Colorado legislators introduce legislation requiring energy companies to remove decommissioned wind turbines

Denver Gazette ^ | Jun 16, 2023 | Scott Weiser

[ansel12]

This is almost like strip mining without the repair, they exploit the site until the turbines expire and then leave the land ruined and filled with gargantuan abandoned structures and debris, dangerous structures.

[chickenlips]

Even when wind turbines are running they are prone to leaking a lot of oil and hydraulic fluid. A turbine requires a huge amount of these fluids.

Talking about strip mining, a huge amount of balsa wood is used to make the blades and that is taken from tropical rain forests. So much for saving the rain forests.

https://iowaclimate.org/2021/12/18/billions-of-wind-turbine-blades-built-with-balsa-wood-stripped-from-amazons-forests/

[ansel12]

I know most of the usual problems with the turbines but I had thought that the sites themselves were kept in operation once they were chosen, contracted, and constructed, with the turbines being replaced and maintained like any other industrial site.

[Glad2bnuts]

How do they jackhammer and remove the concrete blocks under the Turbines that are stories deep and acres in size. They essentially took arable land out of commission for Millenia. The same goes for the solar farms, as they pour concrete pads to place solar farms on, and when all is said and done, it will just be torn up driveway type of massive mess within a single generation.

[Reeses]

Wind turbine bases are climate religion ceremonial sites akin to Stonehenge and must be preserved for future generations to puzzle about. Many of them were built in the holy Year One AG (Anno Goremini).

[rottndog]

Full restoration should be part of the cost...concrete can be removed and soil restored...it’s not cheap tho.