I started to read this but quickly lost interest. more liberal s**t that is just going to finish any hopes of economy......WHY DON'T YOU JUST FINISH US OFF

I've got a radical idea... lets not add a "surcharge" on heating oil when half the state cant afford it to begin with!!! Wasn't that what the news talked about all winter? WTF is there any common sense anywhere in this state?

Please tell me that someone has the common sense to stand up to CANADA and make sure we don't spend OUR money to only BENEFIT CANADA. JESUS CHRIST SMARTEN UP!!!!

Wheres all the jobs? All I can see is Irving and BHEC is buying their way though Maine.

do they actually think that we can afford more surcharges........I really wonder what world our representatives live in????? They need to get a grip on their spending..........LIberal are so numb to reality

"Reducing consumption of liquid fossil fuels by at least 30 percent by 2030 and of heating oil in particular by 20 percent by 2020".

20 years to weatherize all homes and half of businesses? By the time 20 years rolls around you would easily have to start to redo all those homes done in year 1.

No more tourists allowed driving those SUVs and RTVs. No more boating, ATVing or snowmobiling. Got to meet those fossil fuel goals.

But wait! Light at the end of the tunnel!!!!

In 2030 there won't be anyone left in the state. All the old people will have died off and all the young people will have left looking for work.

Then we can all have one big National Park with only bicycles and hikers allowed.

''Gorebal warming project director for the Natural Resource Council of Maine call ed the bill quite a remarkable achievement''

What part of that statement does not say : 'Dude we are going to tax you out of existence''

*** 'credits for those who purchase solar energy system' Ahhh? : and import the sun ? ?

'system benefit charge' on Elec./'surcharge on heating oil ---Is the State of Maine THE destination for every leftcoast Algore tax and spend wannabe --or is this article going to have a follow-up and someone says 'Gotcha' --you didn't REALLY think we were that @#^&* stupid did you !

--maybe it's 'cause were old and white and R.E.S.T.O.R.E. has targeted downtown Bangor as a game preserve by the year 2012

I can't even believe how ridiculous this article is.

The energy demands are growing and they want us to cut 100 MW of peak usage. Who the hell educated these people on energy?

I bet they think the electricity for all their electric cars is going to grow on trees.

When are these people going to realize we need a nuclear plant in Maine?? Cheap, clean, reliable electricity with no hot gas emmissions.

We could sell power to Canada with a couple nukies. This state is a green joke, and the libs have toppled all the industry that used to thrive here. We can't even put up any wind turbines without the tree huggers complaining about noise. Idiots.

Why don't the higher ups in state Government take a pay cut? Why is it always the working people. No matter where you go there will always be dead wood. Example, the other day on the bridge in Belfast 9 guys stood around watching 1 guy sweep. Our tax dollars at work. Anyone notice the price of gas on the way back up? 25 cents a gallon in 10 days. First there is so much oil on the market, tankers sitting off of Searsport because of no place to put it but yet it goes up. I agree with the tree hugger comment. They get pissed if your American flag is floating too high. It might hurt a seagull swooping around. There is too much government in our private lives. Why do we keep voting the same idiots in year after year? So many people out of work who are deserving of help yet get denied. No money in the budget.. You can bet if one of those yahoo's in Augusta want a pay raise or use of a company care with expenses they get the royal treatment. People take a stand. There is only so much money. Take care of your own first. Cut big state government. It takes all kinds and no one wants to give. They attack the medicaid and senior citizens and than go after the young families who cannot fend for themselves in these tough times. It's sad when the dollar store is no longer the dollar store. More like the 1.25 store. Something has to be done. No incentives for solar. It takes average 14 years to see a return on a system. Wind power forget it. The tree huggers want to protect the crows and other flyers. So much red tape and permission to get, even though you own the land and pay the taxes. There is always a gimmick. They wonder why people get frustrated and just give up with the "I don't care attitude"

The plan for Maine's wind farms was to export energy to Canada in the winter and Mass. in the summer. The Mars Hill wind farm currently exports to Canada, although this information is kept confidential.

We need 2 billion dollars worth of transmission lines for the Stetson Mt. wind farm to go online and export to Mass. You will pay for that. The builder of these two wind farms, First Wind, has Enron ex employees working for them. The funder D E Shaw Group bought up Enron assets. They were into wind power.

Enron jacked up California's electricty bills by exporting energy and closing power plants.Remember the rolling black outs? California was left with 6 or 7 billion dollars worth of debt because of it. That is the plan for Maine. Two reliable power plants have to close for Stetson to go online now. Indeck and Brookfield. Hydro and bio mass. They produce 24/7 and supply jobs for Mainers. Wind farms only produce when the wind blows. If it blows too hard, they have to shut down due to risk of friction fire in the blades. The energy can't be stored....and it is minimal for the money involved. Power is lost in transmission. The least reliable form of energy in existance.

Aroostook County has higher electricity bills to pay for Mars Hill. They get nothing out of the wind farm...less help from the state as well. So WE are paying for giant multi national corporations to make money . Tax payers also pay for the wind farms within 5 years of the building . Win win for the corporations. This is not a liberal conservative issue. It is who is bought off and who isn't. Mars Hill wind farm is not in compliance with Maine state law with the noise decible level. DEP says there is nothing they can do about it. So the bought off ones just make new departments to make wind farms lega. LURC is going out of business. DEP is useless. Pay to Play going on in Maine...makes Illinois and Gov. Blago look like rookies.

Better yet we could jus level Agusta with one tactical nuke, it would save Mainers much undue suffering in the coming years.

