The Wyoming House on Thursday passed a $1-per-megawatt-hour excise tax on wind energy produced in the state.
Under the legislation, the tax wouldn’t take effect until 2012. Wind turbines wouldn’t be taxed until their third year of operation. The money would be split 60-40 between local governments and the state, respectively.
The tax, proposed by Gov. Dave Freudenthal earlier this month, is intended now to be more of a principled statement than a sizable source of revenue for the state. If a $1-per-megawatt-hour tax existed last year, wind energy companies would have paid Wyoming $4.9 million.
Here is what the last five years of installations looked like in the two countries:*
As recently as 2005, the United States installed nearly five times more wind capacity than China on an annual basis (2,431 MW vs. 498 MW). In 2009, China installed 31% more capacity than the United States did (13,000 MW vs. 9,922 MW).
Fossil fuels are not safe. They are not safe for our planet, they are not safe for our communities, and they are not safe for the workers inside of their power plants. This is not the first power plant explosion, this will not be the last. It is time for America to commit to a clean and safe energy economy – where our friends and neighbors can work in green jobs that give good wages and safe working environments. My heart and prayers are with the workers at the Kleen Energy Plant and with their families — and with the future of our nation to not face such a tragedy again.
Greenhouse gas emissions aside, here are a few recent environmental problems and public health concerns associated with generating electricity from coal, nuclear and natural gas:
Yesterday — Middletown Power Plant Explosion Caused By Gas Leak, Officials Say: “Early reports were that a natural gas leak could have caused a devastating explosion Sunday morning that killed two and injured as many as a dozen more at a power plant being built south of the city on the Connecticut River.”
Last week — Radiation Levels Spike Near Vt. Nuke Plant; Leak Source Not Yet Found: “Levels of radioactive tritium mushroomed Thursday in a new monitoring well at the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, an indication the leak was coming from water that runs through the reactor itself, according to the Department of Health. These are very high concentrations,” said William Irwin, radiological health chief for the Department of Health, who was at the reactor Thursday. “We’re not dealing with a minor system. It’s an important source that needs to be quickly found.”
Last week — The EPA released “engineering assessments of 40 more coal ash impoundments showing they have the ‘high’ or ’significant’ potential to cause loss of human life, environmental damage, or damage to infrastructure.”
9 months ago — 8 Firefighters, 1 Gas Employee Burned In Natural Gas Explosion: “Eight firefighters and a gas company worker were injured in a natural gas explosion at a strip mall in Forestville, Maryland on Thursday afternoon. Despite being caught in the violent explosion, only two of the injured remain hospitalized.”
13 months ago — TVA spilled 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic coal ash in Eastern Tennessee. “A test of river water near the spill showed elevated levels of lead and thallium, which can cause birth defects and nervous and reproductive system disorders”
And here are some recent environmental problems and public health concerns associated with generating electricity from solar, wind and geothermal:
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Actually, there are no environmental problems or public health concerns associated with generating electricity from wind, solar and geothermal sources.
Just something to keep in mind when you hear people talk about ‘cleaner burning natural gas,’ ‘clean coal,’ and ’safe nuclear power.’
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said Monday that a fatal explosion at an unfinished natural gas-fired power plant in Connecticut over the weekend underscores safety concerns about a proposed natural gas pipeline in New Jersey.
An explosion Sunday at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, Connecticut killed at least five workers.
“This tragic incident reminds us that natural gas, while cleaner burning than other fossil fuels, comes with safety risks. The explosion raises a red flag about the construction of a natural gas line that would run through New Jersey primarily for the benefit of New York,” Lautenberg said in a prepared statement.
The American Wind Energy Association, in its annual report to be released on Tuesday, said the amount of capacity added last year, 9,900 megawatts, was the largest on record, and was 18 percent above the capacity added in 2008, also a banner year.
The group said the growth of wind power was helped by the federal stimulus package that passed a year ago, which extended a tax credit and provided other investment incentives for the industry.
T. Boone Pickens has cut his massive order for wind turbines from GE by more than half.
The energy investor, who made wind power a key part of his plan to wean Americans off foreign oil, said Tuesday he will now take delivery of 300 turbines, which he will use for wind farms in Canada and Minnesota.
None of the turbines will come to Texas, as originally planned.
Meanwhile, Pickens continues his campaign to persuade Americans to use natural gas to fuel heavy trucks, rather than diesel. Doing so, he said, could cut Middle East oil imports in half.
I’m not a fan of T. Boone Pickens or the Pickens Plan. I think he is a scam artist, and I don’t think converting our vehicle fleet to natural gas engines is viable. Read more here:
A Democratic senator is calling on the Obama administration to reject an expected request for economic stimulus money for a $1.5 billion West Texas wind energy project.
The joint venture between U.S. and Chinese energy companies will be financed largely by China’s export-import bank.
But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says the project organizers reportedly are planning to ask for 30 percent financing — or $450 million — from the federal stimulus program designed to produce U.S. jobs.
Yet, all of the 240 wind turbines on 36,000 acres in West Texas will be made in a plant in China, producing Chinese jobs. So, Schumer is writing Energy Secretary Steven Chu, urging the administration to reject a request for a federal grant should one arrive.
Senator Schumer’s letter to Secretary Chu is below.
Nothing especially new here, but it is a shame they give Don Blankenship of Massey Energy the last word. Blankenship, who never passes up an opportunity to say something stupid, doesn’t disappoint:
“A lot of coal-using utilities seem to be on the wrong side of this issue,” said Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive of Massey Energy, the largest producer of Appalachian coal, who has called climate legislation a hoax and a Ponzi scheme. “How can they be so confident that man is changing the world climate?”
Daniel Weiss of the Center for American Progress makes a point worth considering:
Some supporters of global warming legislation believe that the division in the once-monolithic oil and gas industry, as well as other splits among energy producers, could improve the prospects for the legislation.
“It’s much harder to pass clean-energy legislation when big oil and other energy interests are united in their opposition,” said Daniel J. Weiss, climate policy director at the liberal Center for American Progress. “The companies that recognize the economic benefits in the bill can help bring along their political supporters.”
All in all, a pretty good summary of the state of play, but nothing new.
The single most important rural economic development initiative before Congress this year is renewable energy legislation. No other debate in Congress has greater potential to create jobs and directly impact rural revitalization in the Midwest and Great Plains.
Recently the Center for Rural Affairs analyzed Department of Energy research on the economic impact of wind energy development that would result from a twenty percent Renewable Electricity Standard – a requirement that power companies obtain twenty percent of the electricity that they sell from renewable sources, like the wind.
A Spanish paper that claimed support for green jobs “may destroy two jobs for every one created” has been debunked by an official publication of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The paper’s conclusions — led by Exxon-funded libertarian Gabriel Calzada — have been cited by GOP leaders, Fox News, right-wing columnists, