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Alerts
These postings are provided to help publicize and provide examples of the efforts of affiliated groups and individuals related to industrial wind energy development. Most of the notices posted here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch.
National Photography Competition
The theme of this national photo competition is
RECKLESS RENEWABLES: ADVERSE IMPACT IN IMAGES
Enter “The Impact of Reckless Renewables” national photo competition. Use your photographic skills to capture and share the negative effects of commercial wind turbines, high voltage transmission towers, grid solar systems, pumped hydro facilities, and grid batteries on farmers, fishermen, the land and sea, wildlife, the environment, communities, and everyday life. Opens 2nd April 2024 and closes 1 June 2024.
Residents of Australia only. Enter via: https://www.nren.com.au/new-nuclear
Action alerts, Energy, Environment, Massachusetts, Meetings, Safety •
Source: Save Greater Dowses Beach
“Close to the Wind” Summit — January 4, 2024
The “Close to the Wind” Summit, a gathering to bring together concerned voices to discuss the technology, wisdom and risks of offshore wind development. Guest speakers will discuss offshore wind power development, interconnection and better approaches to the transition to renewable energy. The conference will take place on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at the Hyport Conference Center, 35 Scudder Ave., Hyannis, Mass.
Organized by the group Save Greater Dowses Beach, East Coast activists, energy and environmental experts will discuss offshore wind energy construction, transmission and its onshore impacts. The conference will focus attention on less harmful and costly ways to develop offshore wind energy while minimizing the damage and disruption to residents and businesses that operate offshore and onshore.
Event Highlights:
1. Speakers: Local and regional thought leaders from the fields of renewable energy, commercial fishing and community activism will deliver inspiring addresses. Speakers to include:
- Lisa Quattrocki Knight, Cofounder and President, Green Oceans https://green-oceans.org/
- Jerry Leeman – New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Assoc. https://www.nefishermen.org/
- Val Oliver, Founding Director, ACK for Whales https://ack4whales.org/
- David Buzanoski, President, Falmouth Heights Maravista Neighborhood Assoc. https://fhmna.org/
- Barnstable Speaks https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=barnstable%20speaks
- Joe Bourne, Protect Sandbridge Beach https://www.protectsandbridgebeach.org/
- Susanne Conley and Adam Mirick, Save Greater Dowses Beach https://savedowses.org/
2. Q&A: Attendees will have ample opportunity to ask questions and express their own viewpoints on offshore wind development and its impacts.
Registration and Details:
- Date: Saturday, January 27, 2024
- Time: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
- Location: Hyport Conference Center, 35 Scudder Avenue, Barnstable, Massachusetts
- Registration: Reserve your place by emailing saveourbeach22@gmail.com
- Donation: $20 at the door (checks preferred)
Economics, Environment, Flyers, Massachusetts, Publications, Rhode Island, Videos •
Source: Green Oceans
Wind energy facilities planned off coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts
INDUSTRIALIZATION DETAILS
1,000 or more wind turbines.
800- to 1,000-foot tall turbines, taller than any building in Boston. 12.9 miles from RI and 8.2 from MA.
1,400 square miles of ocean, 1.5 times the size of RI, will be industrialized.
Pile driving into the seabed, heavy diesel vessel traffic, sediment plumes, and detonations of ordinances will harm whales, kill plankton, and reduce fishery stocks.
CLIMATE CHANGE
“No measurable influence on climate change” will result from these projects, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
CO₂ emissions from construction front loads the carbon cost. None of the projects’ websites claim they will help reduce CO2 emissions or help climate change.
Wind power without battery storage requires 100% backup and will therefore never reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.
SF₆, a greenhouse gas 23,500 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and millions of gallons of oil and lubricants are contained on site and may leak.
Biodiversity loss threatens human health and contributes to climate change. One project alone will imperil fourteen endangered species.
ADVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Significant, irreversible environmental damage to the marine ecosystem will result. 11-14
Cod, squid, tuna, and shellfish fisheries will all suffer.
Major Longterm adverse impacts on commercial fishing will result from the developments according to the Final Environmental Impact assessment for Revolution Wind.
The North Atlantic right whale may become extinct. Sean Hayes, division chief of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, stated that “impacts from installed and operating turbines cannot be mitigated.”
More than 700,000 marine mammals may be harmed. NOAA has or is in the process of granting offshore wind companies permission to harm and/or disturb 716,978 marine mammals, including more than 23,000 whales.
EMFs and temperature elevations from the high-voltage cables and substations will adversely affect marine animals from plankton to apex predators.
410+ whales have died along the eastern seaboard since 2016, when offshore wind companies began their seismic surveys in the region.
Microplastics will contaminate the marine food web from blade erosion.
Forever chemicals (PFOAs), toxic metals and bisphenols (BPAs) will be resuspended by jet plowing for the cable installations. No sediment samples have been tested for PFOAs.
ECONOMIC CONCERNS
Major adverse impact on employment according to the Revolution Wind Final Environmental Impact statement.
Decommissioning has not been factored into either total expense or environmental impact and may cost 70% of the installation price.
Reduced fishing, tourism, property values, and elevated electricity costs will decrease state tax revenues and cause economic hardship while foreign-owned wind companies will profit (Ørsted, Avangrid, Equinor, Shell).
Wind developers have donated $millions to environmental groups, universities, and research organizations.
1,000 turbines will cost $50 billion. US taxpayers are currently expected to shoulder 30% of this cost.
Destruction of natural beauty in our public spaces. These 873-1000 foot structures will be visible from nearly every public beach in RI.
Hidden impacts and costs. The developers of Revolution Wind will not allow the public to access 25 out of 51 appendices, including the emergency response plans.
Navigation safety and radar will be compromised. The projects will deter search and rescue operations within the 1,400 square miles of development.
Download this one-page fact sheet.
(Download full paper with references.)
Green Oceans: Protecting the ocean and preventing the industrialization of our coastal waters
To contact us: info@green-oceans.org
To donate: https://green-oceans.org/donate
Environment, Products •
Source: Long Beach and South Shore Residents Opposed to Turbines
Save Our Seas – artwork by Marion Chapman
Yellow Vests
Advertisements, Campaigns, Environment, Health, Noise, Ohio, Property values, Wildlife •
Source: Crawford Anti-Wind
Crawford Anti-Wind campaign spots
Les Pentes [The Hills]
Septembre 2050. À Paris, une jeune fille ose encore écrire des lettres avec de l’encre et des feuilles. Sans trop éveiller les soupçons, elle a pu constituer un stock de papier. Un discret réseau se charge de transporter les missives à travers les plaines, là où les usines électriques ont remplacé les forêts. Pourquoi et à qui écrit-elle, puisqu’il n’y a plus âme qui vive en dehors des villes ? Un employé du gouvernement s’en étonne. Il décide de mener l’enquête et fait alors une découverte étonnante.
Sur les Pentes, bien au-delà des usines électriques, aux confins des décharges et des champs de maïs, se cache un secret qui pourrait bien sauver les habitants des villes.
Entre espoir et désespoir, alors que l’avenir semble si sombre, la joie de vivre va peu à peu se frayer un passage.