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Senator Collins and Renewable Energy Opportunities in Maine

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

(National Wildlife Federation)

As part of its work on the C-Campaign, Matt Prindiville of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) scheduled Hill visits with staffers for both Senators at the end of September. For each meeting, he brought examples of how renewable energy and energy efficiency projects were creating big opportunities for Maine businesses. One of the pieces Prindiville emphasized was the map entitled Maine Businesses Benefitting from Stetson Wind, a map of the Maine businesses which participated in the Stetson Wind Project. The map details how more than 75 Maine businesses were the direct recipients of nearly $50 million from economic activity related to the construction of the wind farm. Both Senator Collins staffers were very impressed that out of the $65 million spent on the Stetson Project, $50 million was spent in Maine.

 

Prindiville also highlighted that one of the chief recipients was Reed and Reed, an industrial construction firm whose focus had primarily been bridges prior to the emerging wind power boom in the Northeast. They are now expanding rapidly into wind power projects and were big beneficiaries from the Stetson and Mars Hill wind projects. The group then discussed the Center for American Progress’s Green Job report, which NRCM helped to release in Maine. Both Amy Carroll from Collins office and Patrick Woodcock from Snowe’s office were enthusiastic about the potential for job growth through renewable energy and energy efficiency projects resulting from climate legislation.

 

NRCM released the report at a news conference in Portland, where it recruited five representatives from Maine businesses profiting from public and private investment in renewable energy.  Read the Statement  of Art Cavanagh, Reed & Reed, Inc.  Green Jobs Press Conference: Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

 

A week after Prindiville’s meeting with Amy Carroll, Senator Collins toured the Reed and Reed facility (see news article below). Here’s a quote from the story:

 

"I'm really, really interested in learning more about wind energy," Collins told Reed & Reed's CEO Jack Parker as she stepped off her campaign bus.

 

Prindiville believes that NRCM’s efforts to build support for a comprehensive climate bill, with dedicated investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency, are having an impact on Main’s Congressional Delegation and appreciates NWF’s support for this work.

 

Bridge maker Reed & Reed's new focus is harnessing wind

Rachel_Ganong@TimesRecord.Com

10/14/2008

WOOLWICH — While cranes stretching over Bath Iron Works have long marked the shipbuilding industry's hub along the Kennebec River, a new industry is emerging with another set of cranes on the opposite shore at Reed & Reed contractors in Woolwich.

The 80-year-old business, founded by Josiah Reed and his son, Carlton Day Reed, and perhaps best known for building bridges like the $75 million Prospect Verona Bridge hung by cables over the Penobscot River, has taken a lead role in erecting Maine's wind power industry.

Having built all three of Maine's existing wind turbine projects, the company caught the attention of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who visited its headquarters Monday on River Road during her campaign for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

"I'm really, really interested in learning more about wind energy," Collins told Reed & Reed's CEO Jack Parker as she stepped off her campaign bus.

Parker showed Collins how the company built 400-foot-high wind turbines at Mars Hill, Stetson Mountain and Freedom and talked about the company's newest wind project in Franklin County's Kibby Township, where it will erect turbines for a $320 million project by TransCanada.

Reed & Reed's leap from bridges, marine and general contracting projects to wind power projects came after Parker started tracking the wind energy market.

"Many of the skills required are transferable skills," said Parker. "Wind turbine work uses a lot of big cranes — we have a lot of big cranes. It's a natural fit for us as a company."

So when Mars Hill Wind Farm developer UPC Wind Management started looking for a contractor, Reed & Reed took the job.

"They took a chance on us, and the job went great," Parker said, explaining that his employees finished installing the project's 28 turbines in 2007 under budget, on schedule and without any injuries. "They were so pleased with us they negotiated with us for Stetson Mountain."

Besides Stetson's 38 turbines, the company completed a small wind farm project in Freedom. In completing Maine's three wind energy projects and starting a fourth, Reed & Reed, a company with 250 employees and $80 million to $100 million in anticipated revenues this year, has become a leading force in an industry that Parker expects will grow.

"There aren't a lot of really positive economic stories in Maine right now," he said. "Wind power is the exception."

To boost that growth, Parker asked Collins to push for extending a production tax credit from a year-to-year possibility to a multi-year certainty on investment returns.

"We'd really like you to extend that credit," he told Collins.

Collins said she and 19 other senators are supporting a bill to offer the credit for three years.

"I think we need more certainty so we can have more investment," she said, adding that spending resources on Maine's wind energy industry could yield not only jobs for the state but also decreased dependence on foreign fuels. "I think Maine could be a leader in wind energy," she said.

From Parker's perspective, Maine already leads. Reed & Reed has attracted interest from jobs in New York and Pennsylvania among other places, but Parker says wind developers investing regionally are keeping the company busy here.

"There's a lot of wind power work in the winds," he said, later telling Collins: "Remember the phrase 'Think globally; act locally'? In a small way, we're doing that."

After chatting with Parker, Collins toured Reed & Reed, including its nearly $4 million Manitowac crawler crane used to install wind turbines. It's one of two such cranes the company has ordered to meet expected wind industry demand.

Among a cadre of employees in hard hats present to greet the senator, Andy Markham of Wells and crane operator Ron Babb of Bowdoinham watched Collins climb into the operator cabin of the 317-foot crane and guessed she could probably manage to control it, too.

"She probably could (operate the crane)," Markham said. "With a little direction."

"It's definitely user-friendly," Babb said.

Babb would know, having used the crane in gusts of up to 70 miles per hour to install 69 wind turbines. The work has taught him firsthand the force of the wind he helps harness.

"I think it's great," he said about developing wind power. "I think it's a great resource."