LePage (R-Douchebag ME) wants to eliminate ME's RPS - ME to lose 600 jobs to NH renewable energy

[jpak]

LePage Pushes to Eliminate Maine's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard

http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemId/18477/Default.aspx

Gov. Paul LePage says it's time to wean Maine off its dependence on oil, and turn instead to natural gas. And in remarks to a group of business people at the Cumberland Club in Portland last night, the governor said Maine should stop using oil to heat homes--period. The governor also reiterated his goal to eliminate the state's renewable energy portfolio standard as a way to be more attractive to business.

As he has repeatedly emphasized since hitting the campaign trail, Gov. LePage says the cost of energy in Maine is too high--on average 42 percent above the national average for electricity. The governor says that puts Maine in the unenviable position of having the 12th highest energy costs in the nation. And he thinks he knows why: the renewable energy portfolio standard, or RPS.

"The state of Maine has the highest renewable portfolio in the country," he said. "We started in January at 34 percent. The Legislature pushed it so that in 10 years it will be 44 percent. It increases one percent a year."

That means that right now about a third of Maine's electricity must come from renewable energy resources. Maine is one of about two dozen states, plus the District of Columbia, that have RPS policies in place. But Gov. LePage says Maine's renewable energy requirement puts it at a competitive disadvantage against other states competing for business.

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Kestrel Aircraft looking at New Hampshire because of energy costs

BRUNSWICK, Maine — The state’s high energy costs may again have proven to be a factor in pushing jobs that could have come to Maine elsewhere.

Kestrel Aircraft Co., which is trying to begin production on a new six- to eight-passenger turboprop aircraft, announced this week that its longstanding plans to create up to 600 jobs at Brunswick Landing, which is the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, could be scaled back and that some of those jobs could go to Berlin, N.H., or some other state.

Though the major reason for the change in plans has to do with trouble Kestrel is having securing millions of dollars worth of federal loan guarantees, company President Alan Klapmeier has said that a $275 million biomass plant being built in Berlin is another factor. Because Kestrel’s aircraft design is based on a composite shell, intense heat is needed to bake and cure components, some of which measure up to 45 feet long. Klapmeier has said that he can do that cheaper in Berlin than in Brunswick.

Klapmeier was unavailable Thursday afternoon but a spokeswoman for his company, Kate Dougherty, reaffirmed his comments about energy costs.

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Maine has the highest percentage of electricity produced from renewable energy in the US - and the lowest electricity prices in New Engand.

But that does not sit well with Gov. Douichebag - green energy it too "liberal"

Now Maine will lose hundreds of good paying jobs to NH

Becasue they supprted a biomass plant at the defunct Berlin NH paper mill

Good going Penguin

idiot

yup

:thumbsdown: