The wind industry is not responding well to the latest news from the U.S. Senate
American Wind Energy CEO Denise Bode
Renewable Energy Industry Chafed About Senate Energy Bill
by Timothy B. Hurst on July 22, 2010
The wind industry is not responding well to today's news that the Senate is abandoning a comprehensive energy and climate bill and that the proposed plan from the Democrats has no provisions for renewable energy. After a Democratic Caucus meeting today, party leadership decided they just didn't have the votes to get a comprehensive package to the floor.
While the bill really has nothing in terms of directly addressing climate, it does have provisions dealing with the oil spill, energy efficiency upgrades, natural gas-powered trucking fleets, and land and water conservation.
Unfortunately for the renewables sector, there's no mention of their holy grail of policy drivers, a national renewable energy standard (RES). American Wind Energy CEO Denise Bode called the decision to let an RES die in committee "beyond comprehension." In a statement just released by AWEA Bode says:
"A bipartisan bill with a national renewable electricity standard (RES) passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee over a year ago. It is beyond comprehension that we are now hearing that the bill may never be brought to the Senate floor.
Only about 700 megawatts (MW) of wind power were added in the second quarter of 2010 and wind power installations to date this year have dropped by 54% and 69% from 2008 and 2009 levels, respectively. Manufacturing investment also continues to lag below 2008 and 2009 levels.
A refusal to pass an RES is an attack on every American worker and consumer. Not passing an RES endangers at least 360,000 jobs: 85,000 currently employed in the wind industry and the potential 274,000 additional jobs created by an RES. Workers, families, and our country demand a new energy future. That future must emphasize new strategies that embrace clean, renewable sources of energy that reduce costs, create jobs, and enhance our national security."
AWEA is not giving up hope yet, issuing a call to action urging members and wind energy advocates to call their Senators and demand for the inclusion of an RES. And while there are some indications that Democrats could try and bring climate and renewables provisions to the floor after the August recess, that is unlikely given the current political climate and the upcoming elections this fall.
http://ecopolitology.org/2010/07/22/renewable-energy-industry-chafe...
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AWEA STATEMENT ON SENATOR REID’S ENERGY BILL
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today issued the following statement from AWEA CEO Denise Bode in response to reports that a Senate energy bill will not contain a Renewable Electricity Standard:
"A bipartisan bill with a national renewable electricity standard (RES) passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee over a year ago. It is beyond comprehension that we are now hearing that the bill may never be brought to the Senate floor.
Only about 700 megawatts (MW) of wind power were added in the second quarter of 2010 and wind power installations to date this year have dropped by 54% and 69% from 2008 and 2009 levels, respectively. Manufacturing investment also continues to lag below 2008 and 2009 levels.
http://www.awea.org/newsroom/releases/07-22-10_Statement_on_Senator...
Views: 172
Comment
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Comment by Mary Beth Nolette on July 30, 2010 at 12:24pm
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I can start breathing now. Our senators were ready to vote for this bill. We need to stay on their cases in regards to wind issues. I suspect that they are both getting big donations from wind related industries.
Maybe we could find out?
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Comment by Stan Wood on July 27, 2010 at 12:47pm
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The Human is blessed with some degree of intelligence. Learning is synonymous with intelligence. We may be reaching a reality phase of Wind Energy. Some clever Senator has done some number work on probabilities. We see negative pay back, and have discovered Corporate America cannot profit from wind power without Federal backing.
quietbert
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Comment by Dan McKay on July 23, 2010 at 6:53pm
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A few words concerning RGGI might be timely. This is a regional cap and trade, although the money derived from penalizing coal, oil and gas plants could very well be subsidizing state government budget shortfalls.
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Comment by Cynthia Hardy Wadsworth on July 23, 2010 at 2:29pm
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Can anyone sing the Hallelujah chorus with me? Can we go to their office building and sing it out front on a loud speaker?
OK one, two, three......Hallelujah......Hallelujah
How many jobs would be lost Denise if we HAD a RES?
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Comment by Denise Hall on July 23, 2010 at 8:52am
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Wow, these people are really confused. I just emailed her the abc news story entitled "New Wind Farms in the U.S. Do Not Bring Jobs"
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/wind-power-equal-job-power/story?id=9759949
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Comment by Long Islander on July 23, 2010 at 4:35am
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Comprehend it Denise!
You may also wish to read:
T. Boone Pickens Just Dropkicked The American Wind Industry
Gus Lubin | Jul. 22, 2010
T. Boone Pickens' newest version of the Pickens Plan to reduce oil imports depends almost entirely on natural gas. Wind power, which played a key role in the original Pickens Plan, isn't even mentioned.
Which is clearly a bearish sign for US wind.
Forrest Wilder at Texas Observer has more on the Pickens turnaround:
Recall that the original Pickens Plan had two main, interlocking components: First, thousands of new wind turbines would be installed in the Great Plains along with the infrastructure needed to move the electricity to cities. Second, the wind turbines would free up natural gas – currently burned to make electricity – for use in vehicles instead of instead of foreign oil.
It could have to do with a recent Pickens investment:
... Pickens was (and is) muscling his new BFFs in the Democratic-controlled Congress to subsidize Clean Energy Fuels Corp., a Pickens business that builds natural gas fueling stations.
Pickens may be lots of things but he's always been a shrewd businessman and a ruthless opportunist. It's interesting to note that on the same day he dropped wind from the Pickens Plan and beefed up his support for natural gas, word came down from on high that a Pickens-backed provision had made its way into the Senate energy bill.
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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
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(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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