Wind Power News: Editorials
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort 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.
The political making of a Texas power outage
Why are millions of Americans in the nation’s most energy-rich state without power and heat for days amid extreme winter weather? “The people who have fallen short with regard to the power are the private power generation companies,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott explained. Ah, yes, blame private power companies . . . that are regulated by government. The Republican sounds like California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who lambasted private utilities for rolling blackouts during a heat wave last summer. Power . . . Complete story »
A deep green freeze
Gas and power prices have spiked across the central U.S. while Texas regulators ordered rolling blackouts Monday as an Arctic blast has frozen wind turbines. Herein is the paradox of the left’s climate agenda: The less we use fossil fuels, the more we need them. A mix of ice and snow swept across the country this weekend as temperatures plunged below zero in the upper Midwest and into the teens in Houston. Cold snaps happen—the U.S. also experienced a Polar . . . Complete story »
Expanding wind power use needs careful look at suitability of site
The Environment Ministry has started discussions on a possible revision of its environmental impact assessment system for planned wind farms. The discussions started after administrative reform minister Taro Kono called for a deregulation of the system to help expand the use of renewable energy sources, which is a pillar of measures for fighting the climate crisis. Using more renewables, which involve no greenhouse gas emissions, is, in fact, key to realizing a carbon-free society. We are facing the test of . . . Complete story »
Andrew Cuomo’s poisonous green dreams
Despite declaring that the state’s economy is in a recession, Gov. Cuomo this week still announced a new $26 billion clean-energy plan that’s guaranteed to make it that much harder to get good times rolling again. “We must replace fossil-fuel plants with clean power. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it, and now is the time to do it,” Cuomo said. Actually, the time to do it is after alternatives become less than insanely expensive. New York’s energy . . . Complete story »
Editorial: Virginia can’t fix planetwide climate problem
Kingsport and regional customers of Appalachian Power are facing a down payment on Virginia’s Clean Economy Act, which intends to make the state 100% carbon free by 2050 to combat climate warming. Appalachian Power just announced that it will acquire or contract for 210 megawatts of solar power and 200 megawatts of wind power over the next five years as part of its long-range plan to meet the targets established by the act. Customer bills will increase as the company . . . Complete story »
Lamont must attend to New London wind project before it falls apart
The state provides PILOT money — payment in lieu of taxes — for its properties, but only a fraction of what would be paid if the land were taxed privately. Reportedly, Ørsted-Eversource has agreed to supplement the PILOT revenues to make the city whole. But the mayor wants assurances that if PILOT money does not grow with the development, or is cut by the state, the developers will make up the difference, a request they haven’t been willing to grant. Complete story »
A cautionary energy tale from California
If you’ve oticed that your electricity bills have slowly creeped up over the past decade or so, you’re not imagining things. According to the Virginia State Corporation Commission, energy legislation passed by the General Assembly have increased Dominion Energy customers’ power bills nearly 29 percent since 2007. When the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown imposed by Gov. Ralph Northam caused hundreds of thousands of Virginians to lose their jobs, the SCC imposed a moratorium on utility shutoffs, which was to have expired . . . Complete story »
Editorial: California was warned of the risk of summer outages. It did nothing.
It is a point of pride for many Californians that despite business leaders’ continual criticism about high taxes and heavy regulation, the Golden State has the world’s fifth-biggest economy. It is also a point of pride for many Californians that the state is a global leader in seeking to limit climate change by mandating a shift away from fossil fuels. What should not be a point of pride for anyone is that despite California’s wealth and savvy energy strategy, Wednesday . . . Complete story »
Portland: Green light on the turbines
Never mind the due diligence the Portland Town Board was taking with wind turbines. New York state is so bent on having renewable energy that it is bypassing those impacted the most by it: the local residents. In Wednesday’s OBSERVER, EWT spoke of its plans to begin building turbines in the town. Portland, which has played it safe in the last year through moratoriums to not allow this type of development, does not have much choice moving forward. In February, . . . Complete story »
Report: careful approach needed for wind farm rules
Disclosure: Center for Rural Affairs contributes to [Public News Service's] fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Environment, Hunger/Food/Nutrition, Rural/Farming. Complete story »
