Matt Dugal, Thayer Corp

Thayer Corporation of Auburn, Maine, HVAC wholesaler/contractor, recently  announced the addition of Matt Dugal as a Maintenance Sales Representative. Previously self-employed, Matt brings with him many years of sales experience. He will be working closely with Thayer’s expert team of HVAC service techs to deliver timely and cost effective maintenance solutions. Matt currently resides in Auburn with his fiancé. For more information: www.thayercorp.com

Thayer Corporation has become a qualified business partner of the Efficiency Maine program. Efficiency Maine’s Business Program created the new designation, Qualified Partners, for the most experienced vendors, contractors, suppliers and other professionals that supply or install energy-efficient equipment.

Qualified Partners assist business owners in choosing the right equipment and providing technical assistance, as well as applying for the cash incentives available through Efficiency Maine. They are integral to the state’s success in helping Maine businesses reduce their energy consumption and save money.

Thayer Corporation, based in Auburn, in an HVAC wholesaler/contractor that supplies a complete range of heating, air conditioning and plumbing services to residences and businesses, as well as mechanical contracting work.  For more information, call 207-782-4197, visit www.thayercorp.com or email Heather Blease, Thayer Corporation, hblease@thayercorp.com

Final Maine ocean wind bill may bar windfarms from state waters; limit them in  federal waters and encourage them in the Exclusive Economic Zone.   FMI Contact Penobscot Bay Watch  207-691-7485 coastwatch@gmail.com

AUGUSTA On March 18, 2010, Maine Legislature’s Utility and Energy Committee held a  2 hour work session on LD 1810, the bill to implement the recommendations of the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force.  Scroll down   to listen to the speakers and legislators at this worksession (mp3s) Listen to March 11th public hearing on LD 1810 Mp3s

Due to the presence of Maine fishermen  and oceanic beauty in virtually every square foot of Maine state ocean waters, commercial windfarm companies may be required by the legislation to keep out of Maine state waters; in exchange, the industry seeks nonconfrontation with the fishing industry further offshore.

“Fishermen, resorts, the schooner fleets, a variety of human users are already fully exploiting Maine’s nearshore natural resources.” said Ron Huber “They can only be harmed if the industrial wind companies began leasing nearshore waters.”

Because of the complexity of the 38 page bill,  (see pdf copy of LD 1810 with state waters parts highlighted) the committee could not get through the entire bill and will meet again on Tuesday at 1pm

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association will work through the weekend on acceptable wording protecting fisheries.  Doubtless other fisheries as well.  The ocean windmill industry is no doubt busy, too,  hoping to reinclude permssion to do windpower in state waters in the bill.

Listen to speakers at the March 18, 2010 Hearing

* Introduction to the Worksession 4min

* MDEP’s Beth Nagusky describes proposed changes to Bill Part A 17 minutes

* MDEP’s Nagusky Q&A session 11 minutes

* Patrice Farrell, Maine Lobstermen’s Association 3 & 1/2 minutes

* MDEP’s Beth Nagusky describes proposed changes to Part B of LD 1811

* Suzanne Sayre 2 minutes

* John Ferland Ocean Renewable Energy Corp 1 minutes

* Dianne Messer, advocate, Liberty Maine 2 minutes

* Chris O’Neill, Friends of Maine Mountains 1 minutes

* Todd Rousette (sp?) Preti Flaherty lawfirm 2 minutes

* MDEP’s Beth Nagusky describes more changes to Part B

* MDEPs Beth Nagusky on changes to Part C of bill

* MDEP’s Beth Nagusky on changes to Part D of bill

* MDEP Beth Nagusky on Changed to Part E of Bill
* MDEP Beth Nagusky questioned on Part E 7 min

* MDEP Beth Nagusky questioned more 10 minutes

* University of Maine Dr Dagher 12 minutes

* Final stakeholders and close of work session  11 minutes

The unexpectedly loud powerful opposition to the bill by Maine scallopers, shrimpers and groundfishermen, joined by ocean resort and sailing interests and conservation activist Huber, may be bearing fruit.  “We won’t just stand by and let  the Department of Conservation start leasing out Maine’s legendary fishing and sailing grounds to big energy companies out of Boston and New Jersey.” said Huber  who is the litigant in the aforementioned  Huber v Bureau of Parks and Lands lawsuit over the Monhegan floating test site.

He said the bill would allow companies to seek 20, 40 and 50 year leases over state waters. “Are we really ready for that?” Huber asked. “I don’t think so.  Neither do most fishermen I know.“    The ocean windmill industry is probably busy this weekend too, he said,  hoping to regain language in the bill allowing windpower in state waters in the bill.

Heuber said That  the Maine Lobstermen’s Association leadership, which had been negotiating behind closed doors with the wind industry, had to be taken to task by scallop, shrimp and groundfish fleets and its own rank and file  before it stopped supporting DMR’s “Prepare to Share”  campaign, as  described by George Lapointe at the  wind energy seminar at the 2010 Maine Fishermens Forum.

On March 23rd, all interests will be back in Augusta before the Utility and Energy Committee for a 1pm  final  showdown on LD 1810

Augusta.  Beleaguered Maine scallopers, groundfishermen and shrimp harvesters are telling the Maine legislature that they face financial ruin if a tiny state public lands agency becomes a political powerhouse by leasing Maine’s commercial fishing grounds out from under them.

The fishermen fear that this could take place if the legislature approves LD 1810, An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force.

The bill would  authorize the Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks & Lands to lease nearshore state waters to the wind industry, and loosens the state’s and municipal environmental and conservation laws, rules and ordinances to be used the state waters windfarm application decisionmaking process.

LD 1810’s public hearing took place March 11th. At the hearing, Marine Resources Committee co-Chair Leila Percy told the Utility & Energy Committee, which is considering LD 1810,   that to protect marine resource users, the 35 page bill – which was only introduced in committee that week – required careful scrutiny before any final action is taken “I want to speak about the bump in the road, “ Percy told the committee. “I haven’t had a chance to read the bill. bsp;And a lot of my constituents haven’t had a chance to read the bill.” Percy said she had spoken with fishermen at the Seminar on Ocean Windfarms & Maine Fishermen at the  2010 Maine Fishermens Forum l

Percy called for the bill to passed as a “resolve”, then brought before fishing and tourism based coastal communities and before the Marine Resources Committee and the Natural Resources Committee,  before final action on a bill in 2011.
“I think having everyone’s voice in a much greater conversation would be helpful” she said.

Other portions of the bill  have also come under fire. If passed,  the Bureau of Parks and Lands could:

* Offer 2 year “lease options,  3 year predevelopment leases”,  5 year “pre-operation leases” and 30 year operating leases. In addition the Bureau plans to offer 50 year  leases of the state’s submerged marine lands to wave and tidal energy interests

LD 1810 would also:

* Allow the banning of commercial fishing within the wind leases using any gear that wind industry insurers deem risky to wind farm’s underwater cables and  structures.

* Allow wind companies to use eminent domain on shoreline and inland property owners, to allow the industry to cut powerline and tower rights of way through private land as needed to connect the offshore developers to the national grid.

* Forbid coastal towns from assessing property taxes on wind turbines or related equipment and facilities in the municipalities’ waters that are “below the mean low-water line on waters subject to tidal influence.”

* Forbid coastal resorts from challenging nearshore windfarms for threatening to  degrade economically critical, measurable scenic values without penalty or need to compensate other users for lost values.

* Forbid Maine citizens from filing appeals of Maine Department of Environmental Protection windmill project decisions to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection. Would-be appellants would need to go straight to state court.

* Forbid the Maine Board of Environmental Protection from assuming jurisdiction over Maine Department of Protection windmill applications.

Critics say  the result of the relaxed and weakened standards could stimulate a wild west style  submerged lands rush, with speculators staking exploratory claims over Maine fishing grounds, then selling their leases for a tidy profit to one of the big energy concerns that hope to dominate the wind energy business.

“Who wrote this junk bill?” said fishermen  Brian Preney of Boothbay, a member of the state’s Sea Urchin Zone Council.  “Would anybody with any civic responsibility propose such a poor piece of legislation?  I would like to know who wrote it and who they represent, because it certainly is not me or the people of Maine.”

As a result of the fishing industry’s concerns, political leaders are taking action. Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree has pledged  that the bill  will be extensively modified.

“I think we’ll scale down the bill significantly”, she reassured one concerned constituent.  ”We were disappointed the bill came from the Governor so late in the session with so many big issues to be resolved.”

