Yes exactly. He took a few years off between governor and senator to be chairman of the board of the windmill company, but had to give it up as a conflict of interest when he decided to run for senator. In his place he put his son... His son is interesting too. He was n the PUC...a 3 person Public Utilities Commission, and voted down joining the New Brunswick Power grid instead of being on the New England Power Grid. New Brunswick has cheap power because they had just revamped an nuclear power plant and needed a place to get rid of excess power and wanted Maine as an additional consumer. 3 weeks after that vote, he quit and started working for the windmill company. The Maine Attorney General's Office investigated for conflict of interest, but then dropped the charges against him. The problem is, no one pays attention to this stuff; power is just one big umbilical cord and when the power bill comes, Mainer's pay it, never realizing how bad they are being scammed. The only way out is to be 100% off grid, but honestly that is a lifestyle unto its own and not an option for many people.
I have all but eradicated Ash on my land as per the Forester's advice. Thankfully it has not hit in my part of Maine yet and so no restrictions on transport.
Then we have our current and fortunately almost done governor who promotes coal, oil, and natural gas and knocks renewable energy every chance he gets. We need someone in the middle that’s willing to look at the actual science instead of listening to rich investors. Whoever wins in November can’t be half the idiot we’ve had for 8 years.
I moved some highly valuable black walnut in to the wood box in the garage today and took notice of some pieces with what look like signs of the dreaded EAB. I dont know if that's what these lines are or some other type of borer?? Have any of you heard of EAB affecting tree species other than Ash? Just curious.....
Every tree species gets some sort of insect in it if you wait long enough. Spruce, Hemlock, White Pine, etc... I once cut a wood lot where loggers had gone in the year before me and robbed the landowner; taking the butt-cut White Pine logs, then getting out of there before the landowner came too where they were, and what they were doing. I went in and had the lesser quality logs, and a year old. But I did the best I could to get what I could and hauled a whole truckload of logs down to the sawmill. The sawmill scaler saw the age of the trees and refused to take them. "Fine", I said "I will take them home and saw them on my own sawmill. The logs are only a year old and the borers have only laid their eggs in the logs and have yet to bore holes." Granted we did talk awhile longer about the woodlot, and I did know the scaler, but in the end he took the load of logs. That one truckload of wood paid for my sawmill just by having it as a back-up. Even then, ever scaler knows I will not drop off a #3 log either, pallet wood, or pulp log. They don't pay much for them, and so it is better off for me to saw them into something on my own mill. From they time they are felled, the year of grace starts, but after a year, they get bored out by the insects.
