Ted Kennedy must be spinning in his Bourbon soaked grave after all those years of stalling it
After nine years of regulatory review, the federal government gave the green light Wednesday to the nation’s first offshore wind farm, a highly contested project off the coast of Cape Cod.
The approval of the 130-turbine farm gives a significant boost to the nascent offshore wind industry in the United States, which has lagged far behind Europe and China in harnessing the strong and steady power of ocean breezes to provide electricity to homes and businesses.
With Gov. Deval Patrick standing beside him, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced at a news conference at the Massachusetts Statehouse that the government had approved a permit for Cape Wind Associates, a private venture, to build the farm.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, whose family compound overlooks Nantucket Sound and who died last year, had opposed the project, saying it was a giveaway to a private developer.
Interesting, Senator Scott Brown is against this, saying it would hinder tourism and boating in the area. I certainly hope that other Republicans do not start opposing this, especially if they oppose it to simply oppose Obama. This is an excellent development, and the perfect place for a wind farm, being a place that will be able to generate approximately “75 percent of the power needs on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket” without the need to clear-cut any land (though, I have seen figures of over 80%).
Humorously, both MyDD and The Political Carnival avoid mentioning the late Ted “Swimmer” Kennedy’s non-stop blocking of the project.
Please tell me that your enthusiasm for this project was sarcasm.
While I personally don’t care if the folks of Martha’s Vineyard have to look at the same things they are trying to foist on the rest of us, the key word is “foist” as in “to force upon or impose fraudulently or unjustifiably.”
Spain is a great example of wind power gone nuts and as time has gone on, the economic effects have been seen to horrific.
Spain is paying 31% more for the power generated from wind turbines than other sources. Each “green job” created cost $800,000 to create and 90% of the jobs are temporary. For every “green” job created, 4.27 jobs were lost elsewhere in the Spanish economy.
(source: http://www.climatechangefraud.com/the-money-trail/6588-the-big-wind-power-cover-up )
Wind power cannot compete without massive subsidies which are paid by the citizens of the country. Spain is at the point where they are actually starting to shut down wind turbines.
We cannot afford to spend billions of dollars or technology that has no return on investment and actually costs the taxpayers more in the long run.
The mantra of “renewable energy sources” (an oxymoron if there ever was one) is that power from wind and solar is “free!”
Clearly it isn’t.
We need to continue to examine and research for alternative energy sources – not prop up Porky Pig projects like this one.
If wind turbines can compete in the market, great. If not……
I believe that one of the nice things about wind power is that the operating costs can be expected to remain the same over the next 20 years and that the capital costs will go down. I don’t think that is the case for oil, gas, or coal fueled plants. Can you see the price of fossil fuels increasing ? I can. I live on the East Coast all that fossil exhaust from the West Coast and Mid America blows over us. Germany doesn’t strike me a foolish, neither does China and both of these countries are putting wind power on line. As for the job loss when I did the numbers that worked out to less than 1%. As far as I am concerned well worth the trade off in benefits of better health for all and a reduction in being addicted to Islamic oil
Greetings:
I live in California. There have been wind turbines operating out here since I arrived in the early ’80s. They turn a nice landscape (or seascape) into an outake from “The War of the Worlds”. They are ugly. They are a blight.
If we need electricity that badly, I be glad to switch to candles.
I believe that one of the nice things about wind power is that the operating costs can be expected to remain the same over the next 20 years and that the capital costs will go down.
What would make you think that? Across the world, countries are replacing wind turbines that have only been in service 10 years or so. Because of the maintenance required, the distance the turbines are located away from cities, etc, the cost of maintenance is actually higher than conventional power plants.
Can you see the price of fossil fuels increasing ?
You seem to forget that the costs of wind power is already higher to begin with. Will fossil fuels cost more? Probably. But the difference right now is that while oil, gas and coal plants are being taxed and regulated into non-existence, they are STILL able to produce power that is cheaper and more reliable than wind turbines. This is, of course, before the subsidies that wind turbines receive.
Germany doesn’t strike me a foolish, neither does China and both of these countries are putting wind power on line.
You mean that Germany and China have never done anything foolish before? That is a revelation. Germany is in the same bind as Spain. The turbines are not producing as much as required and the costs are higher.
By the way, a study by the German power consortium showed that if you covered Germany with wind turbines, you still wouldn’t be producing enough power the country needs right now.
But hey, maybe we can throw more money and taxes at the problem!
As for the job loss when I did the numbers that worked out to less than 1%.
I am not sure what you are talking about with the figure of “1%.” One percent of what? The fact of the matter is that the trade off is that for every 100 so called “green jobs” created by wind turbines, 384 jobs will be lost in the long run.
That is great when it is “the other guy’s job” that you are willing to play with and trade. When it is your job, it is a different animal.
The fact of the matter is that the left and the environmentalists have been playing fast and loose with the figures and so called benefits from wind power. That is not to say that wind power does not have a place in energy production – it does. However, neither solar nor wind power can provide the total energy needs of this country.
“approximately 1 million birds …die in Spain every year because of collisions with wind turbines.”
http://motls.blogspot.com/2010/03/wind-turbines-will-add-up-to-015-c-to.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LuboMotlsReferenceFrame+%28Lubos+Motl%27s+reference+frame%29
& for them what don’t think this a problem…jus’be rememberin’…
Only when the last Tree is gone
& the last River is poisoned
& the last Fish is caught
Will we realize that we cannot eat money.
Cree Indian saying
as for the ‘energy crisis’…how about we TURN OFF all of the useless neon vanity signs in the US…ALL of them….then we can eliminate all the useless gadgets that run on electricity…maybe throw the bigboys to the back of the greed bus & really push LEDs
http://www.superbrightleds.com/ (yeah,yeah,yeah…i know…they’re pricey right now….do the math…you are investing in a viable future source of gorgeous lighting, MERCURY FREE…kinda that important thing…& spectacularly energy efficient & last for DECADES!!!
(buy american made, the ones from china sk!!)
& finally, the biggest user of power is……..
tah daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah……
google!!
signed:
trapped between moonbats & wingnuts