Wind turbines - Governor (Scott Walker R-jobkiller, WI) transforms into intrusive regulator

[jpak]

http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2011/02/02/opinion/doc4d488297656f8448206151.txt

Perhaps it’s Gov. Scott Walker’s goal to have 99 percent of Wisconsin’s energy come from fossil fuels by 2020.

How else to explain his push to effectively ban wind turbines in Wisconsin?

A governor who said job creation is his top priority couldn’t wait two weeks into his new administration before putting the kibosh on the state’s wind energy business.

Walker’s proposal would mandate minimum setbacks of 1,800 feet between a wind turbine and the nearest property line. That compares with a setback distance of 1,250 feet from a neighboring residence approved by the Public Service Commission in a rule adopted last year.

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[Botany]

1. And the energy and utilities companies will be more than thankful .....

.... no high speed rail = more cars burning gas
.... no wind generation of electricity = more old style coal burning power plants

Walker like Ohio's Kasich & Maine's Teabagger Gov. are dedicated to making as much
money as possible for their friends and supporters.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. What is being missed here is that large wind turbines are horrible neighbors

For the larger ones, 1800 feet may not be enough

[Vincardog]

3. Please tell me how are 'large wind turbines are horrible neighbors'? I live close to hundreds

and have NO problem with them

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. Here is a place to start....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/energy-environment/06noise.html?_r=2

Its far from the only site with complaints.

The science on this is still all over the map, but its pretty clear that significant numbers of people have problems living in the vicinity of large turbines. I think additional research is needed, but at this point its fair to assume that some of them are justified.

[jpak]

7. The citizens of Vinalhaven voted overwhelmingly for that project - and they still support it

and the people who complain live a few hundred feet away - where you *can* hear the whoosh of the blades.

Those that feel "duped" could have traveled a half hour inland to Freedom, Maine where a similarly sized wind farm is operating.

The nearest homeowner is a couple hundred feet away - and yes, they can hear the turbines whooshing there.

At the next house down the road - you cannot.

And - as the article states - there is no peer reviewed medical science that links wind turbines with medical problems.

Lots of anecdotes and urban myths - but no data to back them up.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. That does not mean there are not problems

There is some medical data out there, more statistical than linked cause and effect. Some people seem to be more susceptible than others. Clearly it merits further review.

I am not willing to toss wind out due to NIMBY issues, but there are enough complaints and lots of wind farms with unhappy and perhaps unhealthy neighbors that that dismissal of their complaints out of hand is clearly not called for.

I do solar rather than wind since it is what works where I live.

[Vincardog]

12. You can hear them within 300 feet and some people say they have problems. How is that Horrible?

[jpak]

4. at 250 feet, you can hear them outside - at 500 feet not so much

At 1800 feet - you cannot hear them at all.

I've done that experiment.

[NNadir]

6. The wind turbine at your house, does it have a set back?

Um, or is it this close?



The fact that the failed wind industry needs to do stuff (as it did in Massachusetts) demand wholesale prices higher than retail prices, the fact that the parasites who run it want their industry deregulated completely, and the fact that the Danes spend all of their days and nights issuing offshore oil and gas leases, says everything you need to know about this industry.

It's a shit hole industry run by and for shit holes who seek to put the onus for their irresponsibility on future generations.

I am for a well-regulated energy industry. An industry that can't stand regulation is almost certainly running a scam.

[jpak]

8. um..nuclear power plant owners "put the onus for their irresponsibility on future generations"

a shit hole industry run by and for shit holes indeed.

yup

[Kaleva]

10. Some more info before you all make up your minds on this subject

Current rules stipulate a 1250 ft. setback from any neighboring residence. This would allow the wind turbine company's to build within 440 feet of a property line and claim 700 feet into the neighboring property as a safety/collapse zone. In the future, the neighboring property owner may not plant trees or build any structure within the safety/collapse zone even though they own the property unless they receive permission to do so from the wind turbine company. Even then, insurance company's may not insure the new structure as it lays withing the safety zone.

The new rules proposed by Gov. Walker would stipulate that the entire safety/collapse zone lay within the property of the wind turbine company. Neighboring property owners may grant the wind turbine company a waiver to build closer to the property line but the turbine would still have to be at least 1250 ft. from any structure.

[Fledermaus]

11. Its really stupid. Every county gets royalties for each turbine located in the county.

And because its renewable energy it will never run out.