To Whom This May Concern:
Three cheers for the Maryland Conservation Council, whose skepticism about a massive wind project off Ocean City's shore is well founded. Highly fluctuating wind technology is one of the silliest modern energy ideas imaginable, enabled by Enronesque tax sheltering schemes for large corporations like General Electric and Florida Power and Light, which together own or operate most of the nation's wind projects--virtually all paid for by taxpayers. There's a good reason we moved away from reliance on wind contraptions 200 years ago.
Note this statement from energy expert Tom Hewson, taken from his July article in Power magazine ("Calculating Wind Power's Environmental Benefits"):
"[Wind] has no generating capacity value, and ... will not displace building any new coal or natural gas generating capacity. Grid reserve margins require wind back up, and the inefficiency of quickly firing up a natural gas unit to meet erratic wind generation output means any emissions displacement is minimal. Wind is simply an additional capital cost which proves to be more than twice as expensive for the ratepayer."
Contrary to the energy du jour claims from Governor O'Malley and the Maryland Energy Administration, wind is also a ghastly economic scheme, mirroring the subprime mortgage debacle in service to ignorance and greed. Moreover, wind has no environmental benefits that would justify endangering many species of wildlife along the coast, in the Bay, and atop the state's heritage mountains.
Environmentalists who support such nonsense have the knowledge of their good intentions and the courage of their hypocrisies....
Jon Boone
Intervenor in Maryland PSC Wind Hearings
503 East Alder Street
Oakland, MD 21550
301-334-3840
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