Fishermen back proposed offshore wind ban
AUGUSTA Fishermen from across the state gave their support last week to a local legislator’s bill that would ban the development of offshore wind projects in the Gulf of Maine.
If passed, the bill would prohibit state officials from permitting or approving offshore wind projects along the coast.
The bill, LD 101, was introduced by Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) who is also a commercial fisherman.
“It is time to put a permanent halt to offshore wind development,” Faulkingham said during a hearing with the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee.
Dozens of fishermen submitted testimony and felt that any development of wind turbines off the coast would pose a threat to the livelihoods of lobstermen.
Fishermen back proposed offshore wind ban
AUGUSTA Fishermen from across the state gave their support last week to a local legislator’s bill that would ban the development of offshore wind projects in the Gulf of Maine.
If passed, the bill would prohibit state officials from permitting or approving offshore wind projects along the coast.
The bill, LD 101, was introduced by Rep. William “Billy Bob” Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) who is also a commercial fisherman.
“It is time to put a permanent halt to offshore wind development,” Faulkingham said during a hearing with the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee.
Dozens of fishermen submitted testimony and felt that any development of wind turbines off the coast would pose a threat to the livelihoods of lobstermen.
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More than 60 commercial fishermen and their supporters testified Tuesday in favor of a bill that would block any attempt to develop offshore wind projects anywhere along the Maine coast.
The bill would prohibit any state agency from permitting or approving any offshore wind energy project regardless of its location. It was introduced by Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, a commercial fisherman, and co-sponsored by eight other Republican lawmakers.
The testimony on L.D. 101 from lobstermen, their families and town officials from fishing communities drew a clear line in the sand: Any offshore wind development, they told told lawmakers on the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, would threaten the very survival of their iconic industry and way of life.
Maine contractors fear labor agreement will shut them out of offshore wind work
A pending commitment by wind energy developers to use only union labor has caught some of the state s top construction firms off guard.
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Chris Wissemann of New England Aqua Ventus speaks at a press conference in Portland on April 7, where an agreement with the Maine Building and Construction Trades Council was announced. Some construction firms fear the agreement s union labor component will shut them out of working on offshore wind power projects. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Maine’s largest construction contractors say they fear being shut out of work in the state’s nascent offshore wind industry because of a pending labor agreement between the lead project developer and trade unions.
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