April 20, 2013
Illinois, Letters

Group questions energy policy

The Gazette | 20 April 2013 | thegazette.com

Block Rock Island Clean Line is not a group of selfish farmers wanting to stop progress by opposing clean energy solutions. Block RICL is a group of residents concerned with unnecessary power lines and the billions of dollars in expenses they impose on taxpayers and consumers. The group asks the Illinois Commerce Commission to study all proposed power line projects and stop unnecessary transmission lines.

The group was begun by landowners directly impacted by RICL’s project to cross Illinois farmland with towers carrying DC electricity from Iowa to the PJM power grid, which supplies the East Coast. The group also includes residents who question a system where a private group of wealthy out-of-state investors can attempt to get public utility status and seize private land using eminent domain, then make the public pay for their investment through electricity bills.

Also opposing the RICL project are residents who scrutinize the abuse of federal subsidy money for supposedly “clean energy.” Wind energy produced in the Midwest and transmitted across the country is not the answer to a future of clean energy.

Wind energy is costly to produce and requires backup production of electricity from coal, natural gas or nuclear energy. Clean electricity generated by offshore Atlantic Ocean wind farms or underwater turbines located near the demand area make more sense.

To learn more, go to www.BlockRICL.com.

Susan Sack

Mendota, Ill.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/04/20/group-questions-energy-policy/