Recipe for disaster: a Bald Eagle, wind turbines and an incredibly incurious press.

Posted on May 11, 2011 by morgan

Whenever I’m away for a bit, I often find it difficult choosing a topic to help me get back into the swing of things.  This time however, thanks to the sharp eye and superb photography of Ms. Jamie Riggleman, the choice was obvious.

Regular readers know I try to focus on items which are ignored by our local papers.  And, while the Mineral County (WV) News Tribune did carry one of Ms. Riggleman’s photos in a May 3 article, “‘That’s my fish!’ T-ball players get surprise during game,” it seemed to me a larger point was missed by the paper – the impact the planned Pinnacle Wind farm will have on Bald Eagles.

First, let’s have a peek at Ms. Riggleman’s excellent photographs, which were taken a week or so ago at Keyser’s (West Virginia) South End sports complex, some 2.3 miles from the Pinnacle wind project.  I included three simulated views of the turbines which the Bald Eagle might see from the sports complex, if looking toward the Allegheny Front which they are known to soar above.  More detail about these simulation photos below:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The three visual stimulation “photos” which I added to Ms. Riggleman’s slides above and detailed below, are offered for public view by the Pinnacle project developer, US WindForce.

This view superimposes turbines on a photograph taken from the area where Ms. Riggleman’s Bald Eagle was … well … fishing:

Pinnacle Photosimulations

This simulation utilizes Google Earth for the visual from the same position:

Pinnacle Photosimulation

Now, for any of you folks from the local area wondering how it is that the size of the “simulated” Pinnacle turbines from 2.5 miles away appear to be similar in size to those in actual view from the Mt. Storm project when seen some 12 miles away from Keyser … well, we wonder the same thing.  Remember that these turbines will be some 450 ft. tall.  We have a feeling that the simulated photos just don’t do justice to the proportion of items in the distance.  Case in point, the real McDonald’s sign looks a lot larger than the photo arches when you’re actually at the sports complex.  Plus, the Pinnacle tower, which is visible from this location even though it is much smaller than the turbines, cannot be seen.

Anyway, in order to show you a better “view” of the proposed turbines against a slightly darker sky, we slid over to the simulation offered near Bogg’s Supply, just down the road from Ms. Riggleman’s Bald Eagle sighting and a similar 2.5 miles away from the turbines.  Here’s that “view” utilizing Google Earth.

Pinnacle Photosimulation

So, why do I have my shorts all in a knot, anyway?

Well, it bothers me that the developer seems to have no interest in the fact that Bald Eagles are in close proximity to the turbines.  The WV Department of Natural Resources and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have both expressed concerns about the Pinnacle project’s impact on wildlife, however US WindForce appears to have no interest in their concerns.  Reportedly, during the January 2011 Community Advisory Meeting, David Friend was asked if Edison Mission or US Wind Force, LLC will secure an Incidental Take Permit for the Pinnacle Project. Word has it that Mr. Friend’s response was NO, because, presumably, he doesn’t think an incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act is required or necessary.

This is, in my humble opinion, a risky and, quite frankly, cavalier position for the developer to take in this matter, since a representative of the USFWS told a gathering recently that “even though our guidelines are currently voluntary, and even if the final guidelines become voluntary too, there’s still this whole issue that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act aren’t wishy-washy – those are laws,” and that, “If take occurs and you do not have a permit for take, including disturbance, you’re in criminal liability and potential criminal culpability.”

If I was sitting in the home office of Edison Mission I’d be asking a question or two of Mr. Friend.  After all, it is Edison’s money and reputation on the line.  Of course, that assumes Edison Mission actually cares.

But don’t you really wonder why the folks at the News Tribune, when publishing the Bald Eagle photo story, didn’t pick up on the fact that wind turbines, which are known threats to Eagles, are so close to the flight path of this beautiful bird?  It doesn’t seem to me a Pulitzer is required to connect the dots between this Bald Eagle and the meat grinder just 2.3 miles away!  Is the local press really that incredibly incurious, or is this simply another yard of fabric stitched to the long red carpet which has been laid before the wind developer from the beginning?

I don’t know … but I do know this.  If you happen to be the unlucky soul who finds and keeps a feather from Ms. Riggleman’s Bald Eagle after it meets the blade of this under-performing, heavily subsidized row of ridge topping propellers, you’ll be fined or perhaps even end up in the clink.

You see, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 668-668c), enacted in 1940, and amended several times since then, prohibits anyone, without a permit issued by the Secretary of the Interior, from “taking” bald eagles, including their parts, nests, or eggs. The Act provides criminal penalties for persons who “take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, at any time or any manner, any bald eagle … [or any golden eagle], alive or dead, or any part, nest, or egg thereof.” The Act defines “take” as “pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb.”

For purposes of these guidelines, “disturb” means: “to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available, 1) injury to an eagle, 2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or 3) nest abandonment, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior.”

In addition to immediate impacts, this definition also covers impacts that result from human-induced alterations initiated around a previously used nest site during a time when eagles are not present, if, upon the eagle’s return, such alterations agitate or bother an eagle to a degree that interferes with or interrupts normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering habits, and causes injury, death or nest abandonment.

Now, maybe it’s just me, but I have to believe that carving out acres of ridgeline and placing 23-747 size propellers in the flight path of these birds is a little more serious than sticking a feather in your pocket.

And what happens if the act is violated?  A violation of the Act can result in a fine of $100,000 ($200,000 for organizations), imprisonment for one year, or both, for a first offense. Penalties increase substantially for additional offenses, and a second violation of this Act is a felony.

(A copy of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act is available at: http://permits.fws.gov/ltr/ltr.shtml.)

Bottom line:  “Anyone who possesses an eagle feather, and doesn’t meet the requirements, could face fines up to $100,000 and a year in prison. A second offense is upgraded from a misdemeanor to a felony, and carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The act also provides for a civil penalty of up to $5,000.”

AND THAT’S JUST FOR KEEPING A FEATHER FOLKS!

Now you might see why I feel Ms. Riggleman’s photo’s are so extremely important.  I just wish our local news folks saw more in her photos than an opportunity for a catchy little article and actually asked the hard questions of US WindForce.

Well, one could always hope!

AT Note:  We thank Ms. Riggleman for her generosity in sharing the beautiful photographs she took of this noble bird.

Posted in Allegheny Mountains, Bat/Bird Kills, Eagles, Endangered Species Act, Pinnacle Wind Farm, US Fish &Wildlife, US WindForce | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Eagle – Schmeagle! … “by the time problems are unveiled in post-construction monitoring, they’ve sold the facility.”

Posted on April 22, 2011 by morgan

Thanks to Rick Webb of VA Wind for pointing us to a posting at North American Windpower:  “FWS Official To Wind Developers: Our Door Is Always Open”

The title of the article might be a bit misleading if you read into it “rubber stamp,” since the gentleman quoted, Al Manville, the FWS’ senior wildlife biologist with the migratory bird division, is simply suggesting that developers “come to us at the get-go, before a site has been selected [and] before a landowner agreement has been signed” because “unfortunately, right now in many cases, we find out about the development of a project through a news release or something on the evening news when we have not been consulted whatsoever, and that’s frustrating.”  (This seems particularly important to us in the case of projects in sensitive areas, especially those which are inhabited by, or harboring migrating endangered species.)

Mr. Manville further notes that often, particularly when dealing with wind business “start-up” developers, “by the time problems are unveiled in post-construction monitoring, they’ve sold the facility.”

Of course, with wildlife standing in the way of profits, many in the wind business do not support the USFWS recommendations Mr. Manville discussed, with the American Wind Energy Association taking the lead to criticize the USFWS offering.  The AWEA seems quite happy with the Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee recommendations made last year, presumably because many favorable to the wind business participated in creating the WTGAC guidelines.

Mr. Manville suggests that the USFWS will utilize the WTGAC guidelines as a “baseline” but have no obligation under their charter to follow them.  Mr. Manville finds the AWEA “line in the sand” mentality “unconstructive” and recommends they come to the table to discuss how to remedy the differences.  But, I suggest it might be a gap too wide to bridge, especially when one group is driven by money and the other driven to protect the environment.  For example, in this situation, as the article states, the AWEA is concerned site assessments called for by the USFWS will create “unforeseen costs to wind farms’ operating budgets,” while Manville says such assessments are “crucial” to understand industrial wind’s impact on bats and birds.  (Of course, it would come as no surprise to me if the Administration stepped in to pressure the USFWS to back off.  After all, the election is coming and, realistically, how much can a bat or eagle donate to a campaign fund?)

A key phrase I pulled from the article, in light of the ongoing construction on the Allegheny Front in Mineral County WV and nearby Western Maryland, is this statement from Mr. Manville:  “Even though our guidelines are currently voluntary, and even if the final guidelines become voluntary too, there’s still this whole issue that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act aren’t wishy-washy – those are laws,” Manville says. “If take occurs and you do not have a permit for take, including disturbance, you’re in criminal liability and potential criminal culpability.”

I find this caution particularly relevant to the folks at US WindForce, developer of the Pinnacle project in Mineral County WV, since it appears they have all but ignored earlier recommendations of the USFWS (1) and the WVDNR (2) and, apparently, have no interest in securing an incidental take permit (3) as required by the Endangered Species Act.  This seems risky business were they to “take” one of the endangered species which inhabits or migrates through the Allegheny Front since, according to Mr. Manville; they would not be left “off the hook if bird takes are discovered.”  This, of course, is not news to the Allegheny Front Alliance, which has raised this issue specific to the Pinnacle project on many occasions.  They were also ignored.

