Key lawmakers support letting the PUC decide the fate of net metering, the financial incentive for homeowners with solar electric panels that’s opposed by the governor.
Tux Turkel
Tux Turkel writes primarily about energy issues affecting Maine. Over the years, he has gazed into the spent-fuel pool at the now-gone Maine Yankee nuclear plant, looked across Casco Bay from atop Wyman Station’s smokestack, and toured power plants and wind farms across the state, but remains confused about why electricity doesn’t leak from our wall sockets.
When he’s not trying to make sense of dense regulatory filings at the Public Utilities Commission, he’s likely to be hiking in the mountains or visiting Maine’s coastal islands in his small motorboat.
A graduate of Emerson College in Boston, Tux lives in Yarmouth with his wife, youngest son, a cat and a guinea pig.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Source
Now, even recycling will cost more for many Mainers
The depressed value of recycled materials worldwide means local solid-waste handlers are earning less money – a shortfall that consumers will have to pick up.
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Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Source
Cheap-as-dirt glass jars shatter recycling expectations
Recycled glass has so little value that it’s being ground up and used as paving material in road and drainage projects.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Maine and Quebec to develop electric car charging network
Gov. Paul LePage and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard propose putting charging stations along a corridor linking the province and the state as a way to promote tourism.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
LePage opposes compromise to rapidly expand solar power
Diverse interest groups back the 12-fold expansion, but LePage’s energy office says it includes subsidies that harm other ratepayers, setting up a legislative battle.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Politics
Lawmakers endorse stripped-down version of lobster license changes
The most controversial measure – to establish a new class of license – is rejected by the Marine Resources Committee.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Wood pellet businesses ail as demand plummets
In a stark contrast from last year, Maine’s four producers are laying off workers and cutting production as consumers shift back to burning oil.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Wood energy industry, hundreds of Maine jobs, at risk
Will lawmakers and Gov. LePage step in to help biomass power plants and pellet mills, which face a pending crisis from cheap oil and shifting energy policies?
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
As solar power grows in Maine, so does tension over its future shape and direction
Many homeowners and small businesses could someday generate and store their own power, and leave a grid long controlled by utilities and energy companies.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News, Politics
Proposed fix for lobstering license barriers draws skepticism at hearing
Although many want to end the long waits and limited access to the profitable industry, the latest proposal won’t do it, critics tell legislators.