The wind energy industry - putting renewable energy above treasured wildlife - is seeking America’s first ever permit to kill golden eagles.
The
Shiloh IV Wind Project, a large Solano County, Calif., wind farm, would
be allowed to kill five golden eagles a year for five years under a draft plan released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
If the plan is approved, the farm
would make history as the first renewable energy project afforded a
permit to kill eagles, the Chronicle reported.
A
2008 study funded by the Alameda County Community Development Agency
estimated that 10,000 birds, mostly protected species, are killed every
year at a single wind farm in Altamont Pass, Calif, according to Fox
News.
The Audubon Society and other organizations have been pushing for stronger regulations....
“A violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act can
result in a fine of $100,000 ($200,000 for organizations), imprisonment
for one year, or both, for a first offense. Penalties increase
substantially for additional offenses, and a second violation of this
Act is a felony,” according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
But with the involvement of the
Department of Justice and its leftist ways, would this majestic raptor
ever receive justice? Or would Eric Holder consider such a pursuit “for
the birds”?
Read the article in its entirety at:
The mindless EPA has taken us back to 1970.
When private enterprise built the first railroad in China in the
19th century, the Chinese mandarinate sent out work crews to tear
up the tracks.
So things went in the Middle Kingdom for approximately 1500
years. Emperors and dynasties came and went but the day-to-day
affairs were administered by a self-perpetuating class of
intellectuals intent on stopping anything that might resemble
economic progress.
It might be worth studying a little Chinese history these days
because American affairs are now being run by a Washington
mandarinate that dances to its own tune and has very fixed ideas of
what the world should be like — namely that industrial activity is
something toward which we should be very suspicious if not
downright hostile.
The latest directive from this mandarinate is the Environmental
Protection Agency’s new regulatory rulemaking on coal plants. Now I
know that the EPA hates coal and is doing everything it can to wipe
it off the face of the earth. That much is given. What is
remarkable is how the agency’s latest salvo erases all the progress
that has been made in improving government regulations over the
last thirty years.....
That no one will build new plants with carbon
capture-and-storage is assured because the technology
is still completely hypothetical. There has never
been a full-fledged CCS coal plant built anywhere in the world and
there have been several notable failures.....
http://spectator.org/archives/2013/09/27/federal-mandarinate-decrees-en
Wind Energy: Chalk It Up as a Loss
By Ben
Acheson
"Isn't it about time
that we looked at all the evidence cumulatively? Isn't it about time that we
just chalked it up as a loss and tried something
else?"
Another week, another plethora of news reports attacking wind farms...
Another week, another plethora of news reports attacking wind farms...
In the last year alone we have seen news reports outlining how wind farms have surrounded some of Britain's most untouched landscape and blighted some of our most bucolic and treasured towns and villages. We have heard horror stories about planning departments ignoring guidelines and forcing homeowners to live next to monstrous whirling steel turbines. We have been warned that property values have plummeted due to the inappropriate placement of wind farms and we have seen hundreds of anti-wind protest groups spring up across the nation, incensed at the lack of democracy in the planning system.
We have read how turbines impact human health and after years of mockery from pro-wind groups, we now have the first peer-reviewed, science-based report confirming that turbines do have harmful impacts on humans.
We have watched videos of turbines exploding in high winds and crashing to the ground in storms. We have witnessed precious habitats and ecosystems torn apart to make way for turbines and we have seen stories about birds being chopped to bits. We have heard how offshore wind farms will destroy precious undersea carbon stores, affect aquatic animals and close important fishing grounds....
We have read that schoolchildren are being utilised as pro-wind propaganda tools and we have even seen how the United Nations has ruled that the UK is in breach of international law regarding public participation and the right to receive information in regard to wind farm developments. In the last few weeks, we have heard how IPCC climate change projections, which formed the basis for renewable energy targets, have been called into question by leading scientists.
We have watched as turbines have had to be shut down in high winds and how consumers foot the bill when they are. We have seen their minimal contribution the UK energy supply, even when they are needed most. We have been affected when energy bills have skyrocketed thanks in part to a misguided focus on wind energy. Unfortunately we have also heard how millions of households have been forced into crippling fuel poverty, now having to choose between food and fuel.
We have read about noise abatement orders and residents' legal challenges. We have seen some communities torn apart by wind farm proposals and others handed bribes in return for their silence. We have read how landowners pocket exorbitant amounts of cash in return for housing turbines and we have seen developers reap vast profits from the UK's subsidy regime. We have heard how peat bogs have been ripped up and forests torn down to make way for wind farms. We are now being told that wind energy has not made even the slightest difference to carbon emissions.
We have even seen those who peddle ridiculous pro-wind arguments about green jobs debunked and refuted. There is enough credible evidence and enough of an opposition to end a policy of support for industrial wind energy. Yet still we see wind farms popping up all around the country.
Isn't it about time that we looked at all the evidence cumulatively? Isn't it about time that we just chalked it up as a loss and tried something else?
Read the article in its entirety at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ben-acheson/wind-energy-chalk-it-up-a_b_3974632.html
God, Rush [Limbaugh], and Global Warming
by E. Calvin BeisnerNow I ask you, does an infinitely wise designer plan something to be so fragile that a proportionately tiny stress will cause it to collapse? Does a good architect, for instance, design a building so that if you lean against a wall, the rest of the building reacts by magnifying the stress of your weight until the building collapses?
But that's what's assumed in the theory of catastrophic, anthropogenic (manmade) global warming (CAGW): that a proportionately tiny stress can cause catastrophic consequences. The theory is that CO2's rising from 27 thousandths of 1 percent to 54 thousandths of 1 percent of the atmosphere - which itself is a relatively tiny part of the entire climate system, which includes the oceans, land masses, all living things, and even energy from the sun and cosmic rays from stars in distant galaxies - will raise earth's temperature so much as to threaten catastrophic harm to human and other life.
Such a result would come only from a design that made positive feedbacks vastly outweigh negative feedbacks. In other words, it would make the rest of the climate system magnify rather than offset the warming effect of CO2. Yet natural systems are dominated by negative rather than positive feedbacks - otherwise they'd all have collapsed long ago.
So God's wisdom in designing earth's climate system is hard to reconcile with belief in CAGW.
Likewise, belief in CAGW is difficult to reconcile with belief in God's power and faithfulness."
See the entire article at: http://www.christianpost.com/news/god-rush-and-global-warming-104798/
New York State Wind Wars - Hiding the Facts (PTC Allows Invenergy to Desecrate)
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 4:31 PM
New York State Wind Wars - Hiding the Facts (PTC Allows Invenergy to Desecrate)
The last minute extension of the
Production Tax Credit (PTC - aka: “Pork To Cronies”) within
the December 31, 2012 fiscal cliff deal was good news for Big Wind corporate welfare profiteers,
like Michael Polsky's Invenergy.
It was very bad news for rural/residential Towns being targeted by industrial
wind developers here in New York State, and across the nation.
Despite the
fact that the Wyoming County, NY Town of Orangeville’s conflicted Town
Board approved Invenergy’s “Stony Creek” project in
the Fall of 2012, Invenergy admitted they would not be going ahead with the
project unless the PTC was extended - highlighting the fact that the only thing
Invenergy is interested in ‘harvesting’ is taxpayers’ money.
Once
Crony-Corruptocrats in DC extended the PTC in that midnight fiscal cliff deal,
the once-beautiful rolling hills of the Town of Orangeville were doomed.
As Michael Polsky enjoys his new mansion, many
Orangeville residents are helplessly looking on in disgust as Invenergy turns
their entire Town into a sprawling industrial wind factory -- rendering their
homes virtually worthless -- all thanks to the legalized thievery of their own
tax dollars for The Wind Farm Scam.
As Big Wind CEO, Patrick Jenevein
candidly pointed out in his WSJ op-ed, “Wind
power subsidies? No Thanks” and follow-up TV interview,
“Wind farms are
increasingly being built in less-windy locations” because the wind industry is
focused on reaping the lucrative taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies, rather than
on providing an efficient, affordable product.
Nowhere is this proving to be more
true than right here in New York State. Orangeville borders the Town of Attica
here in Western New York State – a town that ‘First Wind LLC’ pulled out of a
number of years ago after admitting that the Attica area “was not a good wind
area.” Seems Jenevein knew exactly what he was talking about
Economics 101
According to NYISO’s Goldbook, New
York State’s installed wind factories averaged a pathetic 23.5% Capacity Factor
in 2012. New York State wind factories are not
generating enough electricity to even pay for
themselves over their short
life spans.
Renowned energy analyst, Glenn
Schleede, examined the data on New York State's
wind factories, and found that ONE 450 MW Combined Cycle Generating Unit
located at New York City (where the power is needed in New York State), would
provide more power than all of New York State's wind farms combined, at 1/4 of the capital costs -- and would have significantly reduced CO2
emissions and created far more jobs than all those wind farms – without the added
costs of all the transmission lines to
New York City.
It's no wonder New York has earned
the dubious distinction of having the highest electricity rates in the
continental United States - 17.69
cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) – a
whopping 53% above the national average. A New York resident using 6,500
kWh of electricity annually will pay about $400
per year more per year for his or her electricity
than if New York’s electricity prices were at the national average.....
Continue reading here:
http://www.masterresource.org/2013/09/new-york-wind-wars/
New York State is America's Biggest Loser - People are voting with their feet! Research indicates that $7100 is leaving New York State every 60 seconds.
Selling rural NY out to The Wind Farm Scam -- and the resulting "necessarily skyrocketing electricity rates" it creates -- is a HUGE part of why people are leaving!
Selling rural NY out to The Wind Farm Scam -- and the resulting "necessarily skyrocketing electricity rates" it creates -- is a HUGE part of why people are leaving!
HowMoneyWalks.com (Check your state to see how it's doing)
See more at: How Money Walks
A company spokesman said the decision is part of a continuing effort "to become a more focused oil and gas company ... and to unlock more value for shareholders." The sale reflects the complicated relationship between the major oil companies and renewable energy over the past decade, even as wind and solar energy slowly gained market share. While oil and gas may yield more profit, he said ...
Source
Sequestration Nation: DoD doles out $7 billion in wind-energy contracts
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 1:06 PM
Remember, earlier
this year, when the Obama administration was transforming each and every
sequestration budget cut into some nightmarishly dire prediction about how each
and every major department wouldn’t be able to perform the full extent of their
absolutely and irrevocably essential duties? It would seem that, even as there
are Defense Department employees being furloughed and Secretary Hagel warns
of more layoffs and our military
slims down on equipment, training programs, and etcetera, the Pentagon
evidently continues to prioritize the forceful implementation of so-called
“green” and “renewable” sources into their energy repertoire.
Via Reuters:
The U.S. Army has
picked 17 companies that will be eligible to receive orders for wind energy
under an umbrella contract valued at up to $7 billion, the Pentagon said on Monday….
Hiding ‘Avian Mortality’: Where Green is Red (Part I: Altamont Pass)
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 9:31 AM
“The wind
industry is hiding over 90% of the bird and bat mortality caused by their
turbines. This statement is supported by the industry’s own data and reasonable
adjustments for its manipulations.”
“The wind industry is … producing faulty, misleading and even fraudulent documents to hide the serious and growing mortality. This situation has continued for years but has been shielded by state and federal agencies and other supporters of wind power.”
Assessment on Wind Energy in New York State by Energy Analyst, Glenn Schleede
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 4:22 PM
September 2, 2013
New York’s Ongoing Wind Energy Mistakes
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) provides on its web site[1] many
claims about the great progress and benefits achieved by promoting and
subsidizing wind energy in the state – an initiative kicked off by
former Governor Pataki and followed slavishly by each succeeding
administration and legislature.
Unfortunately,
like other promoters of wind energy, the DEC article tells less than
half the true story about very high cost, low value electricity from
wind energy and ignores completely its adverse environmental, economic,
electric system reliability impacts, and its damaging impact on ordinary
citizens, taxpayers, and electricity users in New York.
For example, the
DEC article doesn't mention (a) incessant noise from wind turbine, (b)
birds and bats killed by the huge machines, (c) the destruction of
landscape, natural resources, scenic vistas, and animal habitat during
construction and thereafter, or (d) the damage to property values and
quality of life of those unfortunate enough to live near “wind farms.”
Neither does the
DEC mention the high cost and low value of electricity from wind
turbines. The low true value of electricity from wind turbines is due
to their intermittent, volatile, and unreliable output and their
tendency to produce electricity primarily at night in cold and shoulder
months when electricity is least needed, rather than on hot summer
weekday late afternoons when demand is high.
Looking beyond the
misleading DEC article, the fact that political leaders continue to
push wind energy is particularly difficult to understand when looking at
the following facts:
1. New
York’s first 15 “wind farms” completed before the end of 2010 have a
total rated (or nameplate) capacity of 1,273.9 megawatts (MW). During 2012 these 15 “wind farms” produced 2,321,500 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity. [2] Assuming very conservative capital cost numbers, the capital cost of these 15 “wind farms” in NY was probably around $2 billion.
