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Wind Power News: cherry valley
In-depth: ‘Beyond belief’: Industrial wind developments could threaten fragile desert ecosystem
The scope and size of these projects are mind-boggling. A landmark interregional transmission line project has broken ground this week to carry high-voltage electricity 732 miles from the largest wind farm in North America to Nevada. The TransWest Express Transmission Project (TWE) will take electricity generated by the $5 billion, 3,000 megawatt, 600-turbine Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project (CSMWE) located in Carbon County, Wyoming, to the Market substation in Eldorado Valley, Nevada, which lies within the largely untouched . . . Complete story »
Number of eagles killed by wind farms in Wyoming severely underestimated, biologist says
As more wind farms are being planned and constructed across southern Wyoming, more people are raising concerns about the impact to wildlife, especially eagles. Mike Lockhart, a wildlife biologist specializing in eagles who worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for more than 30 years, told Cowboy State Daily the impacts to eagle populations from Wyoming’s wind farms is being underreported and downplayed. The projects now in development include the Boswell Springs Wind Project, the Two Rivers Wind Project, . . . Complete story »
Syrians in Golan Heights wounded and arrested in clashes with Israeli forces
Ten Syrians in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights were wounded during clashes with military police forces on Wednesday in protest against the construction of wind turbines to generate electricity which will benefit Israeli settlements in the area. Syrian Druze have called for a general strike and for shops and schools to close. A clash subsequently erupted in an orchard, where ten Syrians were wounded after Israeli forces shot tear gas and rubber-coated bullets. Israeli military police said that around 300 Syrian . . . Complete story »
Wind energy flourished in Wyoming this year. But the renewable’s future here is unclear.
MEDICINE BOW – Only one multi-story building exists in this tiny town of under 300. The Virginian Hotel rises up 3 1/2 stories and sits in the heart of the town. On a late October day, an American flag in front of the hotel fought the ferocious northeast winds, as they cut through a nearby valley. Just beyond the quintessential Wyoming town, other, newer structures have recently been erected: wind turbines. The fleet of them majestically stand tall across the horizon. Springing . . . Complete story »
Destroying California’s iconic Joshua trees to build solar farms makes no sense
My heartfelt thanks to the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board for speaking in defense of the endangered Joshua tree, iconic marker of California’s high desert region. Hopefully, the California Fish and Game Commission will do its duty under the California Endangered Species Act and designate the Joshua as a candidate for listing as “threatened.” The sad fact is that this should not even be an issue. Renewable energy companies are well aware there are vast tracts of desert lands at . . . Complete story »
Wind farm leases filed at county
ALTAMONT – As a Labette County committee studying wind energy continues its work, the first four wind farm lease and easement agreements have been filed. Four of five committee members – Sandy Krider, Kevin King, Mel Hass and Rod Landrum – and facilitator Charlie Morse met Tuesday evening in the Labette County Public Works building in Altamont. Committee member Lori Whitworth wasn’t able to attend. Eleven members of the public attended and discussed various issues with the committee. The Labette County Commission formed . . . Complete story »
Israel’s Golan Druze see a blow in wind energy plan
The Druze say the turbines present a slew of concerns. They contend that the giant, soaring poles and the infrastructure needed to construct them will impede their ability to work their plots, exacerbating their already tenuous economic situation, which has grown dire since the war in Syria halted their exports to a key market. They also say the turbines will disturb the almost sacred bond they feel to their land, which is passed down by generation and where families flee their cramped villages for fresh air and green space. Landowners who signed lease agreements with Energix, the company behind the project, say they weren’t made aware of the potential implications of having a turbine on their plot. They say they were tempted by hefty sums into signing what they describe as draconian leases that, coupled with a boycott on the company imposed by influential religious leaders, has prompted many to want to withdraw. Complete story »
Israeli wind farm project unites Jewish settlers, Golan Druze
Emil Masud is an Arab Druze who identifies as “forever Syrian,” and Ofer Megged is an Israeli settler in the contested Golan Heights. They might seem unlikely partners, but a fight to save the environment against Israeli big business has thrust Masud, a local farmer, and Megged, a physics professor, into a burgeoning alliance that is shifting mutual perceptions between the Golan’s Druze and Jews. “Our lands will be destroyed,” Masud told Al-Monitor at his family home in Majdal Shams. . . . Complete story »
Opponents of Sandhills projects file lawsuits
Two lawsuits filed last week have launched fresh legal assaults by foes of further wind-energy development in the Nebraska Sandhills. A state district judge Monday will hear Preserve the Sandhills’ request for an injunction effectively blocking Cherry County commissioners from voting Tuesday on a 19-turbine wind farm west of Kilgore. That request was made July 5, the same day opponents of the Nebraska Public Power District’s “R-Project” transmission line filed a federal lawsuit to vacate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife . . . Complete story »
Syrian farmers in Golan Heights fear loss of livelihoods, ‘cultural life’ from Israeli wind farm plans
MARJ YAAFOURI, Israeli-occupied Golan Heights: Just downhill from the occupied Syrian villages of Majdal Shams and Masaada, there is a small valley filled with plots of cherry and apple trees. A handful of the orchards reach upwards along the terraced hills that outline the Marj Yaafouri valley, overlooking the trees and a Druze shrine down below. They are owned by local Syrian farmers. Some of the farmers have been tending to these fields, in a spot known locally as Marj . . . Complete story »
