Wind Power News: Editorials
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Tribune editorial: PSC decision a victory for landowners
The North Dakota Public Service Commission sent a message this week that landowners’ rights do matter. The commission unanimously voted to order Minnesota Power to remove or relocate a wind turbine. The three-member commission gave Minnesota Power six months to complete the action. The company can either move the turbine farther away from an Oliver County home or leave it down. The Kessler family filed a complaint with the PSC last year arguing the turbine is within 1,125 feet of . . . Complete story »
Green technologies cause massive waste and pollution
Electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines result in a massive amount of waste and pollution. China is responsible for half of the total electric vehicles in the world—a number that is growing rapidly. About half of its retired batteries are not disposed in an environmentally sound way, causing significant waste and pollution problems detailed below. Batteries can be recycled but the cost is high, as it is with solar panels, which can contain hazardous materials. Most solar panels . . . Complete story »
Cuomo big-foots in the name of reducing NY’s carbon footprint
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plans for siting renewable energy facilities, such as solar farms and windmills, are meeting righteous resistance from upstate locals. The intrusive facilities are key to the gov’s $26 billion “clean energy, clean economy” initiative, which Cuomo pretends will boost New York’s post-COVID-19 economy. The pressure is on his administration to replace the 2000 megawatts of clean energy lost when the Indian Point nuclear plant – which accounted for 30 percent of the state’s carbon-free power production – shut down . . . Complete story »
The California and Texas Greenouts
Electric grid operators in Texas and California are again urging residents to conserve power amid a sweltering heat wave to avoid blackouts. Keeping your thermostat at 78 degrees during the summer may be the green new normal. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (Ercot) warned this week that a large number of unexpected power plant outages combined with surging demand is straining the grid. Meantime, California’s Independent System Operator forecast that electricity demand might exceed supply several days this week. . . . Complete story »
Environment: Keeping watch of wind work
It’s good to know the state DEC is overseeing cleanup of a “frac-out” in Cherry Creek at the site of the Cassadaga Wind LLC wind turbine project. A “frac-out” can occur as a result of directional boring in the area that can release drilling fluids into the surface environment. A frac-out is when drilling mud is released through fractured bedrock into surrounding rock and sand and then toward the surface. We’re not sure if it’s a good thing or a . . . Complete story »
Can governor assure State Pier price won’t keep rising?
We share state Sen. Paul Formica’s frustration over the growing price tag of the State Pier’s redevelopment plan and the “so what?” attitude of the Connecticut Port Authority and the Lamont administration. “I can’t tell you how offended I am at the total mismanagement of the project,” Formica said at a recent meeting of the port authority board. “You should all resign if you can’t get this right.” The Republican’s 20th Senatorial District includes New London and its port. Like . . . Complete story »
Railing against the wind
President Biden aims to build wind and solar farms from sea to shining sea to replace fossil fuels in the electricity grid by 2035. But his plans are already running aground off the coast of Long Island in New York, where his Administration last week canceled two offshore wind development zones. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management officials said the zones off the island’s coast raised problems with maritime traffic, marine life feeding areas, and concerns over visibility from South Shore . . . Complete story »
Take a letter: But will SEC read it?
What does it say about New Hampshire government priorities that it adds a new and unnecessary office (see related editorial today) but can’t provide its Site Evaluation Committee with someone to open the mail and inform the public about public hearings? The site committee is of no small importance, as residents in and around Antrim have discovered in trying to deal with a large-scale windmill project. The SEC approved the project, with stipulations. But it then waived those stipulations at . . . Complete story »
In the rush to protect the environment we are willing to damage it
Richer countries are pushing renewable energies which are carbon neutral, such as wind and solar and tide and geothermal. Other advances, such as vastly improved insulation in buildings, will help create a much less polluted world. Nuclear power, which is controversial but which does not produce carbon dioxide, ought to be a key part of modern energy sources, is heavily used in nations such as France but rejected in others such as Germany, because it produces waste. In Northern Ireland, . . . Complete story »
Editorial: One useful tool to preserve our precious land
It seems to us on the edge of “God’s Cow Country” that Sandhills residents (and western Nebraskans in general) are environmentalists in the most practical sense. The past 150 years have taught our region, especially its ranchers, that our vast open areas beyond our river valleys can’t simply be plowed up or disturbed at will. Hard experience capped by the 1930s “Dust Bowl” laid bare the fragility of the sand dunes’ thin layers of grassland that have sustained untold millions . . . Complete story »
