A week after the Republican governor of Maine signed an executive order blocking licenses for new wind energy projects in the state, environmentalists in the US sued LePage on Wednesday.
CLF sues the governor of Maine for his “outrageous” ban on wind energy
LePage asserted that wind turbines are bad for Maine’s tourist business when he signed the directive on January 24. The decision suspends project permitting and creates a new organization, the Maine Wind Energy Advisory Commission, whose duties include “assessing the economic effect” of proposed projects and creating new state laws for the sector.
The Conservation Law Foundation of Boston asserts that the order violates the Maine Constitution’s provision on the separation of powers in a lawsuit that was filed in Mainie state court.
According to Sean Mahoney, executive vice president of CLF and director for Maine, “This Executive Order is a transparent political attempt to impose the Governor’s own anti-renewable energy worldview on the people and companies of Maine.” The separation of powers between our three levels of government, which was created by the Maine Constitution, is clearly violated. In addition to being against the law, it is detrimental to Maine’s economy since businesses require clarity in order to invest. This absurd attempt to stifle our economic future will harm Mainers across the state, as has been the case with prior choices made by this Governor on energy efficiency and solar power growth, and CLF will do all in our ability to oppose it.
A declared goal of the 2004-passed Maine Wind Energy Act is to promote the growth of wind energy projects in the state. “It is in the public interest to explore for and encourage the development, where appropriate, of wind energy production in the State in a manner that is consistent with all state and federal environmental standards and that achieves reliable, cost-effective, sustainable energy production on those sites in the State that will attract investment and permit the development of viable wind energy projects,” the “Legislative Findings” (Section 3402) of the Act stated.
You may access a copy of CLF’s complaint here.