On the other side of the ridge, in Garrett County Maryland, our friends at Save Western Maryland have been pushing the increasingly-reluctant Constellation Energy to secure an incidental take permit as well.  They’ve even filed suit to insist that what the developer comply with the Endangered Species Act which, early on in the project development phase, Constellation voluntarily committed to do.  Of course, that promise was made before Constellation actually built the massive turbines, ironically … at Eagle Rock!

Notes:

(1) – The USFWS letter re: Pinnacle “identified several species and groups that may be impacted by the construction and operation of the Pinnacle wind power facility in a letter to Ms. Becky Braeutigam dated April 13, 2007. The letter noted that the Federally-listed endangered Indiana bat, the bald eagle, migratory birds (including bald and golden eagles), and unlisted migratory bats may be affected either directly or indirectly by activities associated with the construction and operation of the facility, including: behavioral effects, habitat removal and fragmentation, increased human activity, maintenance of rights-of-way and roads, and collisions with turbine blades, among others.”

The USFWS letter included “comments and recommendations pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA) (16 U.S.C. 668 et seq.), and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) (16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.).”

(2) – The WV DNR letter notes that “In addition to the general bird and bat issues associated with wind facilities in West Virginia, there are other species of concern at the Pinnacle site. Species of concern to the WVDNR are the Allegheny woodrat, timber rattlesnake, bald eagle, golden eagle and spotted skunk. All these species are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the State’s Wildlife Action Plan and all but the spotted skunk are Northeast Regional Species of Concern.” Further, “Data from raptor migration monitoring and golden eagle radio telemetry studies suggest the Pinnacle project is located along a significant migration corridor for eagles. Golden eagles may also frequent the site in winter as there are records from nearby NewCreek Mountain.”

(3) – “Incidental take permits are required when non-Federal activities will result in take of threatened or endangered species. A habitat conservation plan or “HCP” must accompany an application for an incidental take permit. The habitat conservation plan associated with the permit ensures that the effects of the authorized incidental take are adequately minimized and mitigated.”

Posted in Allegheny Mountains, Bat/Bird Kills, Eagles, Endangered Species Act, Friends and Citizens Groups, incidental take permit, Mineral County WV, Pinnacle Wind Farm, Save Western Maryland, US Fish &Wildlife, US WindForce, Virginia Wind | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

General Electric: Tax Avoiding Profiteer

Posted on April 21, 2011 by morgan

I earlier decided not to post Timothy Carney’s earlier article at the Washington Examiner.  Mr. Carney did an excellent job laying out the tax code “boondoggle” which allows the green energy vagrants to feed at the door of hard working taxpayers in the form of subsidies and the Washington Examiner certainly doesn’t need referrals from this little blog.  Plus, there was little I could add, except outrage that this administration and many of our political leaders continue to ignore the financial difficulties faced by us small folks in order to line the pockets of the leeches in the horribly under-performing renewable energy business, so I let the opportunity to post the article pass.

But then this morning, on the heels of learning that General Electric, home of President Obama’s best buddy Jeffery Immelt, avoided paying billions in taxes comes this:  GE’s Profit Jumps 77%.

Focusing on industrial wind, it is not necessary that this blog take a political position.  Industrial wind has its supporters and detractors in both political parties.  But I find it beyond disgraceful that Jeffrey Immelt is allowed to sit at the right hand of the cash-cow in chief, guiding policy decisions that benefit Mr. Immelt personally, and his company.  Sure, it’s all legal … but it sure is slimy!  And it’s not what this President promised when he asked for my vote.

As a result, I am encouraging readers to review Mr. Carney’s article, “Boondoggle in tax code: Subsidies for green energy.”  Take note of the web of political hacks and high-rollers lining up to take your money and if his article isn’t enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, you’re reading the wrong blog.

It’s tempting to slice a few tid-bits out of Mr. Carney’s article to tease, but regular readers should find this item enough of a nudge to stir an interest in what he has to say:

“Take the Meadow Lake Wind Farm in Indiana, which received the single largest 1603 grant, $276 million. Meadow Lake is owned and operated by Horizon Wind Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of EDP Renovaveis, a Portuguese company. Choma reported that the turbines at Meadow Lake are manufactured by Vestas, and thus “likely made in Denmark, where Vestas is from.” The turbines sit atop 350-foot towers imported from Vietnam.  So U.S. taxpayers cut a $276 million check to a Portuguese company in order to create jobs in Denmark and Vietnam.”

If you happen to notice that Horizon Wind Energy is mentioned as the owner of Meadow Lake, you might recall that we’ve highlighted their greed in recent posts. (here and here)

So folks … how long are you willing to permit this thievery to continue?  If you’re fed up, contact your Congressional Representative or Senator and let them know.  You might even let President Obama know what you think.

