Which way wind power in Maryland?
The Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com
I applaud the courage The Post exhibited in the Feb. 21 editorial opposing Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s offshore wind power proposal. After all, just the previous day, the Metro article “Md. wind power plan draws gale of support” led me to believe that even God was in favor of the governor’s plan. It even referred to a discussion of the cost to ratepayers as “minutiae.”
If such “mass support” for offshore wind power truly exists, let the multitude of supporters pool their money and go for it.
Thanks for exposing the folly of the governor’s goal of making the state “energy-independent.” I hope we never see the day when Marylanders are prohibited from using electricity generated in neighboring states.
Tom Moriarty Jr., Burtonsville
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Cervantes wrote about the deranged Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Hollywood enhanced the legend of Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. I think both would be opposed to the plan to place windmills off the Maryland shore. Don Quixote’s opposition would obviously be physical. But based on Robin Hood’s tag line, his opposition would be financial: The plan robs from the poor and gives to the rich.
The plan would take money from everyone in the state, nominally $2 per utility customer per month. This fee would fall most heavily on the poor, since it would be a higher percentage of their income. The money would go to the few people who own the windmills and to the even fewer who own the manufacturing plants that build the machines.
And for what? A few jobs for a few years, compared with the many jobs that will be lost as this money is sucked out of the Maryland economy. I think that calculus stinks, as would Robin Hood, as should many other people, whether real or fictional.
Mark B. Lively, Gaithersburg
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URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/02/28/which-way-wind-power-in-maryland/