A Free-Market Energy Blog

Pile Driving: Offshore Wind’s Ecological Problem (Popper interview in Phys.Org)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 17, 2024

“The construction of wind farms … on the East Coast of the United States … is a big issue because it is a source of considerable noise.” (Arthur Popper, below)

In Phys.Org, Emily Nunez (University of Maryland) recently interviewed Arthur N. Popper, professor emeritus, University of Maryland’s Department of Biology, a specialist in the ecological impacts of underwater sound. “Offshore wind farms can be an energy boon,” she begins the article, “but does their noisy construction bother marine animals?”

She introduces the issue as follows:

… Popper … worries that the use of pile driving to construct offshore wind turbines could potentially harm fishes. Only two offshore wind farms are operational in the United States, but many more are in the works, including two projects planned for Maryland’s waters and a third project approved for construction off the coast of Virginia.

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CO2 International Tariffs: Just Say NO

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 16, 2024

“The PROVE IT Act and carbon tariffs are not just bad policy, but bad politics. After all, supporting new taxes and opposing affordable and reliable energy is a toxic concoction.”

The letter of January 16, 2024, to members of Congress, with 42 signatories (listed at the end) follows:

As the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is reportedly going to mark-up the PROVE IT Act (S. 1863) this week, the undersigned organizations want to express strong opposition to carbon tariffs
and the PROVE IT Act. This legislation is a gateway for a carbon tax on imported goods and a domestic carbon tax.

It is shocking that legislators would contemplate advancing policy that would increase taxes, drive up prices for American families, harm workers and those on fixed incomes, and punish energy use.…

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Industrial Wind vs. Deep Ecology: Surface Impacts

By Robert Bradley Jr. --

“Our results from a large sample of wind farms revealed significant local warming effects at night, insignificant impacts during the daytime, and the mostly negative impacts on vegetation.” (Yingzuo Qin et al., Environmental Research Letters, 2022)

Deep Ecology is a philosophy that puts nature on an equal footing with humankind. It speaks in religious tones to its broad congregation of partial and total believers. “The froth and frenzy of industrial civilization mask our deep loneliness for that communion with the world that can lift our spirits and fill our senses with the richness and immediacy of life itself,” Al Gore stated in Earth in the Balance (1992), calling for “bold and unequivocal” global action where “the rescue of the environment” is “the central organizing principle for civilization.”

Applied to the Church of Climate, the often unstated assumptions are:

  1. The human influence on climate is pronounced and controlling
  2. That influence cannot be positive or benign, only problematic-catastrophic
  3. Global governance can and must solve this problem

To members of this philosophy-religion, the planet “has been delivered in perfect working condition and cannot be exchanged for a new one.”…

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Icebreaker Demise: Win for Lake Erie, Ratepayers, Taxpayers (crony loss only)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 15, 2024
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“Green” Weaponization in Missouri: Ameren vs. Ratepayers, Taxpayers

By -- January 11, 2024
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Alaska Alert! “Green” Rate Case Trouble (Chugach Electric vs. ratepayers, taxpayers)

By -- January 10, 2024
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Political Realism from a Climate Alarmist (the beginning of the end?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 9, 2024
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Energy and Environmental Review: January 8, 2024

By -- January 8, 2024
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EV Struggles: Front Page News

By -- January 4, 2024
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Appreciating the Master Resource (Part II: Energy Foes Agree!)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 3, 2024
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