The opposition to industrial wind power has been given a bad name by the industry, politicians and an uninformed media.
With this blog, our hope is to establish a dialog with others that believe we don't need to polarize ourselves over the issue but rather to understand what is at stake and come up with viable solutions that will help and not harm our environment. The old Nature vs. Nurture paradigm needs to be replaced with Nature and Nurture and it is our belief that it can.
My background is as an advocate for wildlife, particularly the Birds of Prey. Over 25 years ago I founded a not for profit center devoted to the health and well being of raptors called the Hudson Valley Raptor Center. It is my belief that through these magnificent beings we can learn more about the environment we all share and that with that knowledge of our inborn connection we can, as the Native Americans so wisely suggest, learn to walk lightly on the Earth.
In spite of industry slanted reports on industrial wind power plants having little to no affect on bird mortality, as one who works in the trenches with the injured raptors, I can tell you this is not true. Some suggest that it is worth the sacrifice of our wildlife today for a cleaner environment tomorrow but I do not buy that. To me, the sacrifice must be on a more personal level as in Conservation which is not even being given any plausibility at all but is the key to not only saving energy, lessening our dependence on foreign oil but cleaning up the mess we have made. It makes no sense to me to further harm our already struggling environment, wildlife and wild places in order to save them.
Together we can find solutions that are based on Nature and Nurture not as opposites but as integral parts of this big puzzle we call life.
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Comments: 23
I think it is because they don't actually care a rat's butt about wind power. It is just another issue to bandy about and obfuscate our government's ability to do its job.
I am curious as to what are the obstacles to building this wind farm are outside of the developer is greedy and selfish. As a capitalist, greed and selfishness percieved by outsiders is actually more times than not the dollars and cents that make a project viable.
Sometimes I think people become so accustomed to the government taking tax dollars to fund every program and project , without regard to the efficeint use of the capital expended that when a private developer comes along to do a project and has to live within the means of actual money available and deal with the returns projected and has to live or die by the success of the project because they don't get to fail, say oops and go back to the public coffers for their next boondoggle, that maybe one's perception becomes tainted as to the motivation of a developer and simply become described as selfish and greedy.
What actiosn have Kerry and Kennedy taken to make the project happen? I'm curious, especially since Kennedy is one of these politicos that apparently will get what he wants, so I find it hard to believe that if he got behind this project that it wouldn't be built
"Wind farms don't live up to the hype that they are an environmental saviour and a serious alternate energy source. The effect they can have on their neighbours are so serious it means they should not be allowed to get away with the exaggerated claims, their claims are fraudulent."
Dutch engineer J.A. Halkema explains why wind turbines can never generate electricity in a reliable way.
http://www.countryguardian.net/halkema.htm
As to positioning Jim Gordon as a struggling independent developer who stands to lose... that is a gamble he is willing to take because there is HUGE Public money in subsidy and tax incentives awaiting him should he succeed. Not only that, he has chosen a site owned by the public for which he pay relatively nothing. His project will occupy 24 square miles of the Nantucket Sound,the size of the Island of Manhattan, but he will only pay for the footprint of the pylons! That is like 'renting' a golf course and only paying for the holes.
The huge black-out in Europe this past November has been credited to uncontrollable German wind power.
"Energy Giants Think Wind Power is Just Hot Air"
Copenhagen Post, 1/25/07
"The country's energy companies are not convinced that wind power is the way of the future."
"Management at Denmark's energy companies, DONG Energy and Vattenfall, do not subscribe to the current mindset that wind energy will be especially prominent in the future, national broadcaster DR has reported."
"The companies believe that coal will still be the largest supplier of the nation's energy, despite the trend toward environmentally friendly sources."
"Wind energy can't solve the energy problem in the near future because it's too unstable, said A. Eldrup, CEO of DONG."
I don't see wind power as any more than a supplement to more conventional ways of generating electricity. Individual home would be better off installing their own in a combination of electrical generation devices . If New England co-ordinated a plan to build enough nuke plants to meet our electricity needs for now and in the future we would be better off. We would reduce our oil and coal consumption, reduce our dependency on foreign oil and have enough electricity .
On a one on one basis, I can see wind power. It is when you get up to mega scale projects that often things get lost, including our wildlife and precious natural resources and wildlife habitat. Nantucket Sound not only hosts endangered species but it also is a busy waterway and airway making it hazardous to both wildlife and people.
I love your photos! And, I greatly appreciate your advocacy and dedication to wildlife.
Mitch asked a good question regarding endangered species as there is a huge conflict with the placement of Cape Wind in the center of their ecosystem.
MA Audubon:
"This area of Nantucket Sound is within the eastern U.S. migratory bird flyway and hosts high concentrations of wintering waterfowl, and is in close proximity to nesting, foraging and staging areas for federally endangered roseate terns and threatened piping plovers. Substantial numbers of federally endangered sea turtles and protected marine mammal species frequent the proposed project site. In addition, the proposed site provides habitat for federally regulated finfish and shellfish populations."
"The Piping Plover is listed as threatened under both federal and state Endangered Species Acts. The proposed windfarm is centered in the heart of the Piping Plover population in Massachusetts. Piping Plovers may be at risk of collision with the structures when flying through the project area."
http://www.massaudubon.org/PDF/advocacy/editorial/MEPA_windfarm.pdf
The Department of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, lead federal regulatory reviewing agencies for Cape Wind, issued guidelines for siting wind towers in 2003:
"--Avoid placing turbines in documented locations of any species of wildlife, fish, or plant protected under the ESA.
Wind towers kill thousands of birds, especially if they are sited in flyways and areas of high bird concentration.
When endangered birds die, wind tower shutdowns occur. California courts have established that one endangered Golden Eagle that dies by a wind tower comes with a fine of $500,000. This is an international problem, bird kill, by wind towers.
The wind industry greatly downplays this issue.