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/news/25528 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:51:17 GMT Renewable energy companies across the south-west say the Coalition's new climate change policy will have little impact on a crisis facing their sector. Portland-based Keppel Prince Engineering yesterday asked 70 employees to take leave while it waits for the Federal Government to reassess the way renewable energy certificates are allocated. http://www.windaction.org/news/25528 http://www.windaction.org/news/25527 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:53:27 GMT Last week, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he would ask the Legislature to impose a one-year suspension of eminent domain powers to merchant companies wanting to connect wind turbines to the electrical grid. He said a time-out is needed to contemplate the use of eminent domain, but only the realm of "collector" lines for wind energy. In Wyoming, a private entity can take someone else's private property for its own economic gain. http://www.windaction.org/news/25527 http://www.windaction.org/news/25526 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:47:37 GMT In Vinalhaven, a small island community off the coast of central Maine, the recent installation of three massive wind towers was hailed by residents and developers as the answer to the island's energy woes, but as soon as the turbines started turning this past November, some local residents began to regret what they now feel was a "devil's bargain." http://www.windaction.org/news/25526 http://www.windaction.org/news/25525 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:40:50 GMT Merkur said the company is meeting all ministry environmental standards, and the Amherstburg project has been more heavily scrutinized than most as a result of appeals all the way up to the environment minister. But residents opposing the 10-megawatt South Side project pointed out the company also didn't promise to meet the town's 600-metre setback from turbines and their homes. http://www.windaction.org/news/25525 http://www.windaction.org/news/25524 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:34:25 GMT Residents this weekend approved a controversial wind turbine ordinance that would impose strict regulations on industrial wind power developments. Among other things, the ordinance - written by the planning board and the wind energy subcommittee - stipulates that any 400-foot-tall turbines erected must be at least a mile from any houses. http://www.windaction.org/news/25524 http://www.windaction.org/news/25523 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:23:50 GMT Tazewell County Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance that prevents wind farm construction on specified locations. Wind industry supporters say it's an example of how the "anti-wind agenda" is gaining steam. It's one of the latest ordinances in the country adopted by local government that prevents wind farm construction as the federal government is pushing for cleaner greener technologies. http://www.windaction.org/news/25523 http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25522 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:11:20 GMT In Minnesota, the wind is blowing but turbines aren't turning. The machines, bought used from California and installed last fall, are completely frozen in place. Even on the windiest days, the blades sit at a standstill, producing no power. Why should anyone care? The problem highlights some of the less intuitive challenges associated with wind power - long considered to be the most feasible and cost effective source of renewable energy. http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25522 http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25521 Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:15:29 GMT The Land Use Regulation Commission is considering a request from TransCanada to allow extension of its Kibby wind farm into a portion of LURC jurisdiction that has been considered unexpedited. Currently this area is subject to the usual protected mountain zoning restrictions. This request has focused attention on the rules governing such expansion. http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25521 http://www.windaction.org/news/25519 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:47:51 GMT Invenergy LLC, which is seeking state approval for a wind farm in southern Brown County, also questions Holland's toughened setback requirements for wind turbines. "Regardless of the town's desire to enact such a moratorium or setbacks, it has no power to do so," Invenergy attorney Peter Gardon wrote in a six-page letter dated Feb. 4. http://www.windaction.org/news/25519 http://www.windaction.org/faqs/25518 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:41:31 GMT http://www.windaction.org/faqs/25518 http://www.windaction.org/news/25517 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:53:33 GMT Legislation adopted last week by the state Senate that streamlines the permitting process for large-scale wind turbine projects includes language proposed by Sen. Robert L. Hedlund that preserves local control over wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas. ...Hedlund also included language requiring that siting standards developed by the state Energy Facilities Siting Board are crafted to reflect the unique characteristics of the different regions of the Commonwealth. http://www.windaction.org/news/25517 http://www.windaction.org/news/25516 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:26:10 GMT Interior Secretary Ken Salazar journeyed out into Nantucket Sound on a Coast Guard vessel last week to signal the Obama administration's readiness to put some muscle behind wind energy. To do that, Salazar has to resolve a battle over building a wind farm on 25 square miles of open water that has driven a rift between environmentalists, infuriated local Native Americans and threatened one of the administration's cherished priorities. http://www.windaction.org/news/25516 http://www.windaction.org/news/25515 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:13:33 GMT Nauset Regional High School is exploring the possible use of town-owned land as a site for a wind turbine. Voters may be asked in May if "they'd like to discuss leasing us some land," Nauset principal Thomas M. Conrad told the Nauset Regional School Committee at a meeting Thursday in Orleans. http://www.windaction.org/news/25515 http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25514 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:11:06 GMT Back in the 1950s, the standard Western movie would include a scene in which some dignitary from Washington would meet with an Indian chief and his council in the hope of resolving grievances that had sent the Indians on the warpath. The other day, we got a replay of that scene when a real-life government dignitary sailed into Nantucket Sound with a group of Wampanoag Indians for the ostensible purpose of resolving their grievances. http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25514 http://www.windaction.org/news/25513 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 09:33:57 GMT Ruggedly beautiful Steens Mountain stands in an area of southeast Oregon so isolated that it's barely changed since cattle king Pete French arrived in the late 1800s. Coyotes yelp at sundown. Drivers are so few that they wave to each other as they pass. Campers, hunters and bird-watchers trek from across the state to breathe in the majestic emptiness and to gaze from the Steens summit across a seemingly endless tapestry of high desert and open range. But soon, the scenery will change. Harney County has cleared Columbia Energy Partners of Vancouver to build a wind farm on the mountain's north slope. http://www.windaction.org/news/25513 http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25512 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT Wind power development, as approved