Who are the Brain Police?

Comment

Comment by alice mckay barnett on June 28, 2010 at 12:51pm

please do

Comment by Ron Huber on June 27, 2010 at 12:41pm

Whatta buncha blowhards! One should always copy out the comments of interesting articles when spotted - your own and those of others - and save them on your own computer. Then we can share them around, at our leisure.

Comment by Long Islander on June 27, 2010 at 10:22am

Aha! Proof positive of the censors' work!

Comment by Rob P on June 27, 2010 at 10:19am

I found the comments I made to the articles in the Harvard Crimsom on my DISQUS profile: http://disqus.com/profile/mycomments/

Here are my comments:
7 months ago
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/11/6/winds-of-change/UPC/First Wind has it's roots in an Italian company that is being investigated. Former associates have been arrested for alledgedly collecting subsidies on unproductive wind plants. see news article here: http://www.windaction.org/news/24041

Below is UPC describing themselves to the VT Public Service Board (PSB) proclaiming that due to their complete involvement with IVPC, now being investigated in Italy, they have enough expertise to build the Sheffield project. The link is to the February 21, 2006 prefiled direct testimony of UPC in their application to the VT PSB for a Certificate of Public Good.
http://www.sheffieldwind.com/UserFiles/File/reg...
From the Prefiled Direct Testimony of Cowan, Rowland, and Vavrik - February 21, 2006
Quoting upc - "UPC Group is a group of related companies that have developed large scale wind farms in Europe. To date, UPC Group has developed, financed, constructed, owned and operated over 635 MW of large-scale wind turbine generators in southern Italy and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia through a company called Italian Vento Power Company (“IVPC”) (www.ivpc.com). Certain principals of the UPC Group recently sold their ownership interests in holding companies that own the IVPC companies. In conjunction with this sale, a new European subsidiary of UPC Group has been established and is pursuing several hundred megawatts of wind energy projects in Europe and North Africa, including additional projects in Italy.
The IVPC subsidiaries of the UPC Group achieved an exceptional operating record, with its wind turbines available 98.5% of the time on a fleet-wide basis. An extensive operations and maintenance organization was established for the Italian projects, consisting of over 120 personnel dedicated exclusively to the day-to-day management, operation and maintenance of the IVPC projects."
Also from the same testimony is the resume of former Enron employee, Steve Vavrik:
"I have 10 years of work experience in the energy field, concentrating on the financial aspects of power production and power sales. My past work experience includes: GE Capital, where I developed financial models for equity investments on energy projects, and Enron Europe and Dynegy, where structured long term power and fuel purchases and sales. My first wind project was for PPM Energy in Portland, Oregon, where I was responsible for green tag power sales of the 198 MW Maple Ridge wind project in New York State. Currently I am the Vice President of Risk Management for UPC Wind Management, where I am in charge of all power sales."

ReplyEditDeleteContext The Crimson Alpha
7 months ago
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/11/6/winds-of-change/Harvard should look past the bogus green claims of industrial wind and this horrible company, First Wind.
First Wind has lied about noise and other adverse impacts of 422 foot turbines to people in Mars Hill, ME, Cohocton, NY,Sheffield, VT and everywhere else they are destroying communities. First Wind is being sued in ME, NY, & VT. First Wind is also under investigation by NY Attorney General Cuomo for bribery of local officials, and anti trust practices.


UPC/First Wind's proposal in Sheffield, VT is similar to mountain top mining in that it will involve:
Clearing 65 acres of mature forest canopy to build over 7.5 miles of 36 ft wide 18" thick impervious surface roads on 2500 ft ridgelines, around and through 58 wetlands and the headwaters of 5 streams and their tributaries, that flow both north to the Willoughby River and south to the Passumpsic River. How much CO2 does 65 Acres absorb?
Excavating and dynamiting for these roads and huge concrete bases requiring countless tons of concrete and rebar, thousands of truckloads, including components weighing up to 200,000 lbs. How much CO2 is emitted from construction activities, component manufacture and transport, cement making,etc.?
Cutting almost 400 bear scarred beech trees in prime bear habitat, depriving bears of beech nuts, a food source that sustains them through the winter and is essential for rearing of cubs.
Erecting 422 ft, loud turbines with 158 ft long blades that reach tips speeds of 200 mph, and flashing lights that will frighten away any remaining wildlife and kill the few remaining bats that manage to survive the cumulative slaughter of other wind plants and White Nose Syndrome. (http://www.windaction.org/faqs/23513)
The turbines also will draw electricity from the grid to heat the 870 gallons of oil per turbine, feather blades, turn into the wind, run computers and lighting. The 16 unreliable Clipper Liberty turbines will cumulatively contain 13,920 gallons of oil, with potential for spills. Lightning strikes and turbine collapse are not uncommon.
Turbine noise and the adverse aesthetic impact will lower property values. Actually they already have as brokers are advising clients not to buy in the area, and banks that buy mortgages in the secondary market are refusing mortgages on properties impacted by turbines.
There are instances of families abandoning their homes because of noise, vibration, and shadow flicker (http://www.windturbinesyndrome.com/?cat=8)

Meanwhile wind developers and their hedge fund investors are pocketing huge gov't handouts from political cronies, and profiting from "green" in name only investments like Harvard's. First Wind/UPC just got $115 million DOE grant with more on the way. Please see this link http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2009/09/clean...
for details of UPC/First Wind's connection to Larry Summers, DE Shaw and the Obama administration.

How many homes could be weatherized or outfitted with solar with all the tax money being doled out in the form of grants and tax breaks to the wind industry for this inefficient, environmentally destructive scam?

All these negative impact in exchange for a small varying amount of power, produced on average less than two days a week but no one can tell which days, and often when it's not really needed.
Thousands of existing turbines in Europe and the US have not and will not lower emissions or replace any other generation.

Rather than promoting this insanity I would think that Harvard, an institution my family has donated to, would be opposing such environmentally destructive, poorly sited projects that are purely symbolic and will accomplish little other than enrich developers and their investors while raising electric rates, and ruining rural communities and the rights of people to use and enjoy their property.
What is Harvard's position on the killing of federally protected raptors that are being killed by turbines with no penalties to wind developers?
Look past the bogus claims of developers, get the facts about this Enron scam, and stop promoting these poorly sited boondoggles.
Would those of you at Harvard responsible for this irreponsible investment buy property near or have your families live near one of these loud, strob lit industrial wind plants?

Rob Pforzheimer
Sutton, VT