that this situation is frustrating about energy and the economy but going green is not an impulsive process and it never was. One needs to question what is being put on the table as an offer before you begin to eat. Pro's and Con's need to be weighed. As one committee member stated to Rep Cebra yesterday, "it is questionable if this bill has the impression of eminent domain for wind". What about exploring your energy use on a micro level? How do you use energy, or do you believe that you should be able to have access to all the power you want regardless of what you effect? Where did hear that these turbine projects were going to be bringing all kinds of jobs to Maine? Are you that gullible, do you believe everything you hear? I suggest you call up the wind developers and ask them if they got a job for you, because what I'm being told from an administrative level, is that these companies already have all there people, have you even looked at a TIF that was being presented to a town? It is clearly stated 5-10 jobs maybe. and that is not a guarantee. They are taking Federal funds to support Maine and giving it to these wind developers at 60% on the dollar in the form of subsidies just to get them going? Then the TIF is a package that locks in the tax applied to these developers for a 20-30 yr time frame, wish I had that kind of tax break! Then the energy does not stay here because our transmission lines are maxed out and the revenue heads out of state too, So what is Maine taxpayers getting out of this deal again?? Why would these Representatives and Developers being pushing so hard when the data needed to create safe ordinances is just now beginning to show up on the radar? Stop looking for a quick fix, there aren't any.

Legisaltors, please note. Big Wind is a big energy scam to Maine . From SEC document

Firstwind IPO Click here: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1434804/000104746908008563/a2186834zs-1.htm

Under the terms of our existing financial hedges, we are not

obligated to physically deliver or purchase electricity, but we receive payments for certain quantities of electricity based

on a fixed price and are obligated to pay the market electricity price for the same quantities of electricity

We often seek to sell forward a portion of our RECs in an effort to hedge against future declines in REC prices.

If our projects are unable to generate the amount of electricity required to earn the RECs sold forward or if we are unable

for any reason to qualify our electricity for RECs in relevant states, we may incur significant losses

All Big wind is to Mainers is a hedging scam.!!

I don't think I'm gullible but since industry has priced solar panels and smaller wind turbines so expensively that individually extra-insulated households can't afford them and because the states and feds don't give enough tax incentives to cover them and I don't see them doing that because of lobbying for the largest corporations, the cleanest solution I see and perhaps the fairest is the idea of turbines in the gulf of maine. But I'm utterly opposed to them and their energy belonging to large gigantous off shore corporations who never pay their fair share of taxes so we get the shaft and they get the gold.

Wind was not the only thing I referenced, greening will take time I agree, but farming and tourism can and should be also considered green and should be built upon and expanded. When banks no longer had to make loans where they got their deposits, it started this financial freefall, unless we put in place the mechanisms to give energy made here to ourselves first, we will always be a poorer state for it. And to Firstwind I say, get ready for changes because as Bob Dylan wrote, The times they are a'changin"

In my home town, Ricevillie Iowa, a 66-turbine, 99-megawatt wind farm is being built out in the country. It's not close enough to anybody's farm to bother them; it will provide energy for about 27,000 homes; and it provides some good jobs in the area. Aren't there any similar places in Maine that benefit from a wind farm with no impact to local residents and minimal environmental impacts?

I do agree that there should be an element of local control over the process. Yes, it slows down the approval process and no, it doesn't solve all the problems, but frankly each of does care about what happens "in my backyard". The state can still play a valuable role by, for example, providing better tools for local communities, like the model local ordinances proposed by the task force.

mccojay...Good points about farming being green. That is an industry that is tourism friendly as well. I still believe that if First Wind had not been broke...we would have seen a different outcome on LD 199. And Friends of Lincoln Lakes worked tirelessly to educate. The only reason wind farms have a favorable response in so many is ignorance. Reason for the rush ? People were hearing the bad effects of wind farms more and more. Thank you Friends of Lincoln Lakes and everybody who stood up for what is right and best for the state.

For an idea of what living in the flickering shadow of a wind turbine is like for the folks in Freedom, Maine, look at a few of the videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XCA0_W9Qxs&feature=related;

plus these from a farm community in eastern Wisconsin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiSpToi982A&feature=related and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbIe0iUtelQ&feature=related

Hi again,

Back at you mccojay, Like a lot of people that I speak to about alternative energy and designs, there is a consistent misinformation your getting. Check out this website and request that they send you a catalog so you can sit back and take a look, do some math. http://www.backwoodssolar.com/ I have six 165W solar panels and a 1kW Whisper 200 turbine, a 3500 Watt surge outback inverter, 28 6 volt battery bank wired together in a 24 volt series, and all the regulators to help me know what's going on with the system. My turbine and all the fixings to get it up in the air alone cost 5k and I claimed it on my taxes along with two of the panels as a green credit. Total before tax pay backs, 11K. How long would it take at the rate your paying to pay that back to you? I researched quite a bit to educate myself in all the ways I could to make this house as efficient as possible and you can just keep building and improving on that finding more and more ways, alternative designs and methods are endless and it is a rewarding journey. I knew nothing about this 7 years ago, I just took my passion for the natural environment and said, "I'm going to just do this!" I don't think the big money tanks want the general public to know they have options. We are almost ready out here to take off with this and open up the tours so people can come on down in and ask whatever you want, see the turbine come down for maintenance so you can get a feel for it. I want to help those that want to learn this, it is a freedom that can't be described. Pure silence in the woods and a comfort knowing that your living in a home that is leaving a lighter footprint. I can see the difference from my view between Industrial and real green turbines. The gulf of Maine does have amazing wind kinetics, but we are intelligent and we know how to do it right without hurting or sacrificing something else. The ocean life is valuable too and our bodies are part of those eco-systems and we need to stop acting like we are above it somehow, that's illusive and destructive. If we think about it all carefully, we can see how impulsive actions in the past have had environmental repercussions that have not been in our best interest. What is the rush? We always make mistakes when we rush. :) Let me know when you are ready to explore that path. carolynrae@conscious-possibilities.org