Kennedy’s opposition to wind farm is suspicious ( NIMBY Alert )

Metro West Daily News ^ | April 30, 2006 | John P. Gregg

[george76]

Fans of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy have long argued that he has fought the good fight ...

But today, he is defending the indefensible: special interest legislation, tucked into a Coast Guard authorization bill, that would give Gov. Mitt Romney the power to veto the proposed Cape Wind energy project, even though it would be in federal waters.

The project... more than five miles offshore of Cape Cod.

The equivalent of burning 113 million barrels of oil per year.

Proponents of Cape Wind say it is an important source of alternative, renewable energy, and it has the backing of such environmental groups as Greenpeace USA, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Conservation Law Foundation.

Even though this is an election year for Kennedy, it should be an easy time of it.

No formidable competition is on that horizon, and he has amassed an $8.7 million campaign war chest (even as he also argues "I am concerned we have the best Congress money can buy.").

Ironically, he did admit on the NPR interview to changing his mind on one issue he fiercely opposed 20 years ago -- nuclear power.

New technology dealing with enriched uranium has convinced Kennedy, he said, "I think we have to put everything back on the table."

Everything but a pathbreaking wind farm eight miles at sea from his beloved Hyannis Port.

[maine-iac7]

Those homes are HUGE and not energy cost-efficient

Just one small area - light bulbs. They have more light bulbs in the kitchen alone than I have in my whole house

[maine-iac7]

Yes, I'm starting to see all that now, and I don't like killing all those birds either

*What with all the research avenues available to us all now, via the net, it behooves us to do our research and not continue taking as whole cloth the Pablum we are spoon fed.

Excerpt from site

http://www.awea.org/faq/sagrillo/swbirds.html

"A 1986 study found that 69 million birds flew though the San Gorgonio Pass during the Spring and Fall migrations. During both migrating seasons, only 38 dead birds were found during that typical year, representing only 0.00006% of the migrating population. A report recently prepared for the Bonneville Power Administration in the Northwest U.S. states that "raptor mortality has been absent to very low at all newer generation wind plants studied in the U.S."

The whole article is worth the reading - but for those that don't wish to be confused with the facts, if you are going to condemn wind farms for death of birds, then we will need to get rid of power lines, tall buildings and residential windows, cars and trucks, jet engines, smoke stack, lighted communication towers - Oh! sorry, I forgot. No political hay there

[Aliska]

I've got quite a few light bulbs, but I keep them turned off except when I need them, all except for the kitchen and lr table lamp which has one of those new curlie que bulbs. Those new houses must have a lot of lightbulbs though. I do have 2 chandeliers which take several 40 watters apiece. I keep those turned off as much as possible.

if you are going to condemn wind farms for death of birds

No, it's no worse than anything else they fly into. We probably lose more to getting sucked through jet engines. Birds aren't totally stupid and try to fly around stuff, but sometimes they seem to get confused by glass windows, etc. They've got a stuffed eagle at a local museum who met its end getting fried on a hot wire. It didn't seem to damage much of the bird though as I doubt they would have wasted time with massive reconstruction.

I was just mentioning it as I do like birds. I didn't know what the overall toll was. Probably lose more flying into skyscrapers. I wouldn't condemn anything on account of it; I mean those old farm windmills probably were almost as bad you'd think when we had more of those scattered around the country. We've got some of those left around here, probably working ones, too, pumping water, storing power in smaller generators. I never did know exactly how they worked to my dismay.

I used to read Mother Earth News because I wanted to get new ideas on how people were being innovative by living off the grid in some places. It's not for the faint of heart, takes a lot of effort and work. Some people who live in remote areas have no choice though.

[JamesFromWisconsin]

What about the other costs.

Ok, so there might be a large wind farm built off of the cape, or lets say off the shore of lake Michigan.

As the example states you can produce 400MW at the peak. This new energy source is to power the increasing need of the area. Now lets say the wind stops and a nice high pressure system is around your area. Where will that 400MW come from. My guess is the new back-up coal fired plant that would have to be built to supply the energy if the wind dies down. This is like a double cost to implement the wind energy solution. Yes I know there is a power grid and you can bring power in from other areas, however think about where that power is coming from (Another coal fired plant that might already be close to operating at max).

