Political FUD against Wind Power

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today sharply criticized a provision in a new bill introduced by Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) in the House Natural Resources Committee that the group said would “essentially outlaw the generation of electricity from new wind power plants in the United States and even phase out power production from existing wind turbines.â€

The provision, Subtitle D of H.R. 2337, would:

* Bar any new wind power project until new Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rules are issued – a process likely to take years – and require FWS certification of every turbine
* Require all existing turbines, even small residential units, to cease operating 6 months after issuance of new FWS rules until they are “certified,†an unwieldy bureaucratic process applying to many thousands of turbines that, again, will take years
* Make it a crime, punishable by a $50,000 fine or a year in jail, to construct or generate electricity from an unapproved turbine, even for home use
* Undermine state and federal efforts to promote renewable electricity generation and subvert the growing movement to reduce global warming pollution
* Create an unworkable bureaucracy that will delay clean, emissions-free wind energy projects throughout the U.S.

 

A blanket statement that both parties are equivalent is just as silly.

It seems pretty clear that the current Democrat platform will, so far as environmental issues go:

* Not drill in ANWAR
* Will join the rest of the world in recognizing the threat of global warming,
and will take active steps other than stone-walling
* Stop selling national parks to industry special interests for exploitation
* Not dilute or corrupt the Clean Air Act
* Not infiltrate the EPA with oil lobbyists
* Not suppress science that is at odds with the political agenda of the day

The Democratic party is far from perfect, and the occasional Rahal or Dingel will pop up, but they do not a Republican party, make.