The predominate demand for electricity in
New York state is in the New York City (NTC) area. However, NY’s “wind
farms” are located in upstate and western New York so the output from
these “wind farms” must be transmitted to the NYC area, adding to the
cost of the electricity and adding environmental damage when additional
transmission capacity must be provided.
2. Now
consider a logical alternative: A single 450 MW gas-fired combined
cycle generating unit (or two 225 MW units) located near NYC, operating
at only a 60% capacity factor, could have supplied just as much
electricity — actually 2,365,200 MWh[3] –
with about one fourth of the capital cost and with less overall cost to
consumers and taxpayers when fuel and O&M costs are added.
Furthermore,
the gas-fired generating units would be reliable and dispatchable and
thus available when needed, including times of peak electricity demand.
Electricity is available from wind turbines only when wind speeds are in
the “right” range.[4] They are highly unlikely to produce much electricity during times of peak demand, so they have little or no “capacity value.”
Also, there would be no need to add
transmission capacity to bring wind-generated electricity to the NYC
area from upstate and western NY. Finally, a factor that should be important to political leaders: a gas-fired generating unit would provide many more long lasting jobs than “wind farms.”
The
apparent low regard that NY political leaders have for the people and
organizations dependent on electricity is illustrated by the extremely
high electric bills that result from the state’s policies. The average
electricity price for residential customers in New York in 2012 was
17.69 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), while the nationwide average in
2012 was 11.88 cents per kWh.[5]
Therefore,
New York’s average residential electricity prices are 53% above the
national average. A New York resident using 6,500 kWh of electricity
per year will pay about $400 per year more for his or her electricity
than if New York’s electricity prices were at the national
average. (Only Alaska, with 17.84 cents per kWh and Hawaii with 37.27
cents per kWh had higher prices.) Consider the job and other local
economic benefits if New York had allowed its approximately 8,000,000
residential electric customers to spend $400 per year – that would be
$3.2 billion -- in their local economies.
Unfortunately, the
New York States’ Department of Environmental Conservation web site
article cited earlier is but one example of the way that government
officials and employees now use tax dollars to distribute false and
misleading information that protects and promotes bad policies, helps
special interest groups such as the wind industry, and/or promotes their
personal preferences.
Glenn R. Schleede (former western New Yorker)
20647 Golden Ridge Drive
Ashburn, VA 20147
Troubled wind project target of FBI scrutiny, industry criticism
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 6:51 PM
The
Goodhue project made national news because it was going to be built in a
major bald eagle migration and nesting area near the Mississippi River,
and was an important golden eagle migration and wintering location. The
man being investigated is the former head of Noble Power (Energy) whose
activities were looked at by the NY Attorney General several years ago (but who did nothing).
The article depicts how the wind companies change names in quick
succession.
Troubled wind project target of FBI scrutiny, industry criticism
Credit: Brett Boese |
August 31, 2013 |
www.postbulletin.com ~~
ZUMBROTA — The New Era
wind project appears likely to have its state-issued permits revoked
this fall after missing two deadlines that required it to either begin
construction or surrender its permits by Aug. 23, according to a
Minnesota Public Utilities spokesperson.
That course of action could finally close the book on what’s been the most controversial wind project in state history.
The 78-megawatt project was first
proposed in 2008 by National Wind. During the past five years, five
lawsuits have been filed, ownership has changed hands twice, fines have
been levied for illegal lobbying and — in the most recent development —
the Federal Bureau of Investigation apparently has conducted interviews
as part of a potential fraud investigation.
Four local critics of the $180 million wind project, representing
opposition groups Goodhue Wind Truth and the Coalition for Sensible
Siting, say they spent a January morning in St. Paul detailing their
concerns to two FBI investigators. Developers have spent more than $15
million seeking state permits, according to a filing at the PUC, while
local opposition has spent six figures in the protracted legal battle.
“(The FBI is) always interested
to hear from citizens,” said Marie McNamara, a Goodhue farmer who
co-founded Goodhue Wind Truth. “I remember them saying they were hearing
concerns from other citizens across Minnesota (about the wind
industry). Overall, we were concerned about a lot of shenanigans. We
were concerned about the investments and money being lost by local
people.”
Read the rest of the article at:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)