On October 19, the town of Wallagrass, ME passed a 6-month moratorium on wind energy development to become effective October 16, 2008. The wording of the ordinance can be accessed by clicking on the link below.

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens is on a mission, and wants you to support his energy plan away from imported oil and towards natural gas and wind power. But commentator Will Wilkinson says to be wary of what you hear.

Memo from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities Chairman, Paul Hibbard, to the ISO New England. Chairman Hibbard expresses his concerns over the push to regionalize costs for building expensive transmission lines to service renewable projects (wind) built far from load centers. Current FERC rules are unclear on how to justify distribution of the costs across all ratepayers within the region unless it can be shown such transmission is needed to ensure the reliability and integrity of the grid.

Concerned Citizens to Save Roxbury have petitioned the Roxbury, ME selectboard to hold a special meeting to determine whether the voters would support a 180-day moratorium on wind energy development. The petition filed with the selectboard and other related documents are detailed below. All documents can be accessed in full by clicking on the below links.

Energy expert, Glenn Schleede, explains how federal subsidies make wind power an easy choice for T. Boone Pickens but a losing proposition for American taxpayers.

We had heard about the windmills but when we asked how they would affect us if we bought the land, the town manager told us we wouldn't even see them, much less hear them because they were going on the front of the mountains. We believed them. That was our biggest mistake. At that time we had no idea that the town fathers had not even read the application that they had co-signed on or hired a lawyer to explain it to them. They had no idea what they had agreed to. They, in turn, had believed everything UPC had told them. The biggest lie of all was that there would be no noise or you had to be within 500'.to hear anything. I believe that is still in their propaganda. ...A close friend of ours wanted to buy ten acres of land from us for a house lot. After he saw what was happening he decided he definitely did not want to live with the windmills in his front yard. Sadly, we agreed with him.

Robert and Becky Burtchell of Mars Hill, ME provided this letter to the residents of Roxbury, ME in hopes the voters of Roxbury would make an informed decision before agreeing to permit industrial turbines on their ridgelines. This letter is published here with the permission of the Burtchells.

Federal electricity subsidies and support per unit of production (dollars per megawatt hour) varied widely by fuel in FY2007, according to EIA. Coal-based synfuels (refined coal) that are eligible for the alternative fuels tax credit, solar power and wind power received the highest subsidies per unit of generation, ranging from more than $23 to nearly $30 per megawatt hour of generation. The smallest subsidies on a per unit basis were for coal, natural gas and petroleum liquids, and municipal solid waste, all at less than $0.45 per megawatthour of generation.

Mark and Kate Harris of Mars Hill, ME provided this letter to the residents of Roxbury, ME in hopes the voters would make an informed decision before agreeing to permit industrial turbines on their ridgelines.