The state’s heating industry is also up in arms about the bill, which proposes phasing that business out and requiring Mainers to use electricity for heating their homes and workplaces.

Final action on LD 1810 takes place 1pm Thursday March 18th, when the Maine legislature’s Utility and Energy Committee holds its work session on the bill.

Portland, MAINE (3/4/10) – Norman Patry’s journey from the desk of an investment office to a bicycle seat in coastal Maine is not just the story of a man who pursued – and caught – his dream. It’s also a tale of how one person’s vision can inspire others.

Patry’s business, Summer Feet, is celebrating its 10^th anniversary, in providing van-assisted bicycle tours, where all lodging, food and other logistics are handled for clients.

The business grew out Patry’s cross-country bicycle adventure, which he took as a break from his work with annuities and other financial instruments, even though he had not being on a bike for 13 years. Today, Summer Feet trips spur others to get out of their homes and, in many cases, onto bicycles for the first time in years.

“I hadn’t been on a bicycle outside for at least 16 years,” said Colleen Harwood, a nurse who lives in Bolton, Mass. “But two years ago, I decided to take a trip with Summer Feet to coastal Maine, as a way to get my husband away from his Blackberry and laptop.”

“A trip like that just does so much good for your psyche,” she said. “You let things go.”

The day after her return from the trip, Harwood bought a bicycle. She is now an avid cyclist who has twice completed 50-mile fundraising rides for charity. It also helped her reconnect with family, she said.

“This trip said to my husband and me that we really are still connected as a couple and can have fun together,” Harwood said. “I think it’s good for any relationship to do something like this.”

Summer Feet offers bicycle tours to some of the most stunningly beautiful locations in New England, Canada and New Zealand. Four new trips are planned for this summer. Two are geared for all cyclists:

• Quebec, where riders will take the Route Verte, which was first among the Top Ten Bike Routes selected by National Geographic Magazine. The trip includes Quebec City, as well as historic villages and beautiful natural features such as the spectacular Montmorency Falls.

• Cape Breton, which has been described by Bicycling Magazine as one of the best rides in North America. This trip includes Cape Breton Highlands National Park and incorporates the Scottish flavor to be found in this part of Nova Scotia.

Summer Feet’s other two new trips are being adapted to meet the needs of deaf people. These vacations will be led by experienced bicycle-trip guides who also are fluent in American Sign Language. The first of these trips will take place Aug. 27-29, in and around Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor, Maine. The other will be Sept. 24-26 to the area around scenic Camden, Maine.

“It’s amazing how much I’ve learned doing this,” Patry said. “I love riding my bike, of course. That’s how I got started. But I also really enjoy the other part of the business — making sure clients have incredible, sometimes life-changing experiences.”

Andrea Schall took a Summer Feet trip to the Maine coast in 2006, even though she was not much of a bicyclist at the time.

“It was one of the best vacations I’ve ever been on. Norman and his guides totally understand what you need, and they take care of you,” said Schall, who lives in Los Angeles. “It actually got me into biking to the point where I bought a bicycle and bike all the time now.”

Summer Feet is different from many of the large tour operators, in its ability to find unique local experiences that higher-volume businesses miss. His trips to Camden, Maine, for example offer sunset dinner cruises on schooners.

“Summer Feet is very purposeful in how they run the trip to make sure that you have a wonderful experience,” said Tom Braun, a middle school teacher from Iowa who was an active bicyclist even before his first Summer Feet trip. “A lot of the places you stay are right on the water. The food is great. And you don’t carry a suitcase at any time in the trip, because they take care of all that for you.”

Patry began his cross-country trip by taking a book out of his local library and getting a map of Virginia through the Adventure Cycling Association. A few years later, he stopped working with finance in Massachusetts, so that he could move to Maine and start Summer Feet.

“The first year we had 11 clients, total,” Patry said. “Today, we help hundreds of people explore beautiful, new areas every year. Some of our clients bike all the time. But others really fall in love with bicycles on our trips, the same way that I did on that ride across America.”

Based in Portland, Maine, Summer Feet offers travelers assisted bicycle tours and the most-authentic experiences available of beautiful locations in Maine, Canada and New Zealand. Summer Feet has a decade of experience in providing van support, knowledgeable guides and logistics for memorable bicycle vacations. More information is available at www.summerfeet.net, via email to info@summerfeet.net, or by phone at 866-857-9544.

###