Why the Double Standard Olympia, Susan and Habib?
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?
Views: 170
Comment
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Comment by Karen Bessey Pease on March 6, 2010 at 10:48am
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Ooh! I just read it not five minutes ago! Excellent, superb, outstanding. As long as we don't lose faith, don't stop standing up for what's right, and as long as we keep our momentum going in getting the FACTS out to the citizens, we WILL put a stop to this flawed policy.
Yeah... today is going to be a good day, huh? I think I'll write a letter or two!
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Comment by Long Islander on March 6, 2010 at 8:47am
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Karen - thank you for the encouragement - you just re-energized me as did the piece that Monique and Steve wrote in today's Bangor Daily News!
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My take on it? It's that same thing it ALWAYS comes down to: Money.
Money is the reason for the rush to despoil our natural resources--federal subsidies which are waiting for those developers who are first in line to industrialize the mountains.
And money will be the reason offshore wind is moved beyond the viewshed... much of Maine's coastline is owned by the wealthy... or at least the better-off-than-most. And when you have money--you have power, influence...clout. You have the resources to fight fire with fire-- or more aptly, perhaps to fight a gale with a tempest. However you want to look at it, those with financial means are much more likely to see their desires come to fruition, while the average Joe and Jane living in rural Maine has to fight tooth and nail just to be heard.
But! That's okay. It is forums just like these, maintained by people and groups such as this who will make a difference. The regular guy and gal are the backbone of this great country and this phenomenal state, and I truly believe we are gaining ground. We are making strides to take back our rights to have a say in the future of our homeland.
And I believe we're gonna win!
Keep doing what you're doing here... and thank you.
Karen
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Comment by Whetstone_Willy on March 4, 2010 at 2:29pm
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Joanne,
I agree that Baldacci's Next Venture, Inc. has been preying on the those who they considered less able to defend themselves, although by now they realize it's not turning out to be the cake walk he envisioned. Wow, will it be a relief to have this career lightweight out of office.
In any event, I also agree that shoreline residents should not be subjected to these things. But that said, I feel compelled to point out that of our thousands of miles of coastline, all but about 20 miles (I've read) is PRIVATE. And much of that is posted. In other words, Baldacci's Next Venture is looking out for a tiny percentage of people that occupy good wind sites that are 10 times as big as the 350 miles of ridgeline he has vowed to trash.
Finally, I want to point out that other than your small handful of public shoreline spots like Acadia, Popham Beach, Reid State Park, etc. if turbine farms were sited in coastal shallow water, they would for the most part be out of view of public lands. Meanwhile think of all the inland mountaintops that the state has protected over the years that will now survey this ineffective industrial eco-trash.
That would include the crown jewel of Katahdin. What a letdown for an Appalachian Trail thruhiker who has trekked the four month from Georgia. That person has seen wilder vistas from the AT in New Jersey. I wonder what Friends of Baxter Park think. We probably need to see if we can sit down with them so they can hear our plea.
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Ever notice how everyone in this wind cabal mutters the same terms such as "the Saudi Arabia of Wind"? Well Habib Dagher's "Over The Horizon" remark can be seen at the website of Deepwater Wind. http://www.dwwind.com/
For example:
"Clean energy is just over the horizon...we’re able to build wind farms in deep ocean waters many miles offshore, where they are virtually invisible from land. Without visual impact issues..."
Well it appears that it's not just our Senators and composites scientists who acknowledge people don't like to see these things. It's also the wind companies themselves.
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Comment by Joanne Moore on March 4, 2010 at 1:08pm
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Why the double standard? Easy - people with ocean front property are wealthy on the whole and would lawyer up in a heartbeat if their view was ruined. And well they should.
Just goes to show that our state government and the Industrial Wind folks think very little about the rest of us with limited incomes. We aren't able to buy off a senator or two, and don't give millions of dollars to get someone elected. That's all they care about - money coming to them. The rest of us can pound sand as far as they are concerned.
All we have to fight them with is the truth and have you ever seen a government official or the sockpuppets like Angus King speak the truth? It is a language they never learned.
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Thanks for the link Lyle.
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Comment by Lyle on March 4, 2010 at 11:38am
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Yes! You make some valid points. The poor and marginal wind resources on land makes one wonder about the electrical engineers sanity. I read the engineers report for Stetson 1 and it was clear in the first few pages that they were going to find a positive result for siting the turbines on the ridge tops whatever the investigation turned up. Explains the reluctance of First Wind employees and officials to now give a figure for Megawatt production. The large amounts of subsidies available for renewable energies makes this whole thing whether land or sea so very attractive to those with $'s in their eyes. http://bit.ly/cGheb1 We'll never make media consultants LongIslander. Apparently the stimulus has worked. Who knew?
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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