So what does this mean, should they not do it. I think a valid point to raise here is there are other costs of backup systems that adds to the cost of the wind farm. Thus, we the consumer pay for both with higher energy prices.

Somewhere a user brought up conservation. Good for you whoever you were. Wind energy, solar, conservation, hydro etc all have to be done together to lower the prices of electricity. Without a combination of all, your cost to implement (because of back-up generation needed) does not allow for any savings to be passed along to consumers.

[maine-iac7]

Where I lived as a child - on my grandparents farm - EVERYone was "off the grid" LOL Before electricity was brought to our rural area/

Lights were kerosene lamps; cooking, heating, hot water from the cook stove; heating the house via the other wood stoves; water from the pump at the end of the soapstone sink - water from hand dug well.

It wasn't easy, but really, the much larger portion of independence than people have today was a plus...believe it or not, just as much free time. Also the security of an average of a years food on hand, (jars and barrels in the cellar, eggs and chickens in the hen house, milk, butter and beef & pork in the barn, wild game & fish in the woods and waters - the gardens and berry bushes -

It was a good life.

[Aliska]

I think even the farms were on the grid by the time I was born shortly before WWII, not sure about when they got electricity, but they've had it ever since I was a small child.

To keep a life like that going requires organization and family cooperation. People had to help or it didn't work. Kids had their chores, girls had to help with the cooking, washing, and canning. Men had to tend to the animals. Eggs had to be gathered, chickens killed, cleaned and plucked, butchering time was a lot of work. Just keeping things running smoothly took a lot of skill and determination. I probably don't know the half of it.

That's one reason my now deceased aunt left the farm, it was horrible cooking in the late summer/early fall heat when the threshers came through with the wood stove going full blast in the kitchen. I was there one hot August night with no a/c or fans going and it was so hot in the house I nearly fainted.

I guess people got used to it. It would have been a good life if everybody pitched in and did their share. I can't see my kids willing to work that hard at that kind of work, and to be honest, I like to can and do some of that but never had the strength to do long stretches of it like they had to do. A batch of tomatoes or applesauce is one thing, food for a family for the winter is entirely something else.

Now the women have to help drive the tractors, do the mowing; they have to farm so much more land in order to make it pay. Maybe all don't, but I sure know one who does, and she keeps the house immaculate and her church life going as well. She keeps herself looking nice, too, slim, hair simple but nice, amazing. I remember in past years the farm wives were a little sloppy about their appearance, but maybe that was just true in my small world.

[maine-iac7]

but never had the strength to do long stretches of it like they had to do. A batch of tomatoes or applesauce is one thing, food for a family for the winter is entirely something else.

When you add up the time you spend, over the months, going to the grocery store - you will have used even MORE time and lots more money.

Yep, the "cook room" can get unbearable in summer - but many had a "summer kitchen" - a separate kitchen in an el with cross breeze windows - and "swizzle" (the drink that kept the field workers from dehydrating and fizzling out )will keep your electrolytes up so's you wont wilt or faint. LOL

Yes, the whole family had to pitch together - not a bad thing.

We used to get out of school for two weeks in the fall to pick potatoes. The government now "protects" kids from such 'exploitation."

I LOVED getting out of the school room to be outside - and to earn my own spending money - the amount of which depending upon my own industry. That was a great lesson to learn. Nowadays, kids just put their hand out expecting whatever they want without effort. (And as for school - when my brother and I left the little one room school with one teacher to attend the big city schools (grade 5 and 7) we were a FULL year ahead)

As to chores on the farm, well, Friday was butter churning day. If I got all my "chores" done (dusting, ironing, washing the dishes - including those damnable mile separator disks _ then Grampa would let me have the "privilege" of helping churn! (He had a way of making work fun - had me fooled. LOL)

[DOGEY]

There's something wrong with a state that keeps sending this turd to the senate.

Turd? Turds! Hell, they send an entire bowel movement to the Senate and House.

[Ditto]

Should cover his bar bill and bail for the relatives.

