Wisconsin GOP Hates Windpower: Windpower Hates Wisconsin.
March 25, 2011
California had the Terminator. Now, Wisconsin has the Turbine-hater.
Wind energy developer Invenergy pulled the plug on a planned wind farm in Wisconsin last week, in the first of what may be a slew of such money-losing exits for the state.
The Chicago-based firm cited the state’s “regulatory uncertainty” in its decision to cancel plans for the 150-megawatt Ledge Wind Energy Center in southern Brown County.
Invenergy said that the abrupt suspension of state wind siting rules and an “unstable climate” — namely Gov. Scott Walker’s bill to establish the nation’s most stringent wind standards — had forced the firm to think twice about building its 100-turbine project in Wisconsin.
That Sucking sound you hear is the Wisconsin GOP time warp.
The Wisconsin GOP radicals have shown that they hate labor, and apparently hate the industries of the future that might create more work for “union thugs” in their state. In addition to placing roadblocks to new wind projects, the Wisconsin GOP has also nixed high speed rail projects that might jump start yet another major manufacturing industry, and bring thousands of desperately needed jobs to the rust belt.
As the American Wind Energy Association recently reported:
In a major setback for Badger State wind power development, a joint committee of the Wisconsin state legislature voted today to roll back wind farm siting rules developed in a multi-stakeholder process, immediately threatening all future wind power development as well as job growth-and potentially hanging a “closed for business” sign on the state’s potential storefront of economic development from the industry.In a highly unusual and drastic move, the 10-member Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) suspended the Wisconsin Wind Siting Rules, known as PSC128, on the same day they were set to take effect, despite the fact that the rules had been developed by consensus over the course of two years in an open, balanced and collaborative process.
So, now the feelings are apparently mutual. The Wind industry has decided – Wisconsin blows.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
March 25, 2011 at 11:48 am
Fine, more wind power for the rest of us. How do we woo Invernergy to Michigan?
March 25, 2011 at 2:06 pm
As it happens, Michigan is already getting more than one Invenergy wind site:
http://solveclimate.com/news/20110322/michigan-welcomes-wind-farms-renewable-energy
http://www.themorningsun.com/articles/2011/03/16/news/srv0000011169103.txt
March 25, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Technical question: why are windmills white? It seems to me that it makes the NIMBY problem much worse than it needs to be. Grey, black, purple, brown, green are all better colors that reduce the visual distraction of a windmill, whose turning blades seem rather like a neon sign in their ability to attract unwanted attention. Also, I read that purple would kill fewer birds cuz it attracts fewer insects than white. If windmills are white on behalf of low-flying aircraft, perhaps instead of preventing camoflaged windmills, we should prevent low-flying aircraft, for more reasons than this one. Proper fringe towers with flashing lights, and aircraft GPS, should prevent accidents.
March 25, 2011 at 7:15 pm
I agree, I think going forward we’ll see all kind of color schemes.
March 26, 2011 at 8:16 am
You wouldn’t want dark colors for the windmill blades because the composite material they’re made of would get too hot, softening the resin or epoxy that holds the carbon fibers together. Light colors also help slow ultraviolet deterioration of the same materials.
March 26, 2011 at 8:21 am
The Republican party/Tea party really has become a reality free zone.
The Tea Party Congress: A Science-Free Zone
March 8, 2011
“A recent bill introduced in the Montana legislature would have declared, by law, that there is no climate change……. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has recently introduced a bill that would, again, by fiat, with no scientific study whatever, overturn the EPAs finding that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to public health….Nothing exemplifies this more than a bill by House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), to overturn the scientific finding by the Environmental Protection Agency that greenhouse gases are harmful to human health”
https://climatecrocks.com/2011/03/08/the-tea-party-congress-a-science-free-zone/
“Nature Slams U.S. House of Reps”
http://bbickmore.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/nature-slams-u-s-house-of-reps/
April 7, 2011 at 2:11 pm
[…] already reported about Scott Walker and the Wisconsin GOP’s roadblocks to new wind development, and the jobs that they’ve already destroyed already in […]
May 11, 2011 at 3:25 pm
[…] posted here on the recent job killing anti-wind legislation in Wisconsin, and the attack on new-fangled socialist initiatives like Medicare and renewable energy in recent […]
May 16, 2011 at 4:27 am
[…] in the midwest has been focused on Wisconsin, and its new governor Scott Walker, who seems to hate renewable energy as much as he hates unions and the workers who belong to them. He’s not alone of course, […]
June 5, 2011 at 9:02 pm
[…] We’ve seen a number of examples of this over recent months, now the anti-science crusade continues. Lead by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), 9 members of congress have now asked for the closure of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO. […]