Enviros call on RFK Jr. to support Cape Wind project

Over 150 activists send letter asking Kennedy to reconsider position

Posted by Lisa Hymas at 7:36 PM on 06 Jan 2006

Cape Wind Associates' plan to build a big wind-power farm off the coast of Cape Cod has been dividing enviros for years, but the disagreement got a lot more heated last month when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ran a high-profile op-ed railing against the project in The New York Times.

An excerpt:

These turbines are less than six miles from shore and would be seen from Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Hundreds of flashing lights to warn airplanes away from the turbines will steal the stars and nighttime views. The noise of the turbines will be audible onshore. A transformer substation rising 100 feet above the sound would house giant helicopter pads and 40,000 gallons of potentially hazardous oil. According to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the project will damage the views from 16 historic sites and lighthouses on the cape and nearby islands. The Humane Society estimates the whirling turbines could every year kill thousands of migrating songbirds and sea ducks.

That didn't sit so well with many enviros who see climate change as the big environmental issue and therefore think renewable-energy projects should be welcomed in all our backyards. More than 150 green leaders and activists this week sent a letter to Kennedy asking him to reconsider. Word is Kennedy said he'll meet with them to discuss. We'll keep you posted.

Meantime, here's the letter:

January 3, 2006

Mr. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Chief Prosecuting Attorney
Riverkeeper
828 South Broadway
Tarrytown, NY 10591

Dear Mr. Kennedy,

As advocates for a clean-energy future, we admire your forceful advocacy for action on global warming. We are now writing to respectfully request that you reconsider your position against the vitally important Cape Wind project.

Cape Wind would provide roughly 75 percent of the electricity for Cape Cod. It is crucial to establishing America's economic and environmental leadership on global warming. Cape Wind would prove the viability of wind as a good source of energy to American investors, politicians and the public, and will address issues of poverty and social justice in greater Boston. The management of Cape Wind plans to use local port facilities with available capacity, as a manufacturing center for wind farms up and down the East Coast. That manufacturing facility would create hundreds of jobs for under or unemployed residents of the area.

Like the tens-of-thousands of other Americans in the growing movement to stop global warming, you know that addressing this crisis will require a dramatic transformation of America's energy economy. Doing so will require more than simply buying hybrid cars and installing fluorescent light bulbs. It will require the development of a large-scale, alternative energy infrastructure capable of meeting the nation's energy needs.

According to both the U.S. Department of Energy and a Massachusetts state energy agency, wind power could provide all the electricity used in the United States today. By contrast, the continuing use of coal-generated electricity (since coal is the most carbon-intensive of fuels) will hasten the day when large parts of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the outer Cape are submerged by rising sea levels.

Nothing threatens the Earth's most special places more than global warming. The changes being wrought by our warming of the atmosphere are melting the Arctic tundra, overheating the Amazon rainforest, and heating the oceans. We are, simply put, in a state of ecological emergency. Constructing windmills six miles from Cape Cod, where they will be visible as half-inch dots on the horizon is the least that we can do.

A diverse coalition of Americans, including forward-thinking CEOs, evangelical leaders, and college students, is building a hopeful future of clean-energy sources, cutting-edge technologies, and rewarding and high-paying jobs. The installation of the Cape Wind farm will be an important turning-point for this new grassroots movement.

We urge you to reconsider your opposition to Cape Wind, and to support the truly hopeful movement it represents.

Signed,

Meg Boyle
Executive Director, The Climate Campaign

Gary Braasch
Environmental Photographer, worldviewofglobalwarming.org

Michael Brune
Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network

Anthony D. Cortese, Sc.D.
President, Second Nature

Dr. Robert Costanza
Gordon Gund Professor of Ecological Economics and Director, Gund Institute of Ecological Economics, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, The University of Vermont

Jared Duval
National Director, Sierra Student Coalition

Ross Gelbspan
Author of The Heat is On and Boiling Point

Ted Glick
Project Coordinator, Climate Crisis Coalition

Eban Goodstein
Executive Director, The Green House Network

Jonathan Isham, Ph.D.
Department of Economics and Program in Environmental Studies, Middlebury College

Russell Long, Ph.D.
Founder, Bluewater Network, and Vice President, Friends of the Earth US

Father Paul Mayer,
Co-founder, The Climate Crisis Coalition

Bill McKibben
Author of The End of Nature

David Merrill
Executive Director, GlobalWarmingSolution.org

Aditya Nochur
MA State Coordinator, Climate Campaign, Tufts University

Ted Nordhaus
The Breakthrough Institute

Alfred Padula
Chair, Green Campus Consortium of Maine

Billy Parish
Coordinator, Energy Action

John Passacantando
Executive Director, Greenpeace USA

Michael Shellenberger
The Breakthrough Institute

Tom Stokes
Co-founder, The Climate Crisis Coalition

Mike Tidwell
Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Anne Adler
Greenwich, CT

Ben Adler
Greenwich, CT

Richard Adler
Greenwich, CT

Robert Adler
Middlebury, VT, Sunday Night Group, Middlebury College

Corinne Almquist
Randolph, NJ, Energy Action/Middlebury College

Caroline Ballou
Burlington, VT, Students for Peace and Global Justice, University of Vermont

M. Robin Barone, Esq.
Newbury, VT

Aaron Barr
Blacksburg, VA, GE Wind Energy and Virginia Tech grad

Will Bates
Greenwich, CT, Middlebury College

Carly Berger
Princeton, NJ, Middlebury College

Christina Billingsley
Dallas, TX, University of Washington Sierra Student Coalition

Jean E. Thomson Black
Darien, CT

G. May Boeve
Sonoma, CA, The Climate Campaign/Middlebury College

Tom Brennan
Yardley, PA, Princeton Environmental Action

David Carlson
Middlebury, VT, People for Less Pollution

Bill Chaloupka, Ph.D.
Fort Collins, CO, Colorado State University,

Mary Jane Clay
Lake Bluff, IL

Ainsley Close
Mercer Island, WA, Sunday Night Group, Middlebury College

Frank Conrad
Rutland, Vermont, Principal, Business Strategy Advisors of Vermont

Sarah Coppinger
Philadelphia, PA, University of Vermont

Lindsey Corbin
Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, MA

Laurie Cox
Ripton, VT

Spencer Lafayette Cox
Marina del Rey, CA, Middlebury College

Liz Cunningham
Burlington, VT, Vermont Campus Energy Group

Lindsay Dahl
St. Paul, MN

Jessica DeBiasio
St. Petersburg, FL, University of Vermont

Lori Del Negro, Ph.D.
Lake Forest, IL, Lake Forest College

Shannon Donegan
Seattle, WA, Co-Commodore of the Middlebury College Sailing Club who knows from experience how great the Cape winds are after starting her sailing career there

Michael K. Dorsey, Ph.D.
Dartmouth College, Environmental Studies Program

Jesse Feinberg
Newton, MA, Co-coordinator Big Red Go Green, Madison, WI

Jay Fitzgerald
Brunswick, ME, Middlebury College

Lindsey Franklin
Concord, MA, Sunday Night Group, Middlebury College

Amelia Gerlin
Shelburne, VT

Sara Granstrom
New Haven, VT, Sunday Night Group, Middlebury College

Samantha Green
Hamilton, ON, Canada, Sierra Youth Coalition

Dudley Greeley
Cumberland, ME, Sustainability Coordinator, University of Southern Maine

Catherine Gruber
Bryn Mawr, PA, University of Vermont

Elizabeth Guenard
Lunenburg, MA, University of Vermont

Carol Guest
Norwich, VT, Middlebury College

Ashley Hall
Burlington, VT, Vermont Student Environmental Program

Gordon Hamilton, PhD
Orono, ME, Climate Change Institute, University of Maine

Liz Hartman
Albany, NY, State University of New York at Albany and Kyoto Now!

Dr. Steve Hegedus
Newark, DE, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Studies

Bonnie Hemphill
Cary, NC, Sunday Night Group, Middlebury College

Jamie Henn
Cambridge, MA, Energy Action

Melissa Henry
San Pedro, CA, Environmental Consciousness Outreach of Tufts
University

Timothy Den Herder-Thomas
Jersey City, NJ, Macalester Conservation and Renewable Energy Society (MacCARES)

Tracy Himmel Isham
Cornwall, VT, Middlebury College

Connie Hogarth
The Climate Crisis Coalition

Katelyn Homeyer
Burlington, VT, University of Vermont

Anne Hoover
Middlebury, VT, People for Less Pollution

Emily Irwin
New Canaan, CT, Middlebury College

Jon Isham, Sr.
Middlebury, VT

Libby Isham
Middlebury, VT

Andrew Jacobi
New York, NY

AugustusJordan
Middlebury, VT, Middlebury College

Daniel Kane
Middlebury, VT, Middlebury College

Chris McGrory Klyza, Ph.D.
Bristol, VT, Middlebury College

Linda J. Knutson
Middlebury, VT, Middlebury College

Charles Komanoff
Economist and Environmental Activist

Rachel Korschun
Atlanta, GA, Middlebury College

Emma Kosciak
Groton, MA, Saint Michael's College/Climate Campaign

Joseph Laur
Wendell, MA, Society for Organizational Learning Sustainability Consortium

