Dear New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers: Back Off Windpower for a Better Environment! (Part I)

By Annette Smith -- September 9, 2013 No Comments

“We don’t have ramping plants, so these [wind power] projects can increase, not decrease, our region’s greenhouse gas emissions. Why aren’t we talking about that? … Let’s have a conversation that addresses what is happening now.”

The press release and testimonials below were sent to the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers who are currently meeting in Quebec to discuss energy issues. At last year’s conference, a commitment was made for more renewables in New England. This year, the grass roots is urging them to back off. Part I today reprints the press release; the letter will follow tomorrow as Part II of this series.

The press release follows:

Hundreds of individuals, victims and groups sent a letter [tomorrow’s post] to the Northeast region’s governor and premiers asking for an end to utility-scale wind development until those projects’ impacts have been addressed.…

Windaction News Issue: August 1, 2013

By Lisa Linowes -- August 1, 2013 No Comments

Windaction.org’s periodic newsletter keeps readers updated on the latest news in the wind energy industry!

facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy’s real impacts

(To receive this newsletter by email, please Click here to subscribe)

News

Siemens CEO resigns; Wind power profits drop In Q3 July 31
in North American Windpower

In its Q3’13 financial results, released Wednesday, Siemens reports that its Total Sectors profit was EUR 1.3 billion, a 31% drop from EUR 1.8 billion in Q3’12. The company’s profits for its Wind Power division dropped from EUR 66 million in Q3’12 to EUR 22 million in Q3’13.

Fairhaven BoH allows turbines back on overnight July 31
by Ariel Wittenberg in South Coast Today – Massachusetts

The 2-1 vote accepted a proposal by turbine developer Fairhaven Wind LLC that would maintain round-the-clock operation of the turbines except in wind conditions when the state’s Department of Environmental Protection found the turbines to exceed state noise regulations.

The Incompatibility of Wind and Crop ‘Farming’

By Lisa Linowes -- July 1, 2013 15 Comments

“Absentee landowners may be gaining financially from [wind power] development, but the idea that ‘wind farming’ is a compatible agriculture use is more myth than reality in Illinois…. In fact, those Illinois farmers who have leveraged their operations conservatively tell us that they’re not interested in the ‘windfall’ of wind farming.”

The wind industry continues to claim that wind “farming” and agriculture are compatible land uses. Here it is again in a recent letter in the Wall Street Journal by the American Wind Energy Association defending the economics of wind power.

For years, politicians and urban/suburbanites have been treated to heaping doses of win-win business tales of family farmers leasing sections of their crop land for wind development, while working the soil right up to the towers and earning extra revenue to keep the land open.…

Windaction News

By Lisa Linowes -- June 15, 2013 1 Comment

Windaction.org’s periodic newsletter keeps readers updated on the latest news in the wind energy industry!

facts, analysis, exposure of wind energy’s real impacts
Issue: 2013-06-15

News

Native Americans decry eagle deaths tied to wind farms
June 14, 2013 by Laura Zuckerman in Reuters

Filed under | Oklahoma

The permit application acknowledges that up [to] three bald eagles a year could be killed by the development over the 40-year life of the project.”I can’t come up with the words in English or Osage to put a value on how important these (eagles) are to us and to our everyday survival,” said Scott BigHorse, assistant chief for the Osage Nation. more…

Removal ordered for turbines
June 14, 2013 by Bob Boughner in Chatham Daily News

Filed under | Canada

In an unprecedented move in Ontario, Transport Canada has ordered the removal of eight wind turbines in close proximity to the Chatham Municipal Airport.