Free Republic

Humpback whale washes up on the Jersey shore. (Credit: NJ.com) Last month, RedState reported on the spate of dead whales washing up on beaches in New York and New Jersey. The pace has not slowed, and there now have been 25 reported deaths of the huge animals just since the beginning of December 2022.Many blame the construction of massive offshore wind turbines, but the federal government insists there’s no connection, with the Marine Mammal Commission, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and the National Ocean Atmospheric Association (NOAA) rejecting the claims.1990 – liberals – "SAVE THE WHALES!"2023 –...

Norway's government on Thursday (Mar 2) apologised to indigenous Sami reindeer herders affected by wind farms that were declared illegal after they were built, following a week of protests by activists. The country's highest court unanimously ruled in October 2021 that the expropriation and operating permits issued for the construction of 151 turbines in the Fosen region of western Norway were invalid. The court found that the project violated the rights of Sami families to practise their culture of reindeer husbandry.

The speed by which wind farms are being constructed across the U.S. is going faster than a spring wind in Casper. In about 20 years, the wind turbines put into operation today will be nearing the end of their lifespan. The ones built 20 years ago are nearing it now. Since the blades are very difficult to recycle, the waste stream created by the retired blades is a mounting problem. According to a 2017 study published in the scientific journal Waste Management, the world’s wind industry will be producing 43 million tons of blade waste annually by 2050.

Irish wind farms had a strong start to the year with a new record for the most electricity ever produced in the month of January. The January Wind Energy Report showed that 41% of the country’s power came from wind last month, up 9% on January 2022. However, the industry warned delays in the planning system were slowing the delivery of new wind farms. Wind farms produced 1,479 gigawatt-hours of electricity last month, up 200 GWh on the previous January best, and the seventh best month on record for wind power. This is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of...

In a case of odd bedfellows, environmental groups and Republican politicians are calling for a pause in offshore wind farm development following a string of whales washing up dead on New Jersey and New York beaches. Seven whales have turned up dead in little over a month. The latest victim, a 20- to 25-foot juvenile Humpback whale, turned up in Brigantine, New Jersey on Thursday afternoon, close to a Coast Guard station. “The wave of dead whales is the ocean sounding the alarm, and we must heed the warning,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Jersey-based Clean Ocean Action, after...

In a case of odd bedfellows, environmental groups and Republican politicians are calling for a pause in offshore wind farm development following a string of whales washing up dead on New Jersey and New York beaches. Seven whales have turned up dead in little over a month. The latest victim, a 20- to 25-foot juvenile Humpback whale, turned up in Brigantine, New Jersey on Thursday afternoon, close to a Coast Guard station. "The wave of dead whales is the ocean sounding the alarm, and we must heed the warning,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Jersey-based Clean Ocean Action, after...

There are wind farms being put up all over the place these days, including in many rural areas of the United States. But the offshore wind farms that have been constructed in the North Sea by various European power companies have created a forest of towers rising up over the waves. But that’s not a problem, right? After all, this is the “clean energy” we were all promised and we’re saving the planet so everyone can feel better about themselves. The Biden administration recently announced plans to accelerate offshore wind farm construction in the name of “environmental justice, biodiversity, and...

A U.S. wind power developer pleaded guilty to multiple violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act after its wind turbine blades allegedly killed more than 135 bald and golden eagles across the country. The company, ESI Energy, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of violations in the form of golden eagle deaths. Prosecutors said the birds were documented to have been killed by blunt force trauma after being struck by its wind turbine blades at its facilities in Wyoming or New Mexico, where ESI had not applied for the necessary permits. As part of the settlement, ESI “acknowledged that at...

Proprietors of a series of green energy wind farms have been placed on probation and ordered to pay $8 million in fines and restitution after pleading guilty to killing upwards of 150 eagles across the past decade in eight states, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The criminal case was decided against the backdrop of President Joe Biden pushing for more onshore and offshore renewable energy from wind, solar and other sources, as Breitbart News reported. It’s illegal to kill or harm eagles under U.S. federal law. AP reports NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy pleaded guilty to three counts of violating...

The Biden administration laid out an ambitious plan Wednesday for government-funded wind farms along the east coast, which it said would sustain millions of Americans’ energy needs. Multiple federal agencies are planning to collaborate on the project, which will be completed by 2030, Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland said during a renewable energy conference in Boston on Wednesday. Overall, at least 30 gigawatts will be produced by offshore wind farms by decade’s end. “The Interior Department is laying out an ambitious roadmap as we advance the Administration’s plans to confront climate change, create good-paying jobs, and accelerate the nation’s transition...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will help develop up to seven offshore wind farms on the East and West coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico as it moves to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 — generating enough electricity to power more than 10 million homes.If approved and built, the projects could avoid about 78 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, officials said.President Joe Biden has set a goal to deploy 30 gigawatts, or 30,000 megawatts, of offshore wind power in the United States by 2030. Meeting the target...

The pact that would float hundreds of turbines off the coast of Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay was touted as a breakthrough to eventually power 1.6 million homes and help the state and federal government reach ambitious climate change goals through clean energy production. The plan includes floating 380 windmills across a nearly 400-square-mile (1,035-square-kilometer) area that is 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Morro Bay. The California wind farms would produce a combined 4.6 gigawatts, with the Morro Bay operation providing two-thirds of that output. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said he included $20 million in his revised budget...

If Australia’s wind turbine fleet hadn’t cost power consumers $20 billion to build, the joke would almost be funny. Spread from Far North Queensland to the West Coast of South Australia, on the Eastern Grid, Australia’s wind farms are located in 5 States: Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland (see below). In SA they’re spread from Port Augusta in the North, west to Cathedral Rocks on lower Eyre Peninsula and south to Millicent in the South-East. In Tasmania, Cape Portland (Musselroe) and Woolnorth (Cape Grim) are situated on its northern coastline. There are turbines spread all over Victoria, from...

For nearly two decades, commercial wind farms have been touted in Maine as a way to generate electricity without pollution, and as a way rural locales in Maine can generate revenue for themselves by hosting turbines worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But several counties and towns are finding out they are getting less revenue out of the wind projects than they had expected when they were wooed in the 2000s and 2010s by developers looking to erect turbines several hundred feet tall along local remote, elevated ridgelines. In some cases, the developers are arguing that recent advancements in wind...

Between January 9 and February 4 this year, 29 sperm whales got stranded and died on English, German and Dutch beaches. Environmentalists and the news media offered multiple explanations – except the most obvious and likely one: offshore wind farms. Indeed, that area has the world’s biggest concentration of offshore wind turbines, and there is ample evidence that their acoustic pollution can interfere with whale communication and navigation. However, Britain’s Guardian looked for answers everywhere but in the right place. That’s not surprising, as it tends to support wind energy no matter the cost to people or the environment. After...

The Queen and Prince Charles could make more than £100million a year from the huge expansion of offshore windfarms – thanks to a change in the way that the monarchy is funded. The green energy earnings of the Royal Family are being significantly boosted by an auction, which formally began last week, for the biggest offshore windpower development in the world. If they were still being paid by the long-established Civil List, the Royals would not have benefited. ... Prince Charles is a vociferous campaigner for renewable energy sources but is opposed to turbines being erected on land – particularly...

[2013]Conclusion Industrial wind turbines can harm human health if sited too close to residents. Harm can be avoided if IWTs are situated at an appropriate distance from humans. Owing to the lack of adequately protective siting guidelines, people exposed to IWTs can be expected to present to their family physicians in increasing numbers. The documented symptoms are usually stress disorder–type diseases acting via indirect pathways and can represent serious harm to human health. Family physicians are in a position to effectively recognize the ailments and provide an empathetic response. In addition, their contributions to clinical studies are urgently needed to...

Ramping up wind power in America would also dial up the nation’s temperatures, a new study out of Harvard found. While wind energy is widely celebrated as environmentally friendly, the researchers concluded that a dramatic, all-out expansion in the number of turbines could warm the country even more than climate change from burning coal and other fossil fuels, because of the way the spinning blades disturb the layers of warm and cold air in the atmosphere. Some parts of the central United States are already seeing nights that are up to 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) warmer because of...

Windmills use an enormous amount of copper. For example, a single wind turbine can contain 335 tons of steel, 4.7 tons of copper, 3 tons of aluminum and 700-plus pounds of rare earth minerals. ... In fact, wind and solar energy use more copper than conventional forms of energy, such as coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants. Conventional power plants require about one ton of copper to produced one megawatt of electricity, whereas wind and solar can require between three to five tons per megawatt. ... Make no mistake, switching from reliable sources of electricity like coal, natural gas,...

Some nights, Sean Harris is sitting watching the TV and he thinks he hears the fridge humming. On other occasions, he has been out on the road around his home in Ballyduff in West Waterford, and the engine sounds as if it’s a car approaching him from behind. Those are the more benign effects of the Barnafaddock Wind Farm, as he sees it. He is not alone, but neither are his problems shared with huge numbers in his rural community. In most people’s view, the wind farm is in the mountains and its developer has compensated the community with funds...