http://www.windaction.org/ facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impacts en-us Windaction hourly 1 http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.windaction.org/articles/37875 Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:59:46 GMT http://www.windaction.org/articles/37875 http://www.windaction.org/articles/37216 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 04:40:47 GMT Twenty of 22 contracts administered by the agency contained incorrect or missing information in the state contract database, with six missing performance elements and another 13 missing contractor progress reports. ...The audit also discovered that as many as 16 travel and other expenditures "lacked appropriate approval and justification documentation." This included a line item for a $25,000 expenditure listed only as "2008 Membership." http://www.windaction.org/articles/37216 http://www.windaction.org/articles/36730 Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:15:01 GMT Vestas is cutting working hours at its Colorado blade plants at Windsor and Brighton in preparation for a post-PTC slowdown in the US wind sector. The company said it had told employees at the factories that it was reducing their weekly hours from 40 to 32 hours. The change will take effect in January. http://www.windaction.org/articles/36730 http://www.windaction.org/articles/36381 Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:58:24 GMT The resilience of Colorado's vaunted "new energy economy" is being tested after a series of job cuts, financial setbacks and political firestorms. ...Hard times for the green industries stem from a combination of technical challenges, low-cost foreign competition and an uncertain outlook for government support of alternative energy. http://www.windaction.org/articles/36381 http://www.windaction.org/articles/36295 Fri, 12 Oct 2012 03:31:02 GMT Wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems made its largest Colorado job cut Thursday, laying off about 200 workers at its Windsor blade plant. The cuts represent 29 percent of the plant's workforce. Vestas also had laid off workers at plants in Brighton and Pueblo. http://www.windaction.org/articles/36295 http://www.windaction.org/articles/36257 Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:07:14 GMT Vestas Wind Systems, the wind turbine manufacturer that built four factories in Colorado, announced its third round of job cuts on Tuesday, firing 75 workers at its blade factory in Brighton. http://www.windaction.org/articles/36257 http://www.windaction.org/articles/36220 Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:54:58 GMT What Romney considers "breaks" and "green" are up for debate. Despite his assertion that he supports "green energy," Romney has made it clear that he is in favor of letting the PTC expire ... Instead, Romney said the money invested in renewable energy and cleantech companies could have been better used for other purposes. http://www.windaction.org/articles/36220 http://www.windaction.org/articles/35774 Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:37:00 GMT "In response to this market slowdown and in accordance with its business needs, Vestas Towers America in Pueblo, Colo., today adjusted its manufacturing workforce. This workforce reduction in the tower factory represents approximately 3 percent of Vestas' total workforce in the U.S. and Canada." http://www.windaction.org/articles/35774 http://www.windaction.org/articles/35368 Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:40:10 GMT "Our government is not good at picking winners and losers in the marketplace but has certainly proved it is good at wasting taxpayer dollars," Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio and chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee's subcommittee on regulatory affairs, stimulus oversight and government spending, said on Thursday. http://www.windaction.org/articles/35368 http://www.windaction.org/articles/34698 Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:47:24 GMT Colorado's entire delegation - save GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs - supports an extension. So does Iowa's congressional delegation. Lots of senators and House members, both liberals and conservatives, have signed up to support it. But the production-tax-credit extension - which costs $4.1 billion over 10 years and includes some other renewables such as geothermal - has thrice failed in the U.S. Senate. http://www.windaction.org/articles/34698 http://www.windaction.org/articles/34553 Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:23:00 GMT Udall also is pressing ahead by drafting a separate bill to renew the wind credit, hoping to get influential Republican senators to co-sponsor the measure. Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, for example, supports wind power but voted against the Stabenow package of tax credits on Tuesday. http://www.windaction.org/articles/34553 http://www.windaction.org/articles/34312 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:14:19 GMT A Senate staffer said that in the highly partisan push-and-shove over the payroll tax deduction and cutting federal spending to pay for that, the conference committee ultimately pushed the list of sought-after business credits out of the discussion. "Bills like this can quickly become Christmas trees with other measures attached in committee and it looks like the conferees ultimately tried to stick to the major issues. http://www.windaction.org/articles/34312 http://www.windaction.org/articles/33770 Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:49:32 GMT Rather than see building more transmission as the solution, though, Bowman sees its drawbacks as a symptom of a bigger problem: a highly centralized power system. "I'm going to predict the day of very large transmission lines to carry energy from remote areas to urban centers are about over," he said. "What I do think you'll see happen is smaller projects that are built to accommodate the existing system you have in the rural electric districts and to move that power to the cities that way. I think there will be a different model." http://www.windaction.org/articles/33770 http://www.windaction.org/articles/33208 Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:19:05 GMT NREL spokesman Bob Noun blames Congress for the organization's failures. The Denver Post reports that he believes the gridlocked U.S. Congress forced the NREL to find $8 million in new budgetary savings. "We don't see any budget scenario where the lab doesn't face budget cuts," Noun said. http://www.windaction.org/articles/33208 http://www.windaction.org/articles/32549 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:41:30 GMT After reviewing population trends, hunter-harvest reports and licenses sales from the two states over the last 30 years, wildlife biologists concluded that oil and gas drilling, wind farms, agricultural practices and other human encroachments are slicing and dicing critical habitat the animals have historically relied upon to survive. http://www.windaction.org/articles/32549 http://www.windaction.org/articles/31988 Thu, 19 May 2011 10:46:45 GMT The willful violation addresses the deliberate removal of support equipment while welding sections of wind towers together, which caused the sections to slide and resulted in the amputation injury. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health. http://www.windaction.org/articles/31988 http://www.windaction.org/articles/31953 Mon, 16 May 2011 12:56:32 GMT OSHA said Monday it has cited Vestas for one willful and 23 serious violations following an inspection of the wind turbine manufacturing plant. The inspection was initiated after an employee suffered a partial amputation of two fingers and a broken wrist in November. OSHA has proposed $164,000 in fines against Vestas. http://www.windaction.org/articles/31953 http://www.windaction.org/articles/30593 Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:57:46 GMT For hikers who took a walk to the Pawnee Buttes on Christmas Day, the experience provided a view of more than just the two buttes and the Cedar Creek wind farm to the north. Hikers that day also saw an oil rig drilling a well on property to the west of the buttes. http://www.windaction.org/articles/30593 http://www.windaction.org/articles/28349 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:47:37 GMT The blades' rotation — at speeds as fast as 200 mph — can prevent radar signals from reaching targets and can create radar echoes. The reflected signals — called "clutter" — produce shadows that can hide an object such as a plane. Although no major incidents have been reported so far, leaders on both sides of the issue are looking for ways to mitigate the turbines' radar effects. http://www.windaction.org/articles/28349 http://www.windaction.org/articles/27970 Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:00:13 GMT Politicians have been quick to pledge increasing use of clean energy and set ambitious production goals for solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and nuclear. ...But when land managers and investors float plans for building wind farms or tapping geothermal energy or stringing new transmission lines or processing uranium for nuclear power, the potential impacts to neighbors stir passionate resistance. http://www.windaction.org/articles/27970