Feds to push Atlantic wind-energy sites

Posted on November 29, 2010

The Obama administration announced a plan to speed the development of wind energy by searching the Atlantic Coast for the most desirable places to build windmills rather than wait for developers to propose sites that could hurt the environment or sit in the middle of a shipping lane.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said the policy change is the result of "a lesson learned" from the grueling fight over the Cape Wind project to place wind turbines in Massachusetts' scenic Nantucket Sound.

Nick Loris, a research associate in energy and environment at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said that although the new initiative sounds good, it will face challenges.

"Wherever you go, there will be hurdles to jump over," Loris said.

Wind energy development will hurt scenic landscapes and drive up utility costs, he said. "It would take 59 Cape Wind projects to be equivalent to one offshore natural gas project. You're talking about a lot of projects up the coast."

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Comments 1.

November, 29 2010, 11:33 AM (By Tom Delotto)

How can Nick Loris make that comparison? 59 Cape Wind Projects equals 1 Offshore Natural Gas Project? Cape Wind max output is 468 MW or 27,612 MW as multiplied by the magic "59" used above. With zero pollution and zero fossil fuel used. Can a powerplant make that much power? And with how many millions of tons of pollution ?? And what is he talking about with regard to an "Offshore Natural Gas project"? A terminal to bring Nat Gas into the country from the Middle East?



RI has developed a SAMP that can be used as a model of fast tracking projects to get us into the game and moving forward.



We need to awake up to a simple plan but a plan that will take time to get the US on the ball - Install wind energy offshore near the load centers of the NE US. Get our rail and trucking industry on track to convert over to Nat Gas as a fuel source to increase efficiency, reduce pollution and dependance on diesel fuel produced from Foreign Hostile oil sources. Get rid of all these "experts" who work for the oil and coal industry under the cloak of "Foundations".