LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]



Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Energy policy threatens state’s economic viability 

Credit:  The Salem News, www.salemnews.com 2 September 2010 ~~

The Supreme Judicial Court this week gave the Cape Wind project a big boost by giving its imprimatur to most of the state permits needed in order for work to proceed. Meanwhile, state Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, was among those testifying in Washington recently for greater regulation of coal-burning power plants like the one in Salem.

It’s hard to argue with efforts to reduce pollution and end our dependence on fossil fuels. On the other hand, it’s important to keep in mind that such initiatives do not come without a price.

National Grid, under pressure from the state, has signed a contract by which it agreed to pay twice the going rate for all the electricity produced by Cape Wind; while the electricity produced at Salem Harbor Station is among the cheapest of any available to the region’s power grid other than that provided by New England’s nuclear power plants.

Now comes word of a rate request filed by the Western Massachusetts Electric Co., which threatens to raise rates substantially for its largest customers.

The rate proposal, also heavily influenced by “green” advocates on Beacon Hill, is an example, according to Associated Industries of Massachusetts, of how “misguided state energy policy makes even sound rate proposals by responsible utilities hazardous to the economic health” of the commonwealth.

By pushing renewable energy without regard to its cost, AIM contends, the state “threatens of chase away key employers who form the backbone of the western Massachusetts market.”

Unless some balance is restored to state energy policy, we could end up with a state that’s green, but broke.

Source:  The Salem News, www.salemnews.com 2 September 2010

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon