Yesterday, each of our U.S. Senators issued a press release about a bill they have introduced called the Deepwater Offshore Wind Incentive Act which would provide a tax incentive of 3.04 cents per kilowatt production tax credit for the first 6,000 Megawatts of Deepwater Offshore Wind Production in the United States.
One of the apparent arguments is that the turbines are out of sight!
Here are some excerpts:
Senator Olympia Snowe: "Deepwater wind, defined as in waters greater than 60 meters, avoids issues related to view shed".
Habib Dagher: “The Senators are to be commended for a far-reaching legislation which will allow entrepreneurs in the US and in Maine to compete with Europe, China, Japan and other countries in developing next-generation, floating over-the-horizon wind farms.
Although Senator Collins did not reference the viewshed thing yesterday, she has most certainly done this in prior press releases, e.g., "Deep, offshore wind production, out-of-sight from land, could provide an affordable source of renewable electricity directly to the country's population centers on each coast.”
What Happened to Shallow Water Wind?
If one looks at the wind resource map of Maine, it immediately is apparent that the shallow waters on the shoreline have mostly “Good” winds, versus the mostly “Poor” or “Marginal” winds inland. Bear in mind that these are the official classifications of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/images/windmaps/me_50m_800.jpg
When we go offshore into deepwater, we move from “Good” to “Excellent”. But we also move into a depth of water where the technology doesn’t exist – and where mother nature’s storms could be a real problem. In wartime, this offshore generation would be more vulnerable to enemy attack.
In any event, the big picture is that in taking on the deepwater wind challenge, all of the technically feasible shoreline “Good” wind resource has been ignored. It hasn’t even been addressed.
But when you see phrases like “viewshed issues”, “out-of-sight from land” and “over the horizon”, it becomes clear why the technically feasible “Good” shoreline shallow water wind is ignored. And the reason can be summed up in one word: SETBACK.
That’s right, in essence our U.S. Senators, Mr. Dagher and others are advocating perhaps a 20 mile setback for our shoreline residents.
I have nothing against these residents and they do not deserve to have their front yards turned upside down with visual pollution, night sky light pollution and unhealthy sound and vibration.
But why are these things OK for inland residents? You’ve worked hard your entire life, paid taxes all the way and secured your little piece of solitude and quietude on a tranquil north woods pond. You chose this place to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. You want to listen to the loons and gaze at the stars. The next day they are building 40 story tall strobe-lit noisy turbines on top of you. And your once pleasant country road is now lined with the turbines’ massive requisite transmission lines. Apparently, if your body of water contained saltwater instead of freshwater, you’d be protected by a de facto 20 mile setback.
So the question is – Why the double standard?
Comment
U.S. Sen Angus King
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 - 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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