Retta Leaphart
Helena, MT, Middlebury College

David Leighton
Ellington, CT, University of Connecticut

Austen Levihn-Coon
Austin, TX, Energy Action

Caitlin Littlefield
Andover, MA, Middlebury College

Steven Maier
State Representative, Vermont General Assembly

Trista McGetrick
Louisville, KY, Sunday Night Group, Middlebury College

Julia McKinnon
Kalispell, MT, Middlebury College

Tylor Middlestadt
San Luis Obispo, CA, President, Associated Students, Inc.

Kathleen Mikulski
Brookline, MA, SustainUS.org

Wendy Morgan
Peacham, VT

Katharine Mountcastle
New Canaan, CT, Trustee, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

Kenneth Mountcastle
New Canaan, CT

Noah Munro
Boston, MA, Energy Action

Suvi Neukam
Amherst, NH, Middlebury College

Johanna Nichols
Cornwall, VT, from my faith as a Unitarian Universalist

Rachel Norton
Denver, CO, Sunday Night Group, Middlebury College

Michael Olinick
Middlebury, VT

Judith Olinick
Middlebury, VT

Susan Olshuff
Lenox, MA

Clare O'Reilly
Briarcliff, NY, Student Conservation Association

Jeremy Osborn
Simsbury, CT, Energy Action

Ellen Oxfeld
Middlebury, VT (summer Cape Cod vacationer too)

Spencer Paddock
Missoula, MT

Greg Pahl
Weybridge, Vt., Author

Esther Palmer
Columbus, OH

Michael Palmer, J.D., Ph.D.
Cornwall, VT, Strategies for Good Outcomes

Michael Philbin
Bolton, MA, Middlebury College

Emily Picciotto
Middlebury College

Elizabeth Quinn
East Hampton, NY, Sunday Night Group, Middlebury College

Barry Rabe, Ph.D.
Ann Arbor, MI, University of Michigan.

Carrie Reed, Ph.D.
Middlebury, VT, Middlebury College

Ron Rink
Springboro, Ohio

Micah J. Rose
Seattle, WA, Sierra Student Coalition UW

Mike Rosen
Seattle, WA

Jean Rosenberg
Middlebury, VT

Peter Rosenau Viola
Bryn Mawr, PA, Middlebury College

Rebecca Ryals
Brodheadsville, PA, Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences

Hazel Ryerson
Cambridge, MA, University of Vermont

Carlos Rymer
Ithaca, NY, Cornell University

Jason Schaefer
Dakota Resource Council/Energy Action

Rev. Diana F. Scholl
Middlebury, VT

Amy Seif
Portsmouth, NH

Mark Stout
Fresno, CA, Renewable Energy/Air Quality Consultant

Andrea Suozzo
New York, NY, Sunday Night Group, Middlebury College

Patrick Swan
Horseheads, NY, Middlebury College

Peter Teague
New York, NY

Kim Teplitzky
Fairfax, VA, Temple University/Sierra Student Coalition

Richard Valentinetti
Moretown, VT

Erin Vaughan
Albany, NY, University of Vermont, Vermont Student Environmental Program (VSTEP)

Liz Veazey
Morganton, NC, Energy Action

John Wade
Jackson, MS

Jon Warnow
Middlebury, VT

Spencer Weart
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, American Institute of Physics

Caroline Webster
Belmont, MA, concerned citizen

Michael Werner
Easton, PA, Lafayette Environmental Awareness and Protection

Julia West
Ipswich, MA, Middlebury College

Juliana Williams
Bellevue, WA, Sierra Student Coalition, Whitman College

Nora Williams
Minneapolis, MN, Middlebury College

Matt Wormser
Shelburne, VT

Dave Wright
Sturbridge, MA, Middlebury

For story: Enviros call on RFK Jr. to support Cape Wind project
21 Comments | Post a Comment

Well...

I agree with Kennedy. Industrial noise and sound, along with destruction of natural views, are also environmental harms. Instead of advocating for these harms to reduce the harms caused by overpopulation and overconsumption of energy, we should advocate fixing those two roots of the problem. Even if you want to attack the symptoms, solar panels on every roof and/or a windmill in every backyard (or on every parking lot if it's a commercial property) would be a far better solution. Projects that require lots of windmills destroying natural areas, or that require power lines, are not environmentally friendly by any definition.

Also, global warming is not the most pressing environmental issue. Extinction and destruction of ecosystems are far more urgent. While global warming could contribute to these, it would not be a major cause.

Jeff Hoffman

by jdhlax at 12:16 AM on 07 Jan 2006

Me too.

Terrible siting jd.

Junior suggested installations further offshore as a solution.

There are many, many benefits to that idea.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/1/6/1620469.html

I really like the push of Cape Wind to highlight local manufacturing of the wind farm components!

Floating platforms further offshore all up and down the east coast would not have the NIMBY objections either, outa sight outa mind.

Ocean current generators (upside down "wind" mills extending under the platforms) could run constantly on the power of the gulf stream as a substatial supplement to the wind machines.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 5:23 AM on 07 Jan 2006
[ Parent ]

Enviros call on RFK Jr to Support Cape Wind

The letter to Mr. Kennedy states that:

"According to both the U.S. Department of Energy and a Massachusetts state energy agency, wind power could provide all the electricity used in the United States today. By contrast, the continuing use of coal-generated electricity (since coal is the most carbon-intensive of fuels) will hasten the day when large parts of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the outer Cape are submerged by rising sea levels."

This is nonsense.

In order for wind to generate enough power to replace a typical power plant it would take up to 300 square miles of wind turbines. That is the size (and view) of New York City for one replacement wind farm! So lets do the math... Let's say there are approximately 10,000 power plants in the USA and just for the fun of it let's say they are all of typical size... if wind farms were to replace them, they would cover 3,000,000 square miles. The USA itself is 3,537,441 square miles.

by caprimulgiformes at 10:02 AM on 07 Jan 2006

Figures don't lie

Hehey, you know the rest.

The actual figure to replace the 600,000 mw of US generating electric capacity would take around 10% of the land on the high wind speed area of the northern great plains.

And even this would not use much of that area, grazing cattle, wildlife, and farms could use 90% of that space under the wind farm.

Add another 10% percent to recharge all the electric vehicles needed to replace oil burning transportation.

With offshore wind off both coasts even less land area would be needed. Perhaps one sixth from each region west coast, east coast, gulf coast, northern midwest...then add giant solar installations that generate power and recycle and desalinate water in the desert southwest.

And then the other sixth by putting solar and wind up on about half of the homes and buildings in the USA.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 12:26 PM on 07 Jan 2006
[ Parent ]

fact check time

On noise - offshoe wind farms in Europe cannot be heard from shore including ones much closer to land than these would be. Offshore wind turbines are hard to hear right up close. Turbine noise has been reduced and its noisy out there from the wind and waves.

On land use. The shoal area where this wind farm would be located is 24 square miles, of which, over 99.9% will remain open water, where boats (that don't mind shoals) will continue to be able to go, and it will produce power plant type power (170 MW on average, which is nothing to sneeze at).

by capeguy at 4:38 PM on 07 Jan 2006

On Visual Blight And Noise

Humans aren't the only ones living here, HELLOOO! The birds and fish shouldn't have to put up with noise or ruined views, either. Again, no wind farms, just local power supplied by solar or wind for each building.

Jeff Hoffman

by jdhlax at 1:43 AM on 08 Jan 2006

ruined views for fish?

Well, you've made a heck of a point there, yeah, let's not build the wind farm because we're worried about the view of the fish. Actually, I think they'll like the look of the stuff growing on the wind turbine foundations!

by capeguy at 4:14 PM on 08 Jan 2006
[ Parent ]

And You've Provided...

a perfect example of why some people are misanthropes. If you don't care about other creatures, I certainly don't care about you!

Jeff Hoffman

by jdhlax at 9:14 PM on 08 Jan 2006

Reefs are where the action is!

I echo the thoughts of Capeguy. Most of the ocean is underwater desert. Coral reefs are the true venues of vitality. To the extent they encourage reef development, such structures as turbine platforms benefit marine life.

Ken Duble

by kduble at 7:51 PM on 09 Jan 2006

We Live In Different Worlds

Our priorities are clearly quite different. I value nature and all life above all else, including humans' selfish and egomaniacal desire to use as much unnatural energy as they want. I strongly oppose ruining natural areas just so that humans can play with their idiotic toys.

Re kdub's comment about deserts, that's just what those inbred, moronic off roaders say. The fact is that there's life everywhere - water is a form of life - and that it's all sacred. The biggest problem in the world, by far, is that most humans don't recognize that sacredness or respect it.

Jeff Hoffman

by jdhlax at 11:40 PM on 09 Jan 2006

Does wind even count at 1%

A new study reveals that wind power is still an incredibly small percentage of total power supply in the US. Barely 1% by 2010 if you're being generous. I've got the math at Earth Sentinel, which covers peak oil, renewable energy, and climate change.

by Earth Sentinel at 12:17 PM on 10 Jan 2006

Projections

Those pessemistic projections tend to move us all closer to ... the ultimate pessimism. Death.

Human energy is better invested in hopeless causes, like this green energy revolution, than in really hopeless causes, like living out self fullfilling disasters, one oil war, climate shift, and terror attack after another.

Break the cycle.

Was the idea of producing millions of ships, planes, aircraft, tanks, trucks, guns ...and the atom bomb (talk about looking impossible!!) in a few short years, to win WW 2, impossible?

We are in a downward spiral, a cold/hot war over energy. And there are extra WMDs out there that anyone can buy for the right price.

This production of green energy revolutionary "war" machines needs to approached as WW 2 war production was. This is global survival at stake, not just national.

Build the millions of solar panels and geothernal heat pumps, like duuhbya has at his ranch, and millions of wind machines from home size all the way to 1000 foot industrial scale. And the millions of electric cars, buses, trucks, trains, and yes even aircraft.

We can win these series of neverending cycles of oil war with a massive war production effort.

No more need for oil, no more oil wars and climate disaster.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 1:35 PM on 10 Jan 2006
[ Parent ]

cape wind project

I admire RFK Jr, but must support the cape wind project. I also am offended that says he cares more about global warming than anybody! Anybody! How could he possibly know this. Maybe he'd like to speak to environmentalist in south louisiana (I know they are hard to find!) Nantuket Sound is no doubt lovely and historical, but not a protected wilderness area. Projects such as cape wind should not be the only solution to global warming, but until individuals and corporations world wide are willing to change the status quo, we have to implement reasonable and immediate solutions. This is one of those solutions. Mr. Kennedy , with all due respect, discover compromise and acceptance. Shelley Farrell Louisiana

shelley farrell sulphur, la

by suedeblue at 8:37 PM on 14 Jan 2006

Offshore

It sure would be nice to see thousands of wind and wave generating floating platforms in your region shelley.

Or rather not see them from the coast. Oil drilling platforms and refineries replaced with perpetual green energy! Onward!

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

by amazingdrx at 3:17 AM on 15 Jan 2006
[ Parent ]

Komanoff is not an environmentalist

That's what it says here.

by ericr at 2:14 PM on 14 Mar 2006

Family Ties

Theodore Roosevelt IV, the grandson or great grandson of Teddy, is a significant backer of the Nantucket project, and is no friend of the Kennedys. The leaders of this project are not liberals.

by ffletcher at 7:53 AM on 26 Jul 2006

re

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

by asergen at 2:39 PM on 15 Sep 2006
[ Parent ]

Cape Wind Project

Living near many windfarms, I wouldn't wish them on anyone or anything. They have destroyed some of the most beautiful canyons and ancient vistas of the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs. Big wide roads have been constructed for huge industrial windmills on once pristine, beautiful mountaintops. Those roads get regraded after every rainstorm sending clouds of dust over the desert. Most of the towers leak oil, some have broken propellers and many are poorly maintained. Acres of what was once beautiful, open desert are now windmill salvage yards. They go haywire and catch fire causing brush fires every summer in our high risk fire area. The local politicians love windmill developers (they actually own power plants!) and their ready supply of campaign cash for any candidate who will support their underhanded land grabs. Then those politicians get elected and, you guessed it, approve that developers next big windmill project. It works every time. Worst of all, windmills don't just blight the area they occupy, they render all the surrounding land useless for any other purpose. The windmill developers certainly don't live near windmills, because no one wants to. So eventually all the surrounding landowners have no other choice but sell out to windmill developers. All these wind energy cheerleaders who write about how great windmills are should go live in the Painted Hills neighborhood near Palm Springs in White Water Ca. High on a hill, it was once one of the Palm Springs areas most beautiful neighborhoods with spectacular mountain views that encompassed the San Jacinto Mountains, the entire Coachella Valley and the Salton Sea shimmering in the distance. But in the 1980's and 90's the Riverside County Board of Supervisors and the Bureau of Land Management gave the place away to windmill developers who have turned it into an industrial slum, overrun by rats because all the birds and bats that were once prevelant in the area are now dead or realize the inevitable threat. The desert tortise, once abundant in the area has been completely eradicated. Starry night skies are now dominated by pulsating red and white air traffic control lights a that illuminate the interiors of Painted Hills homes.
For all the thousands of acres occupied by windmills on California they produce a ridiculous 1.5 percent of the state's power. Do we want to live among countless massive machines higher than the length of a football field and allow them to occupy some of the planet's most beautiful areas like Nantucket Sound just because that's where the wind sometimes blows? I hope not. Let's do something realistic first, that could be done because its been done before, like getting electric cars on the road. Wouldn't it be better to increase incentives on solar panels for individual homeowners than give our tax money to windmill developers?

