Yesterday the Maine legislature passed LD 1075 An Act to Promote Community-based Energy. Governor Baldacci has expressed tremendous support for this program and will most likely approve the legislation.
The program has a sunset date of December 31, 2015 and includes some innovative approaches to supporting local ownership of wind energy development. Here is a brief summary of the major points in the legislation:
“When farmers, schools, and businesses develop and own wind projects, that's power by the people, for the people,” says Lisa Daniels, executive director of Windustry, in a Character with a Cause video on the USA Network as part of NBC Universal's Green is Universal environmental campaign.
“Why can’t we own it ourselves?” is the question that Randy Joseph asked five years ago as he pondered Oregon's commercial wind farms with hundreds of megawatts of electric power capacity. Now that Oregon has well over a thousand megawatts of commercial wind power, Joseph is reviewing construction bids for his own 3 MW Lime Wind Energy Project
National Public Radio recently completed a 13-piece story on the American electric grid. I must admit that I haven't made it through all 13 pieces, but have found it fascinating regardless. There are interactive maps, photos, as well as the audio history and interviews that help listeners understand this critical, yet complicated, piece to a successful renewable energy industry.
"This year could be the start of a growth spurt for community wind, thanks to growing interest from developers and new financing options," reports Leslie Brooks Suzukamo in the article "Riding the Wind" in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
The Nebraska Farmers Union (NEFU) encourages farmers and ranchers to consider forming landowner associations for wind farm development to gain the best interests for rural communities, says spokesperson Graham Christensen in a recent interview:
It will be a long and winding road to energy independence and a stronger reliance upon renewable energy sources. Most agree that we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and strengthen our use of renewable energy, but what are the perspectives in industry, political policy, and public opinion on the routes to get there?
Today (4/30/09) the Minnesota House of Representatives debated Senate File 550, the energy omnibus bill. A number of amendments were introduced and a good amount of time was spent debating provisions of the bill that affect landowners and C-BED projects.
To read the text of the bill and the house research summaries, visit the House of Representatives website.
“Local communities and counties and school districts aren't getting the benefit that we are entitled too,” explains David Benson in a recent newspaper article regarding problems with the wind energy production tax in Minnesota. Benson is a Nobles County commissioner, legislative chairman for the Southwest Regional Development Commission, and on the Windusty board of directors.
