Proposed Windmills visible from Dolly So ds

“GE has been airing propaganda lately about how environmentally friendly they are.

There is the dancing elephant who is so happy about GE.

They are really sellin' it.

How can you tell when a salesman is lying?

When his lips are moving.”

“Like just about any issue these days, it is not black and white.

True that coal is raping mountains in southwestern West Virginia, extreme western Virginia, and in Kentucky. The destruction is so egregious it shows up on satellite photography clear as can be. And it is true that coal is a powerful lobby with influence in both parties in the coalfields.

MTR is an abomination. There can be no other conclusion. Ads about clean coal technology are a farce. What is clean about bulldozing a mountaintop into a valley, polluting streams, poisoning aquatic life for miles, causing floods that have killed humans.

That said, what will wind to do help? Under full production it would still comprise less than 1 percent of total energy consumption. And at what cost? Eastern West Virginia and the mountains of Virginia are now facing an onslaught of projects, many of which are neither economically feasible nor practical owing to the amount of wind passing over the area. Jerome Neissen of NedPower said none of those projects will ever be built because of the economics, and his project, already approved, has not even started construction because of economic issues (and he's astride a prime wind-producing ridge).

Add to that the killing of some 4,000 bats over two years at Backbone Mountain and another batch at a new installation near Meyersdale, Pa., and you have a serious issue that the wind industry is still studying.

Some of these ridges are flyways for threatened or endangered species. Neither wind operators nor regulatory agencies have any knowledge about these issues. Studies are conducted, but studies do not show what actually happens when the installation is built. The bat kills were neither foreseen nor anticipated.

The Northern West Virginia Flying Squirrel caused one developer to drop a project. Others tanked on the mere mention of red spruce habitat that flying squirrel inhabit.

And where do you stop? Do you put them in wilderness areas? Do you put them in scenic views? Do you put them in national parks? Do you put them offshore, within sight of tourist areas that might be affected?

What would be the economic impact on tourism in these areas?

One proposed project in West Virginia was pulled because the developer had gotten a secret agreement from the county board of commissioners to condemn right of way for its power lines to connect to an existing transmission line miles away. The local farmers descended on the court house with pitchforks and blunderbusses, mad as hell.

All of these issues are being debated. There are no easy answers to most. Regulatory agencies have been totally unprepared to deal with all the issues. In West Virginia, calls went out for input to all parties with vested interests when it came to drafting siting rules. The process is still not complete.

Wind, at best, will be a token drop in the bucket. While it is likely desirable to make that token effort, the other question is to what degree is it desirable.

Last, the mountains and offshore are not the most efficient areas for wind power production. There is a power loss in transmission which, owing to a comparatively low rate of generation, amounts to a significant loss. Putting windmills closer to where the power is consumed would be more efficient and economical. But that has drawbacks, because the blades ice up in winter and when it warms up that ice can be slung a good distance, causing a hazard.

I've always suggested they be installed where MTR has already screwed up the landscape. Nothing can live there; it's level so the wind would have to be pretty consistent; and there's no view to screw up. But guess who owns that land?

US Windforce does plan an installation on strip-mined land just south of the North Branch of the Potomac in West Virginia. It, too, is on hold pending economics.

Wind does not seem to be the panacea we wanted. It may die of its own accord. The entire scene is in flux.”

“I used to cover a GE plant in Virginia. Whenever they announced a layoff, we'd sing, "We bring good things to life" in the newsroom.”

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For more, go here: http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/

Here's another nice one:

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“More wind farms are being planned for this area in Northeast PA. from what I heard on the news recently. I just wish they would put them on the hilltops that already are developed and have existing towers.”

“Wind farm operators in the Altamont Pass are offering to shut down half of their electricity-producing windmills during the winter to reduce bird deaths and to replace them all with more modern machines within 13 years.

But the proposal, which Alameda County officials will consider Thursday, comes with strings attached. The offer is good only if an environmental group drops its lawsuit over the deaths of thousands of birds.

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last edited: 7/08/05 10:25:16 AM”

“That could be worth it, depending on the science of the new turbines and what the effect would be of shutting down just half the existing turbines. Altamont is killing big raptors.”