Pirate's Cove

I wish that more communities and States would look at the possibility

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — Two hundred towering windmills, each so tall that its blades would loom over the U.S. Capitol Dome, could be built in the Atlantic Ocean near one of Washingtonians’ favorite beach retreats, under a plan being considered in Delaware.

The plan, which could create the first wind "farm" in waters along the East Coast, envisions a thicket of turbines offshore of either Rehoboth Beach or Bethany Beach, Del. As the blades are spun by ocean winds, designers say, the wind farm could provide enough power every year for 130,000 homes.

The wind farm is one competitor in an unusual kind of power-plant bake-off: Delaware officials are also considering plants that would burn coal or natural gas as they seek ways to generate more electricity. A preliminary decision could be made tomorrow.

Wind farms will provide a cheap, easy method for producing energy, with little environmental impact. Some, as the article points out, say "well, the wind doesn’t blow all the time." No, it doesn’t, but there is a pretty good chance of it blowing to some degree out on the ocean. It can be helped out with supplemental power from other stations, which would still reduce the need for coal, oil, and/or nuclear plants.

So far, the debate over the windmills has turned on global questions about climate change and very local concerns about the impact on the ocean view. But from the beach, the wind farm’s backers say, the giant turbines would look smaller than a boardwalk french fry.

Peter Mandelstam, Bluewater Wind’s president, also stressed that the wind farm would not contribute to climate change, which is blamed for rising sea levels in Delaware and elsewhere. At times, the appeal was less than subtle.

"A third of Delaware will be underwater by 2100," Mandelstam said, citing University of Delaware research. "And we take that very seriously."

Yawn. Linking a viable alternative power source with global warming as caused by Man hysteria. If the threat is so bad, then why is Ted Kennedy blocking the Cape Wind Project? Why is the Goracle not jumping on the bandwagon? Why is the Democrat congress, who believes in, or at least mouths platitudes about, global warming as caused by Man offering legislation to get these wind farms built?

Still, despite the mention of global warming (hysteria), wind farms are great ideas. Clean power, low maintenance, and, in my opinion, not eyesores. Now, if only someone could come up with a good, low cost system for private homes, which could provide supplemental power.