A Word About Maine Jobs and Industrial Wind

I've mentioned this interesting development before, but it bears repeating. 

We've heard it from the wind lobby over and over again: 

"Wind is the only game in town." 

When developers' claims that industrial wind facilities would counter the effects of global warming were debunked, they talked about national security, and used arguments that wind would "get us off foreign oil".

When they had to admit that Maine generates a minuscule amount of electricity from oil, and what we do use is imported from Canada and Mexico, they quickly changed tacks. 

When they were confronted with the damage to our mountains, they pointed their fingers at Appalachia's coal mines--hoping no one would remind them that there is only one electricity generator using coal in this state-and that's at the paper mill in Rumford, representing 1/2 of 1 percent of Maine's electric generation.

When challenged about their projects' impact on wildlife, they insulted us by comparing the massive assault to entire flocks of birds to the deaths caused by house cats and picture windows.

And when they had to face the victims--Maine citizens of every age and size--suffering the adverse effects of the low frequency noise and infrasound emissions of turbines, the wind industry talked about JOBS.


Renewable Energy Magazine published an article which should make even the staunchest Maine businesses advocating for wind development pause a moment.  Maybe even....worry.  What happens when the wind developers bring in their own construction crews to build Maine's grid-scale wind facilities?  Where are those promised jobs which will--as the only game in town--turn Maine's economy around and make all the negative impacts of industrial wind... worth it?

Will Reed & Reed and Cianbro and others still feel warm and fuzzy about Maine's wind energy plan, then?

Here's an excerpt from the article.  I urge you to read the whole thing by clicking the link above.

"Iberdrola brands itself as the US’s second largest wind operator, already possessing over 5 GW of wind capacity across the country. Now its engineering subsidiary, Iberdrola Engineering and Construction, is moving into wind farm construction in the US.

"Iberdrola Engineering, the Spanish energy giant’s engineering subsidiary, has been awarded a contract to build its first wind farm in the country through its US subsidiary, Iberdrola Energy Projects Inc. The facility is being built in Groton in the State of New Hampshire..."

Hmmmm.  New Hampshire.  Isn't that right over the Kittery Bridge?

Iberdrola's Many Costly Voices

Iberdrola Renewables–a subsidiary of Iberdrola Group and the owner of CMPC–is poised to become a major player in the industrial wind energy plan for Maine.  But before Maine embraces this foreign company and the product it’s selling, there are some crucial questions which must be answered.

Wind energy is expensive in many ways—both to tax-payers and to rate-payers.  Our neighbors in North Carolina are discovering the same thing.

This excerpt is from the December 15^th edition of the Charlotte Observer:

“The developer of the largest wind farm ever proposed in North Carolina says the project has stalled because no utility wants to buy the power the project would produce.

“Iberdrola Renewables, having put more than three years into a 31-square-mile wind farm near the coast, this week began notifying property owners and public officials…that the project is on hold indefinitely. If built, the Desert Wind Energy Project… would have ranked among the largest wind farms in the country.

“… the Spanish company has been unable to find a buyer for the power output of Desert Wind.”

No purchaser for wind power?  Is this due to the price wind will cost?  Or are there other disadvantages to wind power which makes it undesirable?

In trying to protect its investments and promote its agenda, the wind lobby has been vociferous about the jobs “wind” is bringing to our state.  Thus far, experienced local construction companies like Reed & Reed and Cianbro have been contracted to build the developers’ wind facilities.  However, the November 28^th issue of Renewable Energy Magazine reported that another Iberdrola subsidiary, Iberdrola Engineering and Construction, is moving into the wind facility construction business in the United States.  Iberdrola has been awarded two construction contracts for wind developments in the region—in Groton, NH and Hoosac, MA.  That begs the question: If Iberdrola is successful in getting permits for wind facilities in Maine will they import their own crews to build them?

Another lamentable detail:  When CMP customers write checks for our monthly electric bills, we’re sending them to a processing center in New Jersey.  We’re not mailing them to Augusta as we did for decades–back when CMPC was a Maine company, instead of a Spanish one.  Why is it that Iberdrola out-sources this traditional source of employment for Mainers?

Add to that; the fact that CMP intends to lay off dozens of employees once it has completed installing smart meters across the state, and one has to ask:

Is this foreign company looking out for the best interests of Maine’s citizens?