Over at Libs Earthwatch, we discover that Rep. Nick Rahall (D) WV has introduced a new bill as Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
The bill, H.R. 2337, the "Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act" contains a provision, Subtitle D, which will effectively collapse the wind power for energy production market.
Follow below for more.
Statement of Gregory Wetstone
Senior Director for Government and Public Affairs
American Wind Energy Association
For Submission to the House Resources Committee
Upon Consideration of H.R. 2337
The Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act
May 22, 2007
I am writing on behalf of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) to convey our serious concerns regarding Subtitle D of H.R. 2337, the "Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act." AWEA is an association of more than 1000 companies that manufacture, finance, build, sell, operate and maintain our nation’s wind energy facilities.
Excuse the formatting, working off of a html link here from a letter sent to Congress from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). The other option was a pdf file here with which I couldn't work.
This provision would
Bar any new wind power project until new Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rules are issued – a process likely to take years – and require FWS certification of every turbine.
Require all existing turbines, even small residential units, to cease operating 6 months after issuance of new FWS rules until they are "certified," an unwieldy bureaucratic process applying to many thousands of turbines that, again, will take years.
Make it a crime, punishable by a $50,000 fine or a year in jail, to construct or generate electricity from an unapproved turbine, even for home use.
Undermine state and federal efforts to promote renewable electricity generation and subvert the growing movement to reduce global warming pollution.
Create an unworkable bureaucracy that will delay clean, emissions-free wind energy projects throughout the U.S.
Bolding is mine.
What is the Fish and Wildlife Service's stake in this? Apparently, it's killing birds, lots of birds, or as the National Academy of Sciences would put it, wind turbines are responsible for the deaths of
less than 0.003% [three of every 100,000] in 2003.
Link here.
Of course, as far as environmental factors go, wind power totally sucks;
Electricity generated from wind requires no mining or drilling for fuel; no fuel transportation in trucks, rail cars, tankers or pipelines; and no hazardous waste disposal. Wind energy consumes no water. (Most Americans are unaware that the single greatest per capita use of water in this country is for electricity generation, which on average requires 100,000 gallons annually for each of us.) Wind power supplies electricity without toxic pollutants like mercury, and without the conventional pollutants that cause smog and acid rain. And, perhaps most important, wind energy produces no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse pollution.
So, I guess it has to go.
And, of course, these wind power cartels are unwilling to give an inch in their quest for power;
The wind power industry is happy to work with the Committee to build on this state framework through a constructive federal effort. Unfortunately, subtitle D of HR 2337 takes a very different tack, overturning existing state processes and efforts to promote renewable energy in more than 20 states by making the production of clean wind-powered electricity illegal in most circumstances.
Seriously, how much more fucked up could this be?!
Wind power isn't "THE answer", but it's part of the solution.
How could Democrats even CONSIDER making it illegal because 3 birds out of every 100,000 died in 2003 due to windmill impacts?