Tourism and wind don’t mix
Bangor Daily News | Posted Feb. 03, 2015 | bangordailynews.com
So Angus King has joined a Senate committee to help Maine’s tourism, through policymaking. His posturing would be laughable if it didn’t indicate how short he thinks our memories are.
King once said, “In the process of rebuilding Maine, we must never compromise the integrity of our environment. It’s not only immoral, it’s bad economics.” As governor, he signed wind power into law, later founded Independence Wind, and his son, Angus S. King III, took a job as vice president for mergers and acquisitions at First Wind.
In 2011, Sen. King’s company received $102 million for development of Record Hill. The loan came through the same stimulus program that funded Solyndra. Shortly after King announced his Senate candidacy, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a report citing Record Hill as a loan that shouldn’t have happened.
Two days before the report was released, King dropped his association with Record Hill, dumping all of his stock. He told a Maine news outlet the timing was an “amazing coincidence.” It was later revealed that his company received a letter of notification from the committee two days before King sold his stock.
So, King – after reaping financial gain from laws he got passed, by being a leading force behind the destruction of Maine’s wildest, unspoiled places – is going to promote Maine tourism? Who does he think he’s kidding?
Jack Gagnon
Lakeville
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/02/04/tourism-and-wind-dont-mix/