Can Maine afford to ignore the obvious?
By Linda Miller, The Irregular, www.theirregular.com 2 February 2011
By Linda Miller, The Irregular, www.theirregular.com 2 February 2011
It is high time that the citizens of Maine demand an accounting of wind energy before pushing ahead with even one more wind energy project anywhere in the state.
Times are very hard all around our state. The last thing we need is to have anything more piled up on our already overburdened shoulders that would make it even more difficult to survive these economic times.
Maine needs lower energy costs and long-lasting secure jobs to get the state out of the red. Governor LePage would do well to dig deep into the statistics of just how well wind energy is able to provide those two things as he begins the arduous task of getting Maine back on track.
Wind is an unreliable form of energy that Maine cannot afford. It has to be heavily subsidized by the taxpayers, which means that electricity rates will inevitably rise. Do we really need that added burden? Maine should look to other resources; something more cost effective than wind power and something much more reliable which does not rely on a back-up source of power. There are other good, clean options.
Wind farms produce very few long-lasting jobs for local people. Once the wind turbines are up and running, the crews move on to other locations leaving only a skeletal crew behind. Local stores, restaurants and gas stations might derive some short-term benefit while the project is being constructed; but that quickly evaporates after the crews move on.
This is not what Maine needs to get out of the doldrums. I believe Governor LePage will do the right thing for Maine, just as he did for the city of Waterville.
Linda Miller is a resident of Lexington Township.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/02/02/can-maine-afford-to-ignore-the-obvious/