Better Plan: The Trouble With Industrial Wind Farms in Wisconsin - Today's Special Feature - 9/25/10 What happened at the last town meeting? If you don't go, you won't know AND what's Fracking? And what does it have to do with Big Wind?

9/25/10 What happened at the last town meeting? If you don't go, you won't know AND what's Fracking? And what does it have to do with Big Wind?

TOWN RESIDENTS WANT WIND TURBINE MORATORIUM

Source Barron News-Shield, www.zwire.com

September 24 2010

Some residents from the town of Forest in St. Croix County aren’t happy with a proposal to introduce wind turbines in their area.

The Tribune Press Reporter reports that local residents have asked their town board for a moratorium on wind turbine developments-a month after the board approved a developer’s agreement with Emerging Energies of Wisconsin to build 37 495-foot turbines there.

More than 100 concerned citizens from Forest attended a recent town board meeting to show their support for a moratorium.

The organized group is also pressing government officials for copies of a number of documents under open records law.

Included in their requests are proof of insurance for the developer, all copies of electronic correspondence between Emerging Energies of Wisconsin and town of Forest officials,board meeting minutes and more.

NOTE FROM THE BPWI RESEARCH NERD:

Emerging Energies was founded by Bill Rakocy who also sits on the Wind Siting Council.

Conflict of interest questions have been raised about the wind siting council, as the majority of council members have a direct or indirect financial interest the outcome of the rules.

Should wind developers seeking profit help write the laws governing wind siting for all of Wisconsin?

“We’re excited to develop as much wind as we can in Wisconsin,” says [Emerging Energies] partner Bill Rakocy."

“The permitting process is a rather long-term effort,” says Rakocy.

“A conditional use permit is good for two years, typically, and it may take you all of that two years to get the balance of the project details put in place.

And then there’s production tax credits available from the federal government, and if they expire in the midst of the project, all your work is for naught.”

SOURCE: "Wind Power's Wind Fall" Marketplace Magazine

SECOND FEATURE: BIG WIND PLUS NATURAL GAS EQUALS TRUE LOVE FOR INDUSTRIES AND LIVING NIGHTMARE FOR RESIDENTS

What about when the wind is calm?

SOURCE: NEWSOK.com

September 24, 2010

By Jay Marks

There has to be a backup plan as more wind is added to the power portfolio of Oklahoma and the nation.

Wind is an intermittent resource, so utility companies must rely on some other power source to generate electricity when the wind is not blowing.

Oklahoma Energy Secretary Bobby Wegener said wind and natural gas work well together in that regard.

Wegener said Colorado tried to use coal as a backup to its wind power, but that destroyed the efficiency of coal plants while increasing emissions.

The coal plants were not built to be turned off and on, but gas-fired plants are more flexible, he said.

Wegener said the best-case scenario is for those industries to promote each other as they try to grow.

NOTE FROM THE BPWI RESEARCH NERD: Wind developers and natural gas developers have been prospecting in the rural town of Meredith, New York, which is featured in the new documentary, WINDFALL.

WINDFALL follows what happened to the community after residents found out a wind farm was planned for their area.

The Town of Meredith is now being prospected by natural gas developers who plan to use a controversial drilling method called fracking. Fracking is the subject of a new documentary called GASLAND, which examines the practices of an industry considered to be a perfect partner for Big Wind