The old....
I can’t believe how many people hate wind towers. And hate does not begin to describe the strong feelings against them.
I don’t like the way electrical poles look either…but having electricity sure is nice.
Lovely power lines...necessary to get the energy out, though! Some of them are buried, but BPA was saving money and this field took the hit, making it much harder to farm. But wasting energy hating how things "are" cannot be good for anyone.
Mitch Swecker, Oregon Department of Aviation, claims wind towers are “pincushions for pilots” and that too many have already been built. (Mitch “manages” the Wasco ‘cropduster’ strip from Salem, OR. I wonder if he even knows where we are?) After four towers were approved and in the process of being built, the FAA (Washington D.C.) decided they were too close to our little Wasco airport pattern. So the FAA revoked the permits and suspended building on the Portland General Electric (PGE) Biglow project, costing Portland General Electric customers $1.3 million for bases and roads so far. (It will cost even more to eventually remove them) Mind you, we have no services at this airport – no fuel, no Fixed Base Operation.
For an airport with minimal traffic that was over-improved with millions of taxpayer dollars to begin with that mainly crop dusters use, this decision is equivalent to the joke about a Masters and Doctorate degrees: more shit piled higher and deeper.
Wasco International (Just kidding...)
And lead-in lights, please???
We need a control tower now...oh, and don't forget to give the controllers and extra hour off according to new FAA regulations. Really? How about 16 hours off for some real sleep. Pilots and controllers don't make good robots.
A survivor! Seriously, I love birds.
The Audubon Society claims the towers kill birds, and the joke around here is “only the stupid ones.”
But, seriously, the environmentalists are walking the fields all the time looking for dead birds…without results. Unless we have fast coyotes that eat them before they are found, there are less dead birds from wind towers than from them hitting pane glass in houses or cars or airplane engines.
I hate killing an animal…or seeing one killed. The pickup in front of me hit a squirrel the other day, and the poor little thing was dead before he hit the ground. But I also know that death is part of life, and the towers are no longer designed as ideal nesting spots. I think the birds used to mistake them for trees, and the baby birds never had a chance.
We have had the Oregon-California Trail Association stopping two of our towers within sight of the trail, a trail that was miles wide in spots and ran right through our county. The agenda of a few people in OCTA is to map and privatize a walking trail, through private ground, all the way from St. Louis. So, I went to Eugene with John DeMoss to voice my opinion at one of their meetings. I learned that most members present believe both towers and the trail can co-exist. But the men who have a private agenda wrote this in their newsletter:
The 2008 State Historic Preservation Office Heritage Conference was in May. Glenn Harrison and Stafford Hazelett attempted to give reports on the condition of the Oregon Trail in Oregon but were interrupted by representatives of wind energy proponents from Sherman County who deny the existence of the Oregon Trail across Sherman County. Five new sites for inclusion on the National Park Service’s list of High Potential Historic Sites along the Oregon Trail were described.
NW Trails_Spring 2009
Oregon Trail: Lets pave the whole trail, from St. Louis to the Willamette Valley - the federal government can use their power of eminent domain to appropriate private ground, taking it off the tax base. Oh, wait, who pays for the that?
The next newsletter seemed more balanced:
In the Northwest we face significant challenges resulting from the emphasis on renewable energy in the form of wind farms. The challenge is great: the eastern portions of Oregon and Washington are the location of extensive energy projects (wind turbines and transmission lines) which often coincide with important trail resources. While trail protection is our priority, we must acknowledge the need for energy from these sources. (David Welch) NW Trails_Fall 2009
We were there for this reenactment of the crossing of the John Day River on the Oregon Trail.
If we had these Indian remains in our fields instead of arrowheads and wagon wheel tracks, I would be protesting!! All I am asking...is give common sense a try.
Archaeological remains of native Americans (arrowheads and cook pots) have stopped other sights, along with people who claim to dislike how the towers look and make them ‘feel’. We have become a society that reacts to the squeaky wheel with too much grease and no common sense.
People complain of health problems: anxiety due to low-frequency noise and toddlers waking up screaming in the middle of the night (Don’t people who are not living near wind projects have these issues, too?)
I think toddlers have always screamed. I am just saying... 
People claim wind power is too expensive. That it is subsidized by the federal government. Yet, realistically, what kinds of power are not subsidized? Hydropower was subsidized too, when the dams were built. Coal, natural gas, nuclear…. The hope and dream is that, someday, wind and solar will be efficient and clean and viable. We have to start somewhere, and I am excited to be in the middle of a project.
John Day Dam, Columbia River, Oregon
There’s a special on PBS this month called Beyond The Light Switch. I am hopeful that Scientific American’s David Biello will present a balanced view of where we are and where we should go with our energy needs.
BeyondTheLightSwitch.com
Celilo Falls. I wish there were some way to build dams and powerplants without hurting anything or anyone. Someday.
BPA and wind developers are arguing over the “looming problem of too much power from renewables” according to the Oregonian, and they are planning on shutting off the wind power in June and July to use the dams more.
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/04/bpa_wind_developers_argue_over.html
Controversy over wind towers...an ever present storm and certainty.
Our whole grid needs to be updated, so that we can use wind when it is available. Shutting down an entire region of wind farms during the windiest time of the year is ludicrous.
Change is a certainty, not an option.
A storm may be brewing (actually this was a fire!)
Actual wind costs could be closer to 8 - 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to Jeff Davis, Wasco Electric COOP. This graph is from their Ruralite magazine.
The new.
Road closed due to four more broken poles. So much for Wasco Electric and Sherman County maintenance...where does all that wind tower money go?
