9 ms·

“From what I’ve seen, it’s not going to be that beneficial to Maine,” said one voter[0]. Oh, is your end of the boat not sinking? You're probably fine, then.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s not going to be that beneficial to Maine,” said one voter[0]. Oh, is your end of the boat not sinking? You're probably fine, then. Luckily the referendum is being challenged in the courts. [0]https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/11/03/science/maine-voters-reject-transmission-line-that-would-bring-clean-energy-mass/ https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/11/03/science/maine-voters-...

LatteLazy 5y ago
The problem is, to make a difference you also need to get 7bn other people to do something...
- clairity 5y ago
  no, that’s a defeatist position promoted by polluting industries. eliminating the top 5%[0] of the most polluting power plants would make a significant (but not wholly sufficient) dent in the emissions problem. that’s on the order of changing the behavior of a few hundred people (not easy, but not as hard as literally everyone). [0]: https://www.fastcompany.com/90660435/just-5-of-power-plants-are-responsible-for-73-of-electricity-emissions https://www.fastcompany.com/90660435/just-5-of-power-plants-...
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- eldaisfish 5y ago
  this is 100% false. Multiple billions of your supposed 7 billion people doing nothing are living in squalor and poverty. Their carbon footprint is negligible today and for the foreseeable future. The people who need to do something and now are mostly in the developed world.
algo_trader 5y ago
Its still a cold/rural zone. When a carbon tax/madate is inevitably enforced, they are going to end up with escalating bills for heating and transport.
- paleotrope 5y ago
  They are going to end up burning their precious woodlands.
  - thrower123 5y ago
    We already do. Fortunately Maine is more forested than it has been in a century. Burning whole tree chips for power at biomass plants is actually pretty big in Maine. Although most of that power was sold on to other New England states that had green energy credits, in the years I was involved.
  - algo_trader 5y ago
    No doubt they will start by cuttings up trees along the transmission corridor, just to spite everyone else /s
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  > When a carbon tax/madate is inevitably enforced LOL, good luck with that. Hard to think of more unpopular legislation. You might as well say "When the United Nations High command forces the U.S. to increase its gasoline taxes". I mean, come on, we are not some small nation that can be pushed around. BTW, this is how the progressive movements always marginalize themselves and get kicked out of any political power. Instead of advocating for R&D and cheaper alternatives that improve people's quality of life, they can't help themselves but bring out the club of eco-masochism paired with tax-sadism.
  - bryanlarsen 5y ago
    The hatred is absurd. In Canada, approximately 80% of the population pays less than the average amount of carbon tax, so they receive more from the carbon dividend than they pay out for the carbon tax. I pay an extra 10 cents/litre for gasoline but get a cheque for most of $1000 every year. Pretty awesome deal for me and most Canadians. People really like to hate on getting cheques in the mail.
    - 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
danielsju6 5y ago
Maybe if they brought some of that cheap green energy to us we wouldn’t have shot down the corridor. Maine has the most unreliable power grid in the country, CMP is hated, and the lease was an (illegal) joke. $4,000 a year and no jobs.
- throwawaycuriou 5y ago
  Then you would like that "Gov. Janet Mills received a commitment from Hydro-Quebec to directly sell enough discounted energy in Maine each year to run 70,000 homes."
  - danielsju6 5y ago
    Nah fuck CMP. You know what’s also bad for the environment, hundreds of thousands of Mainers powering their homes with diesel/propane generators for weeks every year because CMP and Versant are running the most unreliable power grid in the country. My power is usually out for 4-6 weeks a year. My rooftop solar can cover my needs during the summer, but winter I have to use a propane generator
wyager 5y ago
There's nothing wrong with voting in your own interest. That's what politics is for - it's an ersatz process for trying to find Coase conditions. If you think it's doing a bad job of making a utilitarian calculation, you're probably right, and you should see if you can replace it with a market.
908B64B197 5y ago
It's pretty obvious why the local power monopolies don't want the transmission line to be built: Once it starts operating it means anyone can start buying clean, renewable power for cheaper than anything available in-state, thus putting an end to rent-seeking by the legacy players. Can you imagine just cutting your heating bill in half? Quebec even wanted to finance EV charging stations throughout the state. All built and operated locally of course. I guess out-of-state and foreign big oil didn't like this. Depressing. I guess there's a reason the state is poor...

LatteLazy 5y ago

The problem is, to make a difference you also need to get 7bn other people to do something...

clairity 5y ago
no, that’s a defeatist position promoted by polluting industries. eliminating the top 5%[0] of the most polluting power plants would make a significant (but not wholly sufficient) dent in the emissions problem. that’s on the order of changing the behavior of a few hundred people (not easy, but not as hard as literally everyone). [0]: https://www.fastcompany.com/90660435/just-5-of-power-plants-are-responsible-for-73-of-electricity-emissions https://www.fastcompany.com/90660435/just-5-of-power-plants-...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
eldaisfish 5y ago
this is 100% false. Multiple billions of your supposed 7 billion people doing nothing are living in squalor and poverty. Their carbon footprint is negligible today and for the foreseeable future. The people who need to do something and now are mostly in the developed world.

algo_trader 5y ago

Its still a cold/rural zone. When a carbon tax/madate is inevitably enforced, they are going to end up with escalating bills for heating and transport.

paleotrope 5y ago
They are going to end up burning their precious woodlands.
- thrower123 5y ago
  We already do. Fortunately Maine is more forested than it has been in a century. Burning whole tree chips for power at biomass plants is actually pretty big in Maine. Although most of that power was sold on to other New England states that had green energy credits, in the years I was involved.
- algo_trader 5y ago
  No doubt they will start by cuttings up trees along the transmission corridor, just to spite everyone else /s
rsj_hn 5y ago
> When a carbon tax/madate is inevitably enforced LOL, good luck with that. Hard to think of more unpopular legislation. You might as well say "When the United Nations High command forces the U.S. to increase its gasoline taxes". I mean, come on, we are not some small nation that can be pushed around. BTW, this is how the progressive movements always marginalize themselves and get kicked out of any political power. Instead of advocating for R&D and cheaper alternatives that improve people's quality of life, they can't help themselves but bring out the club of eco-masochism paired with tax-sadism.
- bryanlarsen 5y ago
  The hatred is absurd. In Canada, approximately 80% of the population pays less than the average amount of carbon tax, so they receive more from the carbon dividend than they pay out for the carbon tax. I pay an extra 10 cents/litre for gasoline but get a cheque for most of $1000 every year. Pretty awesome deal for me and most Canadians. People really like to hate on getting cheques in the mail.
  - 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

danielsju6 5y ago

Maybe if they brought some of that cheap green energy to us we wouldn’t have shot down the corridor. Maine has the most unreliable power grid in the country, CMP is hated, and the lease was an (illegal) joke. $4,000 a year and no jobs.

throwawaycuriou 5y ago
Then you would like that "Gov. Janet Mills received a commitment from Hydro-Quebec to directly sell enough discounted energy in Maine each year to run 70,000 homes."
- danielsju6 5y ago
  Nah fuck CMP. You know what’s also bad for the environment, hundreds of thousands of Mainers powering their homes with diesel/propane generators for weeks every year because CMP and Versant are running the most unreliable power grid in the country. My power is usually out for 4-6 weeks a year. My rooftop solar can cover my needs during the summer, but winter I have to use a propane generator

wyager 5y ago

There's nothing wrong with voting in your own interest. That's what politics is for - it's an ersatz process for trying to find Coase conditions. If you think it's doing a bad job of making a utilitarian calculation, you're probably right, and you should see if you can replace it with a market.

908B64B197 5y ago

It's pretty obvious why the local power monopolies don't want the transmission line to be built: Once it starts operating it means anyone can start buying clean, renewable power for cheaper than anything available in-state, thus putting an end to rent-seeking by the legacy players. Can you imagine just cutting your heating bill in half? Quebec even wanted to finance EV charging stations throughout the state. All built and operated locally of course. I guess out-of-state and foreign big oil didn't like this. Depressing. I guess there's a reason the state is poor...