The power from Mars Hill is wheeled through NB and back into Maine and the rest of New England. FirstWind's contract for the purchase of the power is with a company in the US - not sure where you get your "facts" from. As for MPS ratepayers paying for the transmission cost - not true again. The wheeling charge is covered by the company. You only pay for it when you use/purchase the power. The upgrades that were required for Mars Hill to come online were paid for by the company as well.

For Stetson to go online . . . it already is online. And there was no $2 billion transmission line needed. What is needed in Maine, and the rest of the country for that matter, is an improved transmission system that is newer than 1950s vintage - that would allow for tighter monitoring and control of the electrical flow. Current energy demands and prices make wind a very affordable, clean alternative to more of the same. And by more of the same, I mean more natural gas, which is the primary source of electricity in New England. The next time the imported price of LNG goes up - and your rates continue to rise - you won't be able to erect wind turbines fast enough.

As for the benefits to the folks in Mars Hill - I'm quite sure the landowners are enjoying their land rent, and I'm very sure the folks in town who got a 20% tax break out of it are fairly well pleased.

Aroostook County's electricity bills went up 2 years ago because there was a single bidder to supply power - and the rates went up 40% in one year for most of us. They went down a mere 2% this past winter, when NB Power - that's right - NB Power won the contract to supply our electricity. And the result of that - 2 power plants IN AROOSTOOK COUNTY CLOSED!!!!!! Wake up Maine - you're simply exporting more jobs out of state when you take a short-term view of cost/benefit.

If the power from the Mars Hill wind farm actually does come to Maine..there are a couple of questions.

(1) Why , after Mars Hill was online , would the First Wind farm rep not say who was buying the power generated.

(2) Why does AWEA say confidential as to who buys Mars Hill electricity.

First Wind's own website states Stetson is operational. Mars Hill is operating.

I have stated where my facts come from. Where are yours coming from? If it is First Wind , remember they will say anything. Everytime they build a wind farm they say there will be very little noise. Then after it is up and running..it is "who knew?" If there is no noise why were the 18 families who live at the Mars Hill wind farm offered $2,000 a year for forty years. Why did First Wind have to pay for the noise tests? Outside auditor declared them bogus.

The whole wind farm biz in Maine stinks to high heaven with criminal corruption.

All the brouhaha being made by Downeast LNG, Calais LNG, Maine Jobs First, and their supporters is the result of greed and inertia overtaking good sense. The Passamaquoddy Bay LNG projects violate LNG industry best practices due to the inherent features of the bay. Canaport LNG near Saint John, New Brunswick, does not suffer from those waterway problems. Unlike Passamaquoddy Bay proposals, Canaport LNG's ship berth is a straight shot from sea to the jetty, in open water. Thousands of miles of the Maine coast (including in Washington County) are situated similarly.

Would you put a plugged-in hairdryer on the edge of your tub, and then put your child in the tub to give him a bath — even if you were careful? That act would not be illegal, but it certainly defies good sense. LNG development in Passamaquoddy Bay similarly defies good sense.

The LNG industry is represented by the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO). With assistance from maritime teaching institutions, SIGTTO researches, develops, and publishes best practices for the industry. SIGTTO has published, "Site Selection and Design for LNG Ports and Jetties." It clearly spells out why Passamaquoddy Bay should never have been considered for an LNG terminal. Ignoring SIGTTO is reckless and foolhardy, but that is exactly what is going on with Passamaquoddy Bay LNG development and Maine Jobs First.

Canada and New Brunswick previously indicated they do not oppose LNG in Maine — they oppose unsafe terminal siting. Early on, Canada even commented to FERC that the developers find different, more suitable locations. Instead, the LNG developers ignored that sensibility as well as their own industry's advice, and continue to attempt bullying their way through the process and Canada's opposition, like we're seeing now with Maine Jobs First. Maine jobs and Maine's economy are actuality at risk by the coercive tactics employed by Maine Jobs First and the LNG developers. In fact, they are overlooking the easier, obvious, and more practical solution to meeting their goals.

The problem could easily be solved by locating LNG projects where they lie outside Canadian authority and conform to LNG terminal siting best practices. The Maine Jobs First bullying tactic is likely to end up with an unnecessary loss for everyone, Maine jobs included.

Hey W, interesting you mention Old Al do as I say not as I do Gore. I happened accross this artilce a week or so back. Seems like old Al is not banking all of his money in Green Technology, apparently he still finds oil exploration an attractive investment. http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/04/26/milloy_gore_congress/

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090515/METRO/905150392/1448/LIFESTYLE14/Troy-s-celebrated-solar-house-left-in-dark

This is what Algore, Baldacci and Obama want the rest of us to live in, bet their digs will be a little nicer.

Do a Google search for LNG foreign workers and see how many LNG terminals are hiring foreign workers because they can't find workers locally with the kind of experience they want. That includes Canaport. Some jobs are there if you have a lot of experience with LNG. Otherwise, no.

But massive heavy industry will dislocate all the jobs in any area that it comes in to, because it changes a whole way of life. That is why no seacoast port in Maine wants it. That is why the LNG develpers have latched on to a tiny scrap of US coastline next to the Canadian border. The last ditch effort. Unemployed millworkers are easy to sweet talk..

There are millions to be spent and the chance of billions to be made, but not by you and not by me and not by any area trashed by heavy industry. The money and the gas go elsewhere. The damage stays here.

Developers always sell dreams. These developers pit community against community. They use people. It is called exploitation.