Posted on 08/21/2003 4:30:02 PM PDT by Pikamax
Mass. Wind Farm Foes Face Legal Setback
Thursday August 21, 2003 10:59 AM
BOSTON (AP) - Opponents of a proposed power-generating wind farm in Nantucket Sound were dealt a legal setback when a federal judge ruled that the state had no authority to stop construction of a test tower currently operating there.
Opponents of the proposed $700 million wind farm had filed suit against the developers, claiming the company needed a state permit to build the 197-foot tower, which measures environmental conditions.
The tower, which has been operational since the spring, was built in federal waters more than three miles from shore. But the plaintiffs argued that because the state was granted control over Nantucket Sound fisheries more than two decades ago, a state permit was needed because of the potential harm to fisheries.
Judge Joseph L. Tauro ruled that nothing in the law ``supports the proposition that regulating non-fishing activities simply for the protection of fish falls under the Commonwealth's jurisdiction.''
Plaintiffs' attorney John W. Spillane said he would appeal.
The proposal calls for 130 wind turbines - each more than 420-feet high - about five miles off Cape Cod. The turbines would generate 420 megawatts of energy at peak times.
Supporters say the farm would supply nearly three-quarters of the electricity used on the cape and islands.
Opponents, including U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Walter Cronkite and historian David McCullough, say it would damage wildlife, destroy views and harm the fishing and boating industries.
Amazing how that works, isn't it?
What is the fuel cost to generate the electricity for your two plants to generate electricity? The usual electrical plant income statement will show that fuel costs average 30%
The fuel cost for the windmill is ZERO!
Kilowatt per hour costs for the windmill and other fuel generating schemes are about the same.
Over the long run windmills far out perform conventional power plants.
When we do the national wind farm plan we can turn off all the gas and coal fired plants and use the nuclear fired plants for peaking and load management to meet other demands, we can then use the hydrocarbons, (coal oil, and gas) for plastic forks and picnic table forks.
BTW we can also thumb our noses at the Kyoto Kooks since we would surpass the CO2 emission standards and tell them to go to Hades!
No. The major downside of windmills is lack of reliability.
At best, wind only blows 20~25% of the time, and not always when you need the electricity. And as mentioned before, the maintenance costs will be higher.
It's much better to have a generating source that's powered by some kind of fuel that's readily available when you need it.
You can do the same thing with nukes.
Then your replace standard flourescent light bulbs which drop 90% of the electrical energy as heat in the ballast resistor and not lumens through the flouresed gas and you can have a 9 times improvement in light per electrical watt input. Since 25% of all electricity is used to create light this could be a big savings. The new RF flouresecent lightbulbs were available in 1990. If we wanted a cogent energy plan we would offer tax incentives to building owners to dfo this retro fit!
The sad fact is that over the last 25 years there has been NO energy policy to make the appropriate energy decisions.
Personally, I would like to follow the O'Neil "High Frontier" plan. Build the Lunar Base, mine the regolith and launch it to the LaGrange points where factories are built and solar power generating stations are manufacuted and sold to the Earth. The solar energy is captured and beamed to Earth where it is conducted into the worlds power grid.
Ad Astra Y'All!
Perhaps if you were aware that your neighbor was making a nice profit based on income from your tax dollars for his subsidized wind farm, you might start complaining?
how telling of the limosine rich...when something that might interview with their rosy view of life pops up....whoa....no way will they have that....
except of course, if its in OUR view....then we will be called "selfish" and unwilling to sacrifice for the greater good...
Then just look at night.
The cost of natural gas is 5 cents per kwhr and rising, Einstein, wind is free. Especially from anti-wind freepers.
His "analsys" left out the fact that natural gas alone costs as much as the wholesale price of wind power. Offshore wind plants are expected to be producing power at 3 cents per kwhr in 5 or so years. The price of the powerplant is not important, it is the price of the electricity that we care about.
Then your replace standard flourescent light bulbs which drop 90% of the electrical energy as heat in the ballast resistor and not lumens through the flouresed gas and you can have a 9 times improvement in light per electrical watt input. Since 25% of all electricity is used to create light this could be a big savings. The new RF flouresecent lightbulbs were available in 1990. If we wanted a cogent energy plan we would offer tax incentives to building owners to dfo this retro fit!
I love you man!!
WOW, that's alot of electricity. I wonder how the cost comapres to current costs.
My questions as well.
The thought makes me cry. Imagine the value of those tens of billions in today's dollars.
Hey biblewanker, if you want to critique my "analsys", first learn how to correctly spell "analysis". Then quit making asinine statements like "The price of the power plant is not important". There's no doubt that wind power produces a savings on fuel costs. But you got a mighty tiny set of shriveled and dessicated gonads if you're unwilling to tell people what the payback period is on the excessively high initial investment. It'll take you decades to overcome the $450+ million initial cost differential. Heck it's doubtful you'll even reach the break-even point before your pinwheels depreciate and degrade to the end of their useful life.
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