Poison for Maine's future: Nantucket gets update on turbine debris cleanup
By John Basile Published August 8, 2024
Nantucket's Select Board got an update Wednesday night, Aug. 7, on the efforts to clean up debris from the failed Vineyard Wind turbine blade south of the island.
Roger Martella, the Chief Sustainability Officer for blade manufacturer GE Vernova, outlined the ongoing response to the mid-July incident that sent debris into the ocean about 15 miles south of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. That debris continues to wash up on local beaches.
“We're going to be focusing on shellfish, we're going to be focusing on marine life, long-term degradation of anything that might remain. The impact from physical contact, from chemicals, from micro particulates,” Martella said.
Martella said a small portion of the broken blade remains on the turbine, but the expected high winds over the next few days should not cause more of it to break off.
“The storm is not a risk for the turbines or blades or anything like that. Of that seven-to-eight-percent of the hanging part that is still there, there is a possibility that the 22 meters per second projected winds could impact that and then we would execute the recovery plans that we've been doing.”
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection says it is not likely that chemicals released by the failed blade pose a significant health risk to humans or animals.
However, in an interview with CAI, Valeria La Saponara, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who has studied the materials used to build wind turbines for about 25 years, said she does see potential danger.
“Anytime that you see polyester, vinylaster coat and PVC foams, these are all carcinogenic materials. So it's not going to kill you all in the next week. But this says possible long-term consequences," Saponara said.
Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr told the Nantucket Select Board that he was disappointed with Vineyard Wind’s initial response to the failed turbine blade. He said the two-day delay in notifying the public and community leaders was unacceptable.
And he said that while he and others continue to support offshore wind as a solution to climate change, wind developers must step up.
Continue reading at https://www.mainepublic.org/2024-08-08/nantucket-gets-update-on-tur...
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Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on August 10, 2024 at 5:48pm
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Kamala's campaign to one day adorn the three dollar bill
https://rumble.com/v5agbut-trump-team-drops-kamala-montage-that-eve...
Phone call between Harris and Walz; "To be honest Tim, you weren't even in my top ten"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEg7yY_Cv60&t=12s&pp=2AEMkAIB
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Comment by Willem Post on August 9, 2024 at 3:51pm
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No blades from that factory should be allowed on US offshore wind turbine projects
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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