According to the AP, Governor Martin O’Malley announced that the state of Maryland “will sign 20-year purchase agreements with four wind and solar developers, demonstrating Maryland’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by 25 percent by 2020.”

The Governor added, “With the combined resources of strategic public and private partnerships, we will continue to bring more green jobs to our communities, use public resources more efficiently and lead by example for other states.”

Lacking in this grand announcement was, of course:

• the fact that thousands of acres of land and air will be consumed by the inefficient and unreliable wind turbines.
• these turbine installations will become killing fields for migratory birds and golden and bald eagles.
• the name of the fossil fueled power plant that is closing as a result of this action that would actually provide the carbon reduction claimed in the announcement.

Of course, there’s a reason for not naming the fossil fueled plant to be closed – there won’t be one.

But this nonsense is not about reality, is it?  It is about political exposure.  It is about the next opportunity to sit in an air conditioned office some 150 miles from the nearest turbine and explain to other fawning power brokers how he and his astute administration saved the planet.

Well Governor, you may as well have donned your Dutch Boy outfit and painted the roof of your house white.  That activity would have accomplished more to cool the planet than all the spinning eagle beaters you’ve enabled by spending taxpayer money on this crackpot adventure.

You see, you really can’t buy reductions in your carbon foot print from someone else, Governor.  That’s like some medieval indulgence scam.  You actually have to do something.  And, if you’re going to make an attempt, do something productive with a concept that actually works – like further develop your state’s nuclear power capability or turn the light out when you leave the room, for two examples in the extreme.

The following related posts were formatted especially for candle light, in the event you’re sitting in Maryland sometime in the near future waiting on a gust of wind 150 miles away to power up your light bulb.

UPDATE: When challenged that, in this time of severe budget crisis, “the state should not be promoting clean energy if it costs more than coal- or nuclear-generated electricity,” Malcolm Woolf, director of the Maryland Energy Administration, “would not say what price or prices the state has agreed to pay on behalf of taxpayers. Terms of the deals remain confidential until the contracts are signed, he said. Generally speaking, the prices agreed to are slightly higher than electricity costs today, he said, but would not necessarily be so in the years ahead if energy prices resume growing at 2 percent to 4 percent annually once the economy recovers.”

Maybe someone can explain to me why, the State of Maryland should keep negotiations confidential from the people paying for their very existence.  What?  West Virginia does the same?  Well, shiver me timbers, Matey!  – Lack of transparency seems contagious.

“Will industrial wind replace fossil fuel? Just do the math!” … “Maryland to open new Bald Eagle meat processing facility in Garrett County.” … “A Conversation with Jon Boone – Industrial Wind and the Environment” … “The Allegheny Highlands – Where eagles dare!” … “The Windpower Industry’s “top ten” false and misleading claims … Number 6 – Windplants will reduce the mining/burning of fossil fuels and lessen dependence on foreign oil.” … “Just a little reminder – wind won’t replace coal. Sorry, but it’s just a fact!“