by les at 8:43 PM on 11 Feb 2007

Not quite useless

windmills don't just blight the area they occupy, they render all the surrounding land useless for any other purpose.

My utility purchases a portion of the output of a wind facility constructed on leased agricultural land.

The fields are still cultivated and grow crops to within a few feet of the access roads and tower foundations. I think less than 1% of the actual leased area was taken out of production for the access roads, tower foundations and O&M building for the facility.

Unless you consider farming useless?

Being on a ridge top, they also share space with microwave communication and cell phone towers. The microwave towers predated the wind turbines and are also required to have aircraft navigation lights.

Which qualify as 'other uses'.

Aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder, as a geeky, techie type, I like the looks of wind turbines.

Common sense is an oxymoron...

by Engineer at 11:35 AM on 12 Feb 2007
[ Parent ]

noise and other matters

jdhlax wrote...

"Humans aren't the only ones living here, HELLOOO! The birds and fish shouldn't have to put up with noise ... either."

Someone might have fun ridiculing this statement, but it raises a very interesting question in my opinion. We already know that sound pollution is a problem for marine wildlife, especially marine mammals. Has anyone looked into how wind turbines floating at sea affect marine mammals? What frequencies are generated underwater, how intense is the noise, how far does it travel? I assume the structure will vibrate somewhat. Does anyone know about how the sound affects mammals and fish, their navigation, their feeding, their breeding?

I originally thought offshore wind platforms were a good idea in that they create very valuable "reef" habitat that could counter some of the human created problems. But I did not think about underwater noise pollution.

And the thought of submerged generators raises even more concerns. More concerns about underwater noise pollutions. And more concerned about wildlife affected by large moving structures.

What is the status of research covering these potential problems?

I apologize for my naivete if this was discussed elsewhere on the Grist website.

by wiscidea at 12:11 PM on 12 Feb 2007

oil leakage?

Newcomer Les adds these interesting observations, about wind turbines in the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs, CA:
<<
Big wide roads have been constructed for huge industrial windmills on once pristine, beautiful mountaintops. Those roads get regraded after every rainstorm sending clouds of dust over the desert. Most of the towers leak oil, some have broken propellers and many are poorly maintained. Acres of what was once beautiful, open desert are now windmill salvage yards. They go haywire and catch fire causing brush fires every summer in our high risk fire area.
>>

What a cinematic imagination! This is almost a screenplay. Thankfully, Les has left out the part about the doomed migratory birds.

In the same message, there is this evocative passage: "it was once one of the Palm Springs areas most beautiful neighborhoods with spectacular mountain views that encompassed the San Jacinto Mountains, the entire Coachella Valley and the Salton Sea shimmering in the distance." Astounding! Write, Les, write!

The impression I get is, Southern Californians were the pioneers with wind farms, and they naturally made their mistakes. But we can learn from those mistakes, and do better next time.

Curiously, the original conversation took place over a year ago. It just goes to show, O ye Gristmill editors, that some issues do not go away, and need to be revisited from time to time.

WiscIdea has got Jdhlax, aka Jeff Hoffman, out of his cryogenic stasis chamber, and is so inspired by that voice out of a long-forgotten past as to ask some interesting questions. In fact I have never read anything about underwater noise generated by wind turbines placed in ocean waters. It would be worthwhile to pursue the subject.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 1:12 PM on 12 Feb 2007

ADVERTISING POLICY

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.