[ RadSafe ] OT: RE: Rational Thought -- Wind Power

[Cary Renquist]

I hate to jump in on threads like this, but I just read something
yesterday that seems relevant.

There may be a bigger setback if wind generation is treated like the
oil/gas industry...

   The U.S. Attorney for North Dakota hauled seven oil and natural 
   gas companies into federal court for killing 28 migratory birds 
   that were found dead near oil waste lagoons.  The Class B
misdemeanors 
   carry fines of up to $15,000 for each dead bird and up to six months 
   in prison.
   You may not be surprised to learn that the Administration isn't 
   prosecuting wind companies for similar offenses.
   The wind industry each year kills not 28 birds, or even a few
hundred, 
   but some 440,000, according to estimates by the American Bird
Conservancy
   based on Fish and Wildlife Service data.

It sounds like legislation will soon be passed that will absolve the
wind industry from responsibility for migratory bird deaths.

---
Cary Renquist
cary.renquist at ezag.com

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Brennan, Mike
(DOH)
Sent: Tuesday, 04 October 2011 14:34
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Rational Thought

If you stop saying things like, "Since the wind energy is free..." you
would enhance your credibility on a number of subjects.  I actually like
wind power, but it is far from free.  The installation costs are high
and will increase, as it becomes more apparent that huge wind turbines
are another NIMBY issue.  This is will become even worse as the best
locations are used, and more marginal locations are left.  Wind turbines
actually take a substantial amount of maintenance, as the machinery is
pretty close to as good as we can currently build.  The decommissioning
costs will be high (what, you thought they would last forever?),
especially if someone decides for non-technical reasons that the
material can't be recycled (as it clearly should be, just as spent
nuclear fuel should be).  There are already people who live within miles
of wind turbines who claim the noise and/or electrical fields are
damaging their health and making the cows act funny.  I live in
confidence that someone who is against wind turbines will be able to
find a cluster of something that can be blamed on them; maybe even
showing that the turbans are so dangerous that the health effects reach
back through time.  

And that's not counting the cost of milling birds and bats, a technical
issue that has been dealt with by deciding not to think about it,
anymore.  

As Dixie Lee Ray said, "There is no such thing as a free lunch.  Behind
every little bundle of love is a pile of dirty diapers."  Industrialists
and environmentalists alike hated her for saying things like that, but
that didn't make her wrong.