Liberty Will Provide Energy for Maine
Republican Candidate for Governor Bill Beardsley offers an interesting plan to improve energy supplies and lower energy costs in Maine. This is crucial if Maine is to have a better economy, and to provide more business opportunity and more work for Maine residents.
To borrow from Sarah Palin, we need new energy for Maine!
From his recent email:
Bill Beardsley On Energy
Bill is The Only Candidate With Major Power Producing Experience
The legislature and past administrations have driven energy costs upward through failed policies, including mothballing a low cost nuclear power plant, tearing out and selling off our very low-cost hydro generation, passing laws to prohibit our utilities from generating electricity, raising barriers to construction of LNG facilities, Canadian hydro, and allowing the PUC to incorporate non-economic considerations in favor of renewable energy. One terrible outcome has been a rise of electricity costs from roughly 10% above the national average 30 years ago to roughly 50% above today, thereby creating a very hostile business climate for energy intensive industry and Maine’s citizens in general.
A Beardsley administration will work with conservative and moderate legislators to bring all energy options back on the table, allowing market forces to bring costs down. It will propose a referendum to allow consideration of a next generation nuclear energy plant, propose legislation that will once again allow Maine utilities to generate electricity, to return the sales tax exemption on industrial electricity to its original 95% level. The State will work with the Congressional Delegates to gain authorization for exploratory drilling for natural gas and oil in the Gulf of Maine, to commence negotiations with Hydro-Quebec on long-term electrical transmission through Maine in exchange for a significant, fixed-price, low-cost Canadian Hydro electricity supply.
Natural gas is the preferred alternative fuel in pulp and paper biomass boilers and LNG provides an option that will allow all Maine industry, in particular the forest industry, to negotiate for better energy contracts.I will seriously investigate a customer/consumer-owned electric cooperative that would qualify for low cost federal rural electrification funds that would potentially enable Maine to buy back its instate low-cost hydro at a competitive price and build a new generation of competitive rural power plants.
Our problem with wind is that we are only looking at one energy source in isolation. In Norway they back up wind with hydro, in Denmark it is backed up by nuclear, in the Great Plains by natural gas. Here in Maine we have all these options available to us, yet our present administration seems unable to connect the dots. All our neighbors in the North Atlantic have offshore gas and oil. We need to begin exploratory drilling immediately.
Finally, I would appoint PUC Commissioners who are competent in finance and engineering, who are not anti-business and who will focus on objective cost analysis, not political agendas.
I know the energy industry. My experience as a vice president of Bangor Hydro and Director of Alaska’s Division of Energy and Power Development, and corporate experience with energy costs and contracts give me solid, diverse energy background. I know well the world of energy regulation, systems and cost analysis, and I am eager to focus this experience to the work of restoring prosperity to Maine.
Beardsley’s website has more information in a video by Dr. Beardsley..
