I recently listened to an audio recording of Janet Mills speaking at Boys State and she responded to a question about the NECEC. In my opinion, I believe that our Governor needs to immediately dismiss all of her advisors who brief her about the NECEC. The ‘facts’ relating to the NECEC that she cited to respond to the questioner were actually not true. I feel badly for Governor Mills because when she delivers public responses and is armed with inaccurate or false information it makes her look utterly foolish. The responses she provided, based information obviously provided by her closest and most trusted advisors, did just that when she met the participants at Boys’ State.
Let’s just see what she has been given for false information.
Mills stated clearly for her audience that Hydro Quebec provides clean energy …
- Following over a decade and a half of research, Dr. David Schindler states: ‘When you add the emissions from building and producing materials for a dam, as well as the emissions from clearing forests and moving earth, the greenhouse gas production from hydro is expected to be about the same as from burning natural gas,’ says professor David Schindler. Politicians who describe dams as “clean energy projects” are talking “nonsense” and rejecting decades of science, says David Schindler, a leading water ecologist. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Schindler)
- “Boreal developments (Hydro Quebec) generally involve reservoirs with large surface-area-to-volume ratios that flood substantial quantities of organic bio-mass, which predisposes these reservoirs to high production rates of greenhouse gas and methylmercury relative to the amount of power produced. (Source)
- Neither of the two previous bullets provides any of the information regarding the cultural genocide committed on native tribes in Canada to secure the land required for these dam projects.
Governor Mills stated that the US is not part of the Paris Accord. Her advisors should have reminded her that even though Donald Trump has ‘pulled’ the US from the Paris Accord, this does not take effect until November 2020, so we ARE still part of the Paris Accord.
Mills also stated what I have heard on a number of occasions: “most of the corridor right-of-way already exists.” Well, again, her advisors have fallen quite short on this statement. An accurate calculation of acreage for the corridor mathematically proves that only 43 percent of the corridor currently exists and, in my world as a fact-based natural resource practitioner, 43 percent is NOT ‘most’.
A comment that Mills made about the physical supports for the HVDC line – actually they are NOT wood (she states single-pole wooden structures). Who tells her this false information? Again, time for some new advisors. An advisor to the governor should provide accurate information so the governor does not make false statements. Providing false information to our governor makes her appear misinformed and erodes any confidence in decisions she makes now and into the future. Don’t her advisors know this? Maybe it’s time for Mills to become the Queen of Hearts for a moment and look toward her advisors and announce “off with theirs heads.”
And the comment about “who stands to lose the most?” Her advisors neglected to inform her that the people of Maine actually lose because of the significant damage to the ecosystem. These same advisors also forgot to inform our governor that there has NOT been an objective assessment of the potential environmental impact from this for-profit project that will leak dangerous and insidious chemicals into the ecosystem, not to mention the real danger from fires – just ask California about this angle. And providing the ridiculous apples/oranges explanation … as if better broadband access is an equal trade-off for the damage to the ecosystem … her advisors must have had a good laugh over that one.
The land may be crisscrossed with logging roads as Mills correctly stated, (a hearty ‘well done’ to the advisors for that one) but what the advisors neglected to add was that the proposed corridor will completely fragment one of the largest unfragmented forest ecosystems in the US. Jeez, whose side are these advisors on anyway?
Well, it’s approaching Friday again and I need to crack open another case of Moxie to start getting ready for Dark Money Friday where many of the opponents of the NECEC gather together on facebook and other undisclosed locations to determine who might donate another 100 bucks or so to match our secretive and clandestinely gathered 5 dollar bills to help support the ‘resistance’ (better known as those who actually present facts and the truth). Perhaps Governor Mills’ advisors would want to join us so they have access to real facts and accurate information for a change? I mean, we don’t want Governor Mills to have any more Boys’ State moments, do we?
Richard Aishton
Farmington
Insulation tactic! Oh I didn’t know, it’s just what my advisors told me! Come on,……trust, but verify!
NIMBY!
NO CORRIDOR.
From what I have witnessed, Janet’s talking points are almost word for word the same as Tony Buxtons, a lawyer and Chair of the Utilities and Energy group hired to promote the NECEC. At last nights forum in Jay, Mr. Buxton kept repeating the TV ads, media etc. are ‘funded by dark money’- same as Janet in the Farmington Town meeting. He neglected to mention that all the “New England Clean Energy Connect”, and “Mainers for Clean Energy” ads frankly outnumber the no corridor ads by at least 3:1. And that those ads do not say “funded by CMP” on any disclosure that I have seen. This is the tactic of the people hired by industry to fool the people. It is disingenuous and we are not being fooled by it. I spoke to Mr. Buxton about this after the forum last night, and I also explained there was no grassroots promotion of the project, only grassroots opposition. So might he consider being fair and objective in his rhetoric, as those forums are designed to educate not fool people. He held his ground. (as most anyone making $350 an hour would)
Anyway, to Richards point in the article- Janet really could use some advisers willing to consider the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The disingenuous rhetoric put forth by paid proponents, which sounds good and is sprinkled with half truths, should not be the basis for a project that will alter a special area of Maine forever. A project based on false premises designed to make a fortune for Spain and Hydro Quebec.
Great Research Job Richard Aishton….Does anyone think this will be heard in Augusta ? …The beat goes on with ABC-NBC-CBS controlling the public with what they see and hear the loudest. Push back against the Liberal Crap and a corporation in Spain destroying our state and stealing our money and resources.
That’s it? That’s your big environmental impact speech, nice touch throwing the Indians in there. What do people think will happen if somebody uses wind turbines, land will be cleared, by use of logging equipment, fossil fuel fired steel mills will be used to process the metals needed to build support structures and fan blades, dozens of huge, high sulfur content, offroad diesel burning CAT 797 or similar dump trucks will be used to carry the ore from a massive hole in the ground, pole lines will be carved out of the woods to carry the electricity. Solar panels contain gold, copper, titanium, silicon, plastic, rubber, steel and cadmium. Gold is processed by means of leaching with arsenic, cyanide and mercury. ore is also trucked using CAT 797 or similar trucks, large tracts of land will be cleared for panels and associated pole lines. Where as with the NECEC, 90% of the pole line already exists, as do the dams, 5 dams to be exact, that will provide the power, and the as yet to be built 10% of the line is in a partially cleared working forest. But I guess it is ok to flood the state with asylum seekers as long as nobody messes with the trees and land. I wonder, if somebody wanted to build a 200 acre refugee camp in Beattie township, would people still object the project?
Sorry HB, but your comment does not count. After the previous post and your disjointed comment that didn’t even address the letter you have been disqualified from further commenting on any of my ‘stuff’. I follow strict rules and you lost your permit to comment because of that sad, drunken ramble a week or so ago. You need to follow a 3 step process to reinstate yourself to commenting on my posts. At some future date I will provide you with the annotated list. In the meantime just head back to Tucks. :-)
I kinda like the comment the Governor made about we the NO folks. We’re fighting this because they’re cutting down trees or something.
Great letter. I raise an unopened bottle of Moxie in salute Richard.
Oh Gawd, tell me Hrtlss doesn’t frequent Tucks….
The Gov is completely responsible for what comes out of her own mouth.
She owns it.
She lost me already….
Want her gone.
The Governor is not for the people of Maine. She is only working for her special interest groups and has already forgotten where she has come from. I will not be voting for her in 2022 if she runs again.
Rest assured Terry, I don’t go to Tuck’s. But if I did, how would you know?
Your letter emphasizes several significant points about the environmental impact of hydro facilities. Here is another source to look further into the minus column, and the plus column of hydro.
https://www.hydropower.org/news/study-shows-hydropower’s-carbon-footprint
The report was commissioned to help rate the hydro projects vs others generators, I believe for assessing and trading carbon credits.
I don’t know if the peer review has been done yet, or if the same analytic tools have been used for the hydro Quebec project targeted to produce the power for the line to Massachusetts.
This article and data supports hydro overall as a net reduction in greenhouse gases, and does share data that some of the 500 hydro producers studied approach gas generated power in greenhouse emissions.
However, they also display data which indicates 84% of hydro installations produce significantly less greenhouse gasses that does natural gas fed generating stations……84 % of the hydro projects at less than 1/5 th of the gas powered generators.
The article is up for peer review, since carbon trading may depend on its accuracy (believability) there is money riding on it.
With this kind of study out there, its hard to weigh in one expert’s opinion as absolute truth, don’t you think?
Don’t blame me, I voted for Moody!
jpub,
I am really not sure why you keep referring to carbon trading. This is actually another version of deferring one’s carbon debt and was part of or an outgrowth of Kyoto and has not really been adopted that I know of. There are significant problems such as additionality and verification. While some hydro project may be cleaner than others, the main idea in the letter was that Mills did not really have the correct information. That is either her fault or the fault of her aides/advisors. Nevertheless, if one looks at life cycles of many products, including electric cars, one sees that things are never as clean as purported. Certainly this holds true for HQ.
HB – just a guess on Tucks, I took a shot. I was disappointed in your response because it had nothing really to do with whether I am for or against the corridor. It has to do with the fact that in that Boy’s State response she had many things wrong and either she or her advisors/aides obviously have NOT provided accurate information. If a person like Janet, who was elected as our governor, doesn’t even respond with FACTS, and actually states several things that are NOT true then I believe something has broken down. I would assume that you might be a bit disconcerted if a governor or other high profile individual made false statements, right? That was my point. As for your other comments that related to the chemical elements you cite – I commend you for your knowledge of Mendeleev and his periodic table. And just FYI – I am NOT Terry.
How would l know if it was you sitting on a barstool at Tucks Hrtlss?
Well, if you listen to CMP frontman Thorn Dickinson my Russian friends, who supposedly run interference for the Say No to the NECEC grassroots organization would certainly find you out, and report back to the group.
Now, if that sounds a little far fetched l’m guessing you’d be sporting a tee-shirt that states 25 reasons why the NECEC should carve a 53 mile swath through our western mountains.
By the way….
Nice touch on throwing the asylum seekers in there.