by our state government, will ruin the Maine woods. Goodbye trees, goodbye wildlife, goodbye forested landscape. Hello to 1700 forty-story wind turbines. Hello fan-blade shadow flicker. Hello to 1700 red strobe lights towering above us. Farewell to the night sky. And hello to a constant low resonance hum, or worse. http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25512 http://www.windaction.org/news/25510 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:23:06 GMT The companies building Texas' $5 billion renewable-energy transmission network have decided against seeking stimulus funding that could have saved money for consumers. The decision was made last month in a little-noticed hearing of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, where regulators agreed with the companies that stimulus funds came with regulations that could slow construction. http://www.windaction.org/news/25510 http://www.windaction.org/news/25509 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:50:14 GMT Utah-based Wasatch Wind announced today it has submitted a revised application to drop about 4,200 acres of state trust lands from its proposed wind energy project in the Northern Laramie Range in Converse County. Now excluded from the project is the Duncan Ranch, which the state purchased several years ago. Also excluded are state lands leased by the Pinetree Cattle Co. http://www.windaction.org/news/25509 http://www.windaction.org/news/25508 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:44:59 GMT The State Lands and Investments Board has drafted proposed rule changes regarding wind energy development on state lands. And it's hoping to receive a lot of public input over the next couple of months to make sure all stakeholders have their say. Written public comment will be accepted until 5 p.m. March 1, and there will be four public hearings across the state in March. http://www.windaction.org/news/25508 http://www.windaction.org/news/25507 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:37:31 GMT Researchers at the University of California San Diego will start taking an in-depth look at one of these less-studied structures tomorrow when they subject an 80-foot, 23,400-pound working wind turbine to a series of simulated earthquakes escalating to more than 7.0 in magnitude. This will be only the second known test of a full-sized wind turbine on a shake table. http://www.windaction.org/news/25507 http://www.windaction.org/news/25505 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:15:57 GMT Brian Cochran, Bluefield city solicitor, in the process of drafting a tall structure ordinance so the city has something in place if a developer specifically wants to acquire property and erect a wind turbine project like the proposed Dominion and BP project in Tazewell County, but Cochran said there's no hurry to get one in place. "The city of Bluefield already has some restrictive zoning in place," Cochran said. "I don't see where our code would allow a development like the one that has been proposed in Tazewell County." http://www.windaction.org/news/25505 http://www.windaction.org/news/25504 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:13:09 GMT The Mayor's Energy Advisory Committee (EAC) is recommending less stringent rules for allowing a wind energy conversion facility in the city. The EAC reviewed changes to the existing law made by the 2009 City Council Planning and Development Committee. ...EAC recommends a setback distance from a residential zone of one and a half times the height of the wind turbine (highest position of a blade tip). The Planning and Development Committee had changed the setback to three times the height of the proposed turbine. http://www.windaction.org/news/25504 http://www.windaction.org/news/25503 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:54:42 GMT A compromise between existing language and more restrictive setbacks left the requirements for turbines that they be placed no closer than 2,500 feet south of Route 12E between the village and Clayton, and east from County Route 6; and no closer than 3,000 feet from the village boundaries. The turbines would not be allowed to raise the sound levels more than 8 decibels above the background noise at non-participating residents' property lines. http://www.windaction.org/news/25503 http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25502 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:49:26 GMT Wind developers are here because they can make money. Right now, thanks to tax incentives and public policy, wind power is profitable in New York state. We have exactly what the wind farm investors need... They have fewer choices than they might want us to believe, and for every deal we lose, another will come to take its place. If wind farms are coming, or at least prospective wind farm developers, we need to be ready for them and reap the benefits on our terms. To them, it's just money. To us, it's our home. http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25502 http://www.windaction.org/news/25501 Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:34:49 GMT Voters in Jackson Saturday approved a wind development ordinance. The vote was 111 Yes, 75 No. The proposed ordinance includes regulations for noise levels and setbacks from property lines. http://www.windaction.org/news/25501 http://www.windaction.org/news/25500 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:23:42 GMT But by January, the Reno Junction Wind Farm, which has had no zoning regulations to contend with in Campbell County and was thought profitable with no tax, could be facing both. Freudenthal proposed a $3 excise tax on wind energy production Monday. The tax would have a provision to send 40 percent of the revenues to local governments and 60 percent to the state general fund. http://www.windaction.org/news/25500 http://www.windaction.org/news/25499 Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:14:30 GMT The parents of a 34-year-old technician who died when the 230-foot wind-turbine tower he was in collapsed to the ground in a Sherman County wheat field is suing for $7 million. http://www.windaction.org/news/25499 http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25498 Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:34:25 GMT It's time for our representatives, both state and federal, to take a serious look at the possible health effects of wind turbines. It's possible reported problems are psychological, but we will not know conclusively until a reliable test is available. Yes, this will cost a lot of money, but it will be nothing compared to the price we will pay if we erect hundreds of turbines in the Upper Thumb and then find proof of a problem. http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25498 http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25497 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT Last month, I wrote about how wind power is not a substitute for base-load power generation. And while there may be fairly wide agreement with that argument, there is another aspect of wind power which has rarely been discussed: the effect of wind farms on people who live close by. ...It turns out that if you live in the vicinity of a wind farms, noise is most certainly a problem - a really big problem! http://www.windaction.org/opinions/25497 http://www.windaction.org/documents/25496 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:33:19 GMT It has become well known by those in the energy industry that wind industry officials and lobbyists continue to understate the full and true cost of electricity from wind and have been successful in creating a false “popular wisdom” about wind energy. Energy analyst Glenn Schleede takes the gloves off and explains the real story behind wind energy's price and how it's high cost fails to match the value of the electricity produced. Mr. Schleede's paper can be accessed by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page. http://www.windaction.org/documents/25496