Wind power is often portrayed as a feel-good substitute for big power plants, but it has severe limitations; its performance, obviously, is as fickle as the wind. Because of that, wind farms must still be backed up by conventional power in case the wind fails. "You can predict some changes in the wind broadly but not second-by-second," said Robert Michaels, a professor of economics at California State University, Fullerton, who has studied the issue. ...Wind energy will have a growing place in America's energy portfolio, but its niche probably won't approach the Energy Department's 20 percent prediction.

Most sources of energy are beyond the pale in the Democratic Party, but nothing carries quite the moral stigma of coal. The latest excommunication is under way in Kansas, of all places, and it may be a forerunner of national political trends. Governor Kathleen Sebelius calls it "a moral obligation," as though she were opposing crimes against humanity. This is a reference to coal companies guilty of nothing more than attempting to provide power to consumers. But their misfortunes include emitting carbon dioxide into the current political atmosphere, and also the presence of Ms. Sebelius, who recently invented another way of enacting her preferred global-warming policies without legislation. ...Coal provides more than half of U.S. electricity because it is cheap and abundant - and viable. Wind turbines and the rest of the boutique alternatives are none of those, a reality that Democrats are going to have to square when they actually bother to pass a climate-change bill.

I wonder if the folks at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment think that electricity is made by fairies who live in the garden or that an army of elves produce it? On October 19, a Washington Post article was headlined “Power Plant Rejected Over Carbon Dioxide for First Time.” Let’s hope it is the last time or those of us around the nation who depend on coal to produce over 50% of the electricity we use are in big trouble. ...Meanwhile, despite fears that Kansas will tip the planet into an inferno of global warming, China is building a new coal-burning plant every week. India is making similar plans to provide for its growing energy needs.

Congressional attempts to advance energy legislation this summer have done nothing to boost America's long-term energy security -- in fact, jeopardizing the ideal of reliable supply. As the only developed country that substantially restricts access to known domestic energy resources, our lawmakers should consider the potential effects that these faulty bills could have on our economy. ...The United States needs all forms of energy. However, Congress is working to advance legislation that sacrifices traditional forms of energy in hopes that alternatives and renewables will somehow make up the difference. This short-sighted approach places politics above sensible policy and America's economic well-being. Both the Senate and House energy bills must be overhauled to realistically provide for America's energy future, or they should never see the light of day.

This editorial is in response to those who have questioned the veracity of viboracoustic disease and ‘wind turbine syndrome', most recently S.R. Zwenger who asked "can anyone provide published articles on this mysterious and elusive disease?".