Comments on: U.S. Approves Offshore Wind Turbines (Even if They Block Kennedy Views)

By: windancer379

windancer379 — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:36:14 +0000

Really people? Have you ever lived near one of the horrible turbines? And they don’t produce that many jobs. Once they are installed, then maintenance is all that is needed. My uncle lives in ND and there were 3 installed just 1/4 of a mile away from his home. He now cannot sleep in his bedroom and the shadow affects are very disturbing, he says it is like listening to an 18 wheeler engine running all day and night long, they are not quiet. I think they are unsightly and they don’t produce as much energy as they say, that is a fact. My mother has done extensive research on this and the cost totally out weighs the benefits. Do your research before you go hailing them as the next greatest thing on earth, they aren’t. I hate them! Just watch, in 10 years they will come down.

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By: ofrae

ofrae — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:50:55 +0000

it’s your choice. pay double for wind energy or pay tripple for fossil fuel. period

By: Barbara Durkin

Barbara Durkin — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:57:23 +0000

Cape Wind selected a site under current and conflicting use. It would shut fishermen out of fishing grounds and create a public safety hazard according to all three airports with over 400,000 annual flights in the airspace. The FAA has issued a “Determination of Presumed Hazard” on Cape Wind. The ferry operators are opposed as it is too close to navigational lanes for the safety assurance of their 3 million annual passengers. The U.S. Coast Guard Cape Wind Radar Workshop Captain Raymond Perry admits that collision avoidance due to navigational radar interference caused by wind turbines would make collision avoidance within the array “problematic”.
The MMS FEIS as THE federal document admits 1.43 collisions per year. The U.S. EPA identifies in their MMS FEIS comments that Cape Wind is “not economically viable”. Cape Wind has put 17 agencies now reviewing Cape Wind through the paces investigating the effects of the wind turbines they spec’d that are discontinued as GE 3.6 MW. With no source for offshore wind turbines, Cape Wind needs to identify customers prepared to pay twice the price (per MMS DEIS as the federal regulator) for their energy by green contract in order to earn a Power Purchase Agreement that they need to obtain project financing. Contrary to DOI/USFWS wind turbine siting guidelines Cape Wind is proposed for an area where one species is at the “brink of extinction”, and this is Sacred Land identified by federally recognized Tribes of which 26 are staunchly opposed. MMS review of Cape Wind is under investigation by the Office of the U.S. Inspector General.
The new OCS rules apply to Cape Wind that has been under ad hoc review for 7 years as a present day phantom project. The points I make should have one considering that Senator Kennedy has better than casual knowledge of this expensive proposed Boondoogle. There is no free lunch, kids. Who is prepared to sign a green premium contract to pay twice the current price for their energy?

World’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines, Vestas, President and CEO Ditlev Engle stated of the Cape Wind project proposal to the Boston Globe:

“And, therefore, I am really wondering why anybody wants to put them up offshore because it’s twice the price. So just as an outsider, I am just scratching my head saying, “Why?”

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/09/21/the_answers_to_him_are_blowing_in_the_wind/

Senior VP of Vestas Peter Kruse:

“The only way forward is more turbines in virgin ground onshore,” and, “Politicians want offshore so they can avoid the Nimby discussion, but they are allowing a tiny minority to force the rest of the population to pay double for renewable energy.”

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2217931/vestas-calls-greater-focus

Bird kills by wind turbines actually are a very good argument against them:
http://bjdurk.newsvine.mobi/_news/2009/03/11/2534556-dear-secretary-salazar-please-do-not-sign-off-on-cape-wind-

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:35:59 +0000

Corey,

I’m a fellow Canuck… I agree about Harper, however a whole bunch of wind turbines just went up on Wolfe Island (just south of Kingston)…there is CRAZY wind all year round there, so that is promising. I do hope that more is done in the very near future. I’m disappointed enough in the whole Zenn car fiasco in Ontario…

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:03:48 +0000

The “killing birds” is a poor argument against wind farms. As the wind turbine in Toronto, Canada says on its base: “approximately 6 birds are killed a year by the turbine, compare that to the average housecat”.

Personally I find them esthetically a great kinetic sculpture. I was blown away by how much the wind farm at Palm Springs had grown since I was last there, and had no problem with how it looked. Offshore farms are just as neat to look at, even if they are made close enough to see from shore.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:34:08 +0000

Here’s a crazy thought

100 years from now Wind Turbine are everywhere. At a time when Earth’s weather patterns are the strangest in history, climatologists are blaming the wind turbines for “slowing down” the cooling winds of the Earth causing the bizarre new weather patterns.

But that’s only fiction Ü

By: Corey

Corey — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:47:12 +0000

I live in Canada and I am very dissapointed with what are government has done to bring in new clean energy. The Harper administration has done nothing for this country the whole time it has been in office. Kudos to Obama for getting America on track to a greener cleaner future.

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:54:49 +0000

All good until the stupid sea gulls start flying into the blades. You just KNOW some bunch will file suit on behalf of “sea gulls rights.”

Stranger things have happened.

By: Andrew Kniskern

Andrew Kniskern — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:17:45 +0000

I think it is needed and about time for this.We need this wind farm.It will produce jobs and clean power.It will help get us away from relying on coal and oil as this catches on.More Power To Em!The only thing it may hurt is a few lost Figawi racers,they just might hit them.

Wind Power.
Native Islander

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:02:41 +0000

That is truly awesome. As far as all those opposed to blocking up the ’scenic landscape’, wind turbines are a lot less unsightly than smokestacks and oil rigs.

By: Eliza Strickland

Eliza Strickland — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:41:41 +0000

Matt — Really? The reporting I saw implied that the Interior Dept still has to sign off. From Reuters:

“Interior reached an agreement with FERC last month giving the department exclusive jurisdiction over offshore wind and solar energy. As these details were being worked out dozens of wind companies had offshore projects waiting to get the green light to move ahead…. Interior is currently considering whether to give final approval to offshore wind energy project Cape Wind off the coast of Massachusetts.”

But Reuters could be wrong, too. Let me know if you have a better source.

Cathy — I think there is a lot of interest in getting turbines set up in the Great Lakes.

By: cathy

cathy — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:50:17 +0000

I currently live west of Cleveland, and I’ve never lived anywhere so windy! This would be an awesome place for off-shore wind turbines. It is windy year-round here.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:27:22 +0000

Cape Wind has been grandfathered into a separate approvals process. Doesn’t seem like the author of this article is aware of this…

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:53:17 +0000

We should go talk to the northern Europeans. They have some of, if not the, biggest off-shore wind turbines and farms in the world; they build and install them with millimeter precision.