I met a guy who has tended bar at upscale joints accross New England including out on Martha's Vinyard. I asked him about the Kennedys and he said when they and their possie came in to his bar, the first thing he always did was insist on a credit card because they tended to walk on the check and not leave a tip.

[Doc Savage]

Try reading the editorials in Cape Cod Life if you like windbags. These morons are all about alternative energy sourdes unless you you want to put it where their pleasure yachts and sailboats might have to see them or if they spoil the sea view from mtheir 25 Million dollar estates on Nantucket.

By the way, anyone have a photo of Mary Jo Kopechne's estate on Martha's Vineyard??????????????????????

[george76]

"Senator Kennedy killed that girl the same as if he put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger" - George Killen ~ State Police Detective - Lieutenant on the scene 

[george76]

This should have been her estate.

[Holicheese]

if Howie Carr doesn't use that one, he is a fool.
That was awesome.

[thelastvirgil]

Kennedy and his ilk have long since graduated out of NIMBY status to that of BANANA: "Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything".

[LIConFem]

If you stuffed Sterno Boy in a wine press, you'd get enough ethanol to power every automobile in America for five years.

[george76]

LOL.

BANANA: "Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything".

[Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin]

Kind of like his, allowing child predators to roam free in good 'ole Massachusettes. My husband says, "No telling how many of his relatives he's helping out by doing that". The man's got such a communist agenda it's pathetic...

[N. Theknow]

There's something wrong with a state that keeps sending this turd to the senate.

When my former company was moving me to New England, I had a choice of which state to move to, as it is a relatively compact area for a saleman to travel.

My wife and I went to dinner with one of the other salemen and I asked him how in the world the people of Massachusetts could keep electing Kennedys, especially Teddy.

He said that a Senator's job was to bring attention to his state and Kennedy did a great job of doing it.

I replied that John Wayne Gacey and Jeffrey Dahmer brought a lot of attention to their respective states but no one was running them for office.

About a week later, Joe Kennedy, announced he was running to fill Tip O'Neill's seat in Congress. A "person in the street" interview about his candidacy was on the late news and featured an old bat who said, "He's a Kennedy. We need him."

I told my wife, "We got to get out of this place."

[Capt. Tom]

A couple of towns south of Boston, on the coast, Hull Mass. has a power generating windmill that has been so successful the town is planning to build others.

Hull Wind: A Renewable Energy "Cash Cow" By Jim Motavalli

excerpted John MacLeod, operations manager of Hull, Massachusetts' Municipal Light Plant, stands inside the tower of Hull Wind I, a Danish-made 660-kilowatt Vestas turbine that has the distinction of being the first commercial-scale windmill to go online anywhere on the U.S.'s eastern coastline.

A digital readout offers the speed of the 154-foot-diameter rotor (28.7 revolutions for minute) and the turbine's generated power since it was installed in December of 2001: 5,052,741 kilowatt hours. That's in excess of five million kilowatts, more than enough reason for Hull to hold a celebration honoring the turbine. The town is so pleased with its wind power generation that it's adding a second, much bigger unit.

MacLeod gestures out past Windmill Point across the bay, with the city of Boston visible in the distance. "We intend to have 100 percent renewably generated power in Hull," he said. "Our next step is the installation of a 1.8-megawatt turbine at the town landfill, which we hope to have up and running by the end of the summer. Then, by 2008, we want to install four offshore turbines totaling 12 megawatts."

There are 40 towns in Massachusetts that have municipally owned electric utilities, a situation that is ideal for public wind power. Towns like Hull can generate a kilowatt of electricity for 3.4 cents, but because of production tax credits and tradable renewable energy certificates (RECs), it takes in 6.3 cents. "It's a cash cow," MacLeod said. The electricity generated goes straight into the town's own grid, replacing power that would cost eight cents per kilowatt hour if it were purchased in the energy market. "We get the financial benefit, plus because it's a green source of energy the turbine becomes a focus of goodwill for the town," says Hull selectwoman Joan Meschino. Everyone in town will tell you that the wind turbine has not killed a single bird, at least according to the regular checks by the town's science students. Neighbors are supportive, too, and you can hardly hear the turbine even when you're standing right under it.