But then, maybe the ever faster “tick-tock” sound doesn’t really bother you:  US National Debt Clock

Posted in Politicians and Wind Energy, Renewable energy debate, Renewable Energy Scam | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Recorder’s Anne Adams receives award for “Editorial Leadership.”

Posted on April 13, 2011 by morgan

According to an article at Newsleader.com:  Anne Adams, editor and publisher of The Recorder in Bath and Highland Counties, has been named the winner of the Virginia Press Association’s 24th annual D. Lathan Mims Award for Editorial Leadership in the Community.

In announcing the award, judge Jane See White said of Adams, “Anne Adams has guts. She knows Bath and Highland counties, she understands the challenges the community faces and as the editorial voice of The Recorder, she doesn’t hesitate to lay it all out for her readers.”

As regular readers of Ms. Adams’ work, we couldn’t agree more.

Congratulations, Ms. Adams!

Please read the full article here:  Adams wins VPA editorial leadership award

(h/t to R. Webb)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Breaking: American Wind Energy Association opposes industrial wind.

Posted on April 12, 2011 by morgan

I know … I could hardly believe it myself when I stumbled onto it, but the evidence was right there in black and white.  Imagine my surprise when I found that Dr. Wayne Spiggle and the American Wind Energy Association shared skepticism for the wind business.  You could have knocked me over with a turbine blade.

And it came courtesy of wind industry spokesman Frank Maisano.  Yep, right in the middle of his personal attack on Dr Spiggle, Mr. Maisano led his statement that “grid operators are happy to take as much wind as possible” as a “good sign that Spiggle is off the mark” with this little ditty: “no one — except the tried and true opponents — has ever claimed that wind would supplant coal or nuclear … !”

Let me repeat, “no one — except the tried and true opponents — has ever claimed that wind would supplant coal or nuclear.”  Darn, I thought … this is important stuff!  Frank Maisano is not only a wind industry spokesman but “a skilled media specialist with a track record of success.”  He even uses words like supplant!  I would probably have said replace or, maybe displace.

Anyway, as luck would have it, I was educating myself over at the AWEA web site and, sure enough, there it was:  “Since substantial amounts of coal and natural gas fuels would be displaced, the 20% Win scenario could reduce CO2 emissions …”  Needless to say, I thought this was a fluke.  But then I checked further at the AWEA site and, sure enough: “Coal – which wind directly replaces.”  WOW!

Imagine my surprise when even the National Renewable Energy Lab made Mr. Maisano’s “opposition list” with this statement: “conclusions are that reductions in spending on fossil fuels that will come from replacing coal-fired electricity with wind generated power.”

Just to be sure I didn’t misunderstand Mr. Maisano I checked out Merriam Webster and, sure enough: Supplant synonyms:  cutout, displace, displant, relieve, substitute, supersede, replace

Case closed!

I can’t say for sure that Dr. Spiggle will be thrilled with his new found compatriots, but he’s a very amiable fellow and will probably reach out to them to find other common ground.

And, oh yeah … our thanks to Frank Maisano for putting these folks together.

Am I making fun?  Yes, but to prove a point that engaging in a verbal dance to attack someone does not further the education of the taxpayers and consumers who ultimately have to pay for the industrial wind adventure.  It is far more productive to discuss facts.  People who challenge your intentions deserve no less respect than your allies.

We have invited Mr. Maisano to put away the narrative and participate in a discussion of facts.  We’ll wait to see if it materializes, although I don’t hold out much hope.  And that is unfortunate, because the reason Dr. Spiggle and his “merry handful” continue to ask questions is simply because they have not been adequately addressed.

Posted in Wind Energy Shenanigans, Wind v Coal | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s all about making money, not about renewable energy

Posted on April 10, 2011 by morgan

The following letter to the editor appeared in the Cumberland (MD) Times-News on April 10, 2011:

To the Editor,

If doubt remains that the industrial wind business is gasping for air, you only need read Frank Maisano’s recent attack on Dr. Wayne Spiggle (“Wind turbine opponents keep ignoring the favorable reports,” April 4 Times-News).

If, as Mr. Maisano says, only a “merry handful” of wind doubters repeating “completely irrelevant claims regarding wind power projects” remain, why not simply ignore them?  It seems odd that someone of Mr. Maisano’s stature would even bother to engage these minor irritants?

Mr. Maisano felt compelled to call out Dr. Spiggle’s prior position several times in his letter, yet left it to the Editor’s tiny note to explain that “Frank Maisano, Gambrills, MD” actually serves the wind industry.  You must wonder why, with a biography portraying him as a “skilled media specialist with a track record of success,” he would mount this childish attack?

It’s simple!  By creating an argument from thin air, Mr. Maisano creates another opportunity to buttress the wind industry’s factually weak case.  Having already received approval to place turbines along the Allegheny Front, what else could explain this “sore winner” display?

One thing is certain; this self-induced dust-up is not about Dr. Spiggle and his “merry handful!”  This is about Mr. Maisano trying to protect the folks who pay his bills.  I imagine he was equally diligent protecting the oil and coal industry he represented prior to becoming the wind guru.

This is about his fear that the mounting pressure on an increasingly thrifty Congress to reassess funding for this dismal product will lead to a loss of hand-outs.  This is about fear that an informed public will begin to understand that they have been duped.  This is simply about subsidies and tax deferments and grants and money, money, money.  This point is best made by Gabriel Alonso, chief executive of Horizon Wind energy, one of America’s “biggest wind-farm developers” who told his employees that their goal isn’t to stage a renewable-energy revolution, “This is all about making money!”  (Wall Street Journal – April 5, 2011)

The real problem for Mr. Maisano is that the curtain is being pushed aside and the Wizard is being exposed for what it is – industrial wind fails on all fronts.  And, as demonstrated by the attack on Dr. Spiggle, industrial wind can only be defended in the narrative as facts are sorely lacking to back the industry’s claims.

This could all be put to rest if Mr. Maisano is willing to engage.  I’m quite certain the “merry handful” would be more than willing to meet with Mr. Maisano and representatives of his “unhappy throngs” to publicly debate the facts.

The Cumberland Times-News would perform a valuable public service if it were to facilitate such a discussion.  I have to believe Mr. Maisano would relish the opportunity to put to rest, once and for all, the “completely irrelevant claims regarding wind power projects in the region.”

Michael Morgan

Keyser, WV 26726

Posted in Allegheny Mountains, Alternative Energy, Concerned citizen letters, industrial wind failure, Wind Energy Shenanigans | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Trouble in Paradise: “wind farms are investment schemes, not reliable energy production plants!”

Posted on April 10, 2011 by morgan

That’s the opinion of Panos Prevedouros, PhD, as expressed in his commentary posted at the Hawaii Reporter, “Wind Energy for Hawaii: Great for Profits, Not so Great for Power.”

Dr. Prevedouros writes that “among all major resources for the production of energy, wind is among the least predictable and dependable” yet “the potential for windfall profits from wind mills is huge in Hawaii.”

This is just another confirmation of what Gabriel Alonso, chief executive of Horizon Wind energy, one of America’s “biggest wind-farm developers” told his employees … that their goal isn’t to stage a renewable-energy revolution, “This is all about making money!”  (Wall Street Journal – April 5, 2011)

And yet, the wind lobby wonders why skepticism of the wind business is growing.

Posted in industrial wind cost, industrial wind poor performance | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The tale of “The Much Maligned Tomato”

Posted on April 9, 2011 by morgan

We are happy to publish the following commentary, which was submitted by a reader:

Once upon a time, a long, long, time ago, there was a mystical island known as “Merry Old England.”  It was called that because all of the people who lived on that island were truly Merry.  After all, why else would they have called it “Merry” if they really weren’t?  Perhaps the biggest reason that the people were so merry is because so many of them grew a very special and highly prized plant called a Tomato.  The fruit it produced was very pretty and red.  In fact, it was so pretty that it actually looked very tasty, and the merry people thought, “why don’t we try eating some of them?”  However, one person would always raise a very stern warning.  His name was Frank, and he was a sleazy, slick marketing expert who recently moved to the island from a far away land.  Whenever someone would suggest trying to eat a ripe tomato, Frank would tell the people of Merry Old England, “You can’t eat tomatoes.  They are very poisonous and will kill you instantly.  Think about it, carefully.  If we all ate the tomatoes and died, there would be no one left to be merry.  And without merry people, there would be no one left to create global warming.”  What the Merry people of England didn’t realize is that Frank actually knew nothing about tomatoes.  He was heavily invested in Industrial Wind Energy, which he wanted to develop in Merry Old England.  He needed merry and unsuspecting people to believe in global warming so he could sell his Industrial Wind Turbines.  He was very afraid that the merry unsuspecting people would die from eating tomatoes and he didn’t want to lose his very lucrative tax subsidies that he used to finance his Industrial Wind Energy projects.  He didn’t care how much they cost the public or whether or not they generated useful or reliable energy.  He just wanted to build them while the tax subsidies were available.  He was a very evil man.  In fact, he was the only person living in Merry Old England who was not truly happy.  That is because he so feared that the merry people would learn the truth about his tax subsidies and how ineffective his wind turbines truly were that he might eventually lose his highly paid sleazy, slick marketing job.  He was very careful to make sure no one knew about his fear.

Also living in Merry Old England was a very highly respected country doctor named, Wayne.  I think he became a well respected doctor because he knows something about what made people live and die.  Dr. Wayne was very merry because he loved to grow the prized tomato.  In fact, he liked the tomato so much that he decided to do a detailed study of them to see if what Frank was saying was true.  For some reason, he forgot that he was supposed to be unsuspecting like all the other merry people of Merry Old England and just believe what he was told.  Well, Dr. Wayne researched information on the Internet about tomatoes.  He found many web sites sponsored by Frank’s lobbying agency, the Merry Old England Wind Energy Administration that said the tomato was very poisonous and that no one who truly believes in Industrial Wind Energy should eat it.  If they did, they would be killed instantly and there would be no one left to lobby for wind energy tax subsidies.  However, Dr. Wayne also found a lot of web sites that said the tomato was good to eat and would not kill you.  These web sites were sponsored by the Merry Old England Food and Drug Administration.  Isn’t it funny how a happy country like Merry Old England can have two public agencies that give conflicting messages?   Dr. Wayne thought it was funny, too.  However, he thought it was bad for the taxpayers of Merry Old England to be paying for two government entities to give the people conflicting information about something so important as the highly prized tomato.  He felt it was important to invent something new for the government.  He decided to call this new thing “the Truth.”  That made Dr. Wayne the very first truthteller in all of Merry Old England.

You see, this became a very important issue for Dr. Wayne because he was not just a highly respected doctor.  He was so well known and liked by the people of Merry Old England that they elected him to serve in Parliament, the governing body of Merry Old England.  In fact, he was one of only three people to serve in Parliament.  That’s not because Parliament was limited to only three people.  Many years ago, there were far more than 50 people serving in Parliament.  However, a very deadly desease called the Black Death appeared one day in Merry Old England and struck down all but three of the people serving in Parliament.  Ironically, the day that the Black Death came to Merry Old England was the same day that Frank moved there.  Only Dr. Wayne recognized this sad coincidence, which is what made him initially suspicious of Frank.  Dr. Wayne felt it was time to invent “the Truth” so the the people of Merry Old England could understand Frank and his message for what they truly were, a deadly plague on society.

Dr. Wayne decided that he could never invent “the Truth” using information available on the Internet.  That was because the web sites that provided the public with information about the tomato were controlled by the government, which had helped invent “the Lie.”   Dr. Wayne felt it was these government sponsored lies that helped Frank malign the highly prized tomato.  So, Dr. Wayne conducted some surgery on one of his tomatoes.  He carefully analyzed the genetic composition of the tomato and carefully catalogued all of its juices.  Over time, he learned that the much maligned, but highly prized tomato was actually safe to eat after all.  In fact, it was also very nutritious and might possess qualities that could have saved many people from the deadly Black Death.  Unfortunately, so many unsuspecting merry people believed all of Frank’s dire warnings about the tomato that no one thought to carefully study the tomato and discover that it really did just the opposite of everything Frank had said.  In this moment of true scientific discovery, Dr. Wayne proclaimed, “I have learned the truth about our much maligned, but highly prized tomato.”  He was so excited that he rushed to Parliament to tell his colleagues and the public.

However, what Dr. Wayne soon learned is that it is very hard to tell the merry people of Merry Old England the truth after having lived so long under all of Frank’s government supported lies.  These lies had been perpetuated so long, that the merry people of Merry Old England had come to believe that they needed industrial wind energy to save them from the global warming they created that they just couldn’t easily accept this new truth.  After such a long time believing Frank’s lies, they were sure that the tomato was deadly and that this belief was fundamental to their merriment.  If they stopped believing it now, could they really still be merry?  This was a problem and it made some people mistrust the highly respected Dr. Wayne.  He was forced to continually justify his findings about the tomato.  Frank made this effort difficult by continuing to perpetuate his lies about the tomato, in order to protect his job and his lucrative tax subsidies.

It took Dr. Wayne a long time to convince a small band of merry people to understand and accept his determined research on the tomato.  Unfortunately, he was unable to convince enough people to get re-elected to Parliament.  Frank had convinced the two other members of Parliament to believe his lies and vote against Dr. Wayne on every Industrial Wind Energy project that came before them.  The majority of Merry people in Merry Old England had become so fond of their blissful beliefs in wind energy that they couldn’t even accept the truth.  Frank had proven himself to be the best and most expert sleazy, slick marketing expert that ever lived.  He profited greatly from his lies and tax subsidies and lived happily ever after.

However, long after Dr. Wayne was voted out of Parliament, the taxpayers of Merry Old England found themselves becoming poorer and poorer over time as they bore the cost of ever increasing wind energy tax subsidies and rising electrical rates.  As Frank built more and more Industrial Wind Energy projects, the people became poorer and poorer.  In fact, this coincidence was ironically similar to the Black Death that had also arrived in Merry Old England at the same time Frank did.  Over time, people gradually began to realize and accept that they weren’t coincidences after all.  In fact, enough reality had set in that the merry people of Merry Old England began to understand the truth about Frank that they just couldn’t accept when Dr. Wayne had tried to prove it to them.  Unfortunately, that realization had come too late and the people had to accept the inconvenient truth that they were so poor that they just couldn’t be merry any more.  Now the history books reveal and tell the truth.  Frank became wealthy and happy on the backs of the hardworking taxpayer by spreading unsubstantiated lies about the tomato.  Dr. Wayne had bravely stood up against this powerful, sleazy, and slick marketing expert to tell the truth, despite the personal consequences to him and his reputation.  However, the people had foolishly and blindly accepted Frank’s lies because they thought they needed wind energy, and the tomato was too big a threat to its expansion to accept the health benefits it offered.  Now the once beautiful mountain landscape in Merry Old England is littered with industrial wind turbines, which produce very expensive but unreliable and virtually useless electricity.  If they had only listened to Dr. Wayne and his little merry band of truthtellers, the people of Merry Old England would still be merry, wealthy, and healthy.  Now they are only unhappy, poor, and sad.

THE MORAL OF THIS FAIRY TALE – Telling the truth is not always easy or convenient, especially when, to do so, you must face a sleazy, well funded, slick marketing expert who perpetuates a big bag of politically sponsored lies from which he profits greatly.  What many people fail to understand until it’s too late is that the truth is not founded in popular beliefs, it is founded in facts and scientific reason.  Hopefully, in the long run, history will remember the thruthteller and his little merry band of followers when people finally come to understand the inconvenient truth that they have been duped by sleazy, slick marketing experts.  I’m sorry I can’t make the consequences of such mistakes a happier ending for the story.  This is why life is not a fairy tale and why we should not be so eager to believe in fairies.  I would much rather be a part of Dr. Wayne’s little merry band of followers than one of Frank’s sorry band of thieves.  When will we learn to critically understand the truth about tomatoes…and Industrial Wind Energy?

THE END.

This is my contribution to the debate on what to say in response to Frank Maisano’s personal attack on Dr. Wayne Spiggle.

Posted in Concerned citizen letters, Wind Energy Shenanigans | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

To borrow from the late, great Edwin Starr: “Wind, huh, yeah, What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Uh-huh!”

Posted on April 8, 2011 by morgan

At least that’s what a growing number of citizen’s feel about industrial wind’s ability to serve as a viable energy source.  And now that wind industry spokesman Frank Maisano has confirmed that “no one — except the tried and true opponents — has ever claimed that wind would supplant coal or nuclear,” we’ll spend the next few posts trying to figure out exact what placing hundreds of thousands of poor performing turbines across our landscape will accomplish, other than increasing the bank accounts of Mr. Maisano and his associates, of course.  We hope you’ll join the discussion.

So, if wind won’t supplant coal, what value will it add to our energy supply, our environment or, well … anything?  After the next few posts, we hope to have you asking the same question.

To set the tone for our inquiry, you might appreciate Jon Boone’s analogy of wind/electricity and gliders/air transport, which he calls “a comparison unflattering to gliders, for at least they have some controllable capacity beyond not taking to the air at all (equivalent to wind curtailment).”  Mr. Boone suggests that, “Since wind is wholly dysfunctional in contributing to the entwined goals of reliability, security, and affordability in the production of electricity, why not consider posing this question: Do gliders belong in our current fleet of commercial passenger/freight air transport–particularly gliders that each cost as much or more to make than the most expensive version of a 747? If not, why not?”

As Mr. Boone states, “the analogy should be obvious to wind, which actually has less effective capacity than a glider–for it can’t be dispatched and directed, yet its capital costs are, per unit of production, on a par with nuclear technology.”

Mr. Boone is exactly right.  And the suggestion by folks in the wind business that the power industry modify itself at great expense to accommodate the occasional puff of wind is beyond silly, especially when the result is effectively the production equivalent of towing a single seat glider behind a 747 and bragging about additional passenger capacity.

Since Mr. Maisano and the folks at the American Wind Energy Association prefer to draw their promotional narrative from the Department of Energy, I’ll head over there to provide you with some things to think about.

For example,  Mr. Maisano says the PJM grid operators are drooling in anticipation of wind energy and they welcome “as much wind as possible into its power pool as a way of improving the emissions profile for the entire grid’s generation resources.”  I suggested in my earlier post that perhaps it would be helpful if Mr. Maisano set up a conference call between PJM and Bonneville Power (BPA) to help them out.  It seems the Bonneville folks are dumping wind and their customers, and ultimately taxpayers, will pay dearly.

Heck, once Mr. Maisano fixes Bonneville he could head north.  JR Wakefield, editor of the excellent Ontario Wind Performance blog tells this horror story “The data is clear, the $800 million paid for wind power by Ontario consumers all went to the US. It was either given away in the form of Zero Cost Power, Low Cost Power, or we paid US customers to take it off our hands when the surplus was too great. Yes, there are times when there is so much surplus power that we actually pay US customers to take the power!

Even the last half of Mr. Maisano’s statement which claims that PJM will utilize wind “as a way of improving the emissions profile” doesn’t seem to play out at Bonneville.  BPA spokesperson Deb Malin, when asked if wind power was reducing carbon emissions, answered, “No. They are, in fact, creating emissions.”

So, operators are dumping wind and Bonneville Power is stating that its use of wind is actually increasing emissions and yet PJM is begging for more.  Seems to me there’s a serious disconnect.  Wouldn’t have anything to do with “green” credits, grants and subsidies, would it?

Here’s what the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency (EIA) had to say on the topic in their March 25, 2011 Today in Energy piece.

EIA commentary begins:

Wind speed and wind generation, as compared to total electric power demand

Electric power system operators face a challenge as they seek to integrate rising quantities of intermittent generation from wind plants into the system mix. Operators must continuously match electricity generation to electricity demand, a process that becomes more difficult with additional intermittency.

Today in Energy on March 22, 2011 described intermittent generation from wind turbines. In today’s story, we describe how electric power system operators adjust their procedures to deal with increasing wind capacity as the demand for electric power changes over the course of the day. The unpredictability and sudden changes in production from wind generation (see chart above for a real-life example) create real engineering issues for operators.

Each afternoon, operators lay out their unit commitment for the next day, comparing the day-ahead demand forecast to their available generators (in market regions, those that have bid in their capacity). Operators need to commit enough generation to avoid shortages, yet not so much that they unnecessarily raise costs. Many regions are developing or have developed highly detailed near-term wind forecasting tools to give dispatchers advance notice of the projected wind resource.

Wind generators are subject to abrupt changes in wind speed, and their power output is characterized by steep ramps up or down. Power systems handle such moment-to-moment changes in intermittent generation just as they handle small fluctuations in demand: certain generators automatically raise or lower their output in response to imbalances between supply and demand.

As the percentage of intermittent generation on the system increases, it becomes more important to smooth out the fluctuations in wind generation. Spreading out wind generators across a wide geographical area reduces variability. Also, building a more robust transmission network not only connects wind resources to load centers but provides a wider set of resources for combating the effects of intermittent generation.

Late-model wind turbines are better able to control their output by changing the pitch of their blades and “spilling” wind (i.e., letting the wind blow past without extracting its energy, like water spilling over a dam). This allows them to respond to orders to reduce output.

Electric power systems with a large share of intermittent resources may rely more on flexible resources such as gas turbines or hydropower to “firm up” the output of intermittent generators. Demand response and energy storage are also potential approaches, but the deployment of storage—other than pumped hydro—is essentially zero at this time.

EIA commentary ends:

It’s interesting, in light of the EIA suggestion above that power systems will ramp up and down to suit wind’s wildly fluctuating supply, that, in the report I provide below the EIA suggests, “Once committed, nuclear and coal steam plants are not likely to shut-down for brief surges in wind power production.”

The following offering from the Energy Information Agency (embedded for your convenience) discusses “Issues in Wind Resource Supply Data and Modeling.”  Comments such as “Wind capacity will result in occasional off-peak curtailment to maintain system balance,” perhaps because “Wind doesn’t always blow when it is most valuable” are not part of Mr. Maisano’s vocabulary.  And there’s more … much more!

Again, this post is not to answer questions.  The intent is to stimulate a discussion Mr. Maisano and his associates would rather you not have.  There’s a lot of information out there which casts serious doubt on the viability of industrial wind.  Allegheny Treasures, and the other great resources we link, provide factual commentary from industry experts – information you will not easily find in your local papers.  And frankly, it’s not exactly the information Mr. Maisano and his associates in the wind business want you to find.

Soon to follow:  20% by 2030

Posted in industrial wind cost, industrial wind failure, industrial wind poor performance, industrial wind v fossil fuel, Jon Boone, Ontario Wind Performance | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“wind cannot be relied upon to provide any significant level of generation at any defined time in the future”

Posted on April 6, 2011 by morgan

According to the BBC News-Scotland, “Wind farms are much less efficient than claimed, producing below 10% of capacity for more than a third of the time, according to a new report.”

And here’s a shocker … “The analysis also suggested output was low during the times of highest demand.”  In fact, “During each of the four highest peak demands of 2010, wind output reached just 4.72%, 5.51%, 2.59% and 2.51% of capacity, according to the analysis.”

No surprise really … Jon Boone told me that two years ago!

Now here’s the real kicker:  “It is clear from this analysis that wind cannot be relied upon to provide any significant level of generation at any defined time in the future.”

Mr. Boon told said something similar, except he said wind will never be a viable source of energy.  I bet he’s right again.

Posted in green lunacy, industrial wind failure, Wind v Coal, Windpower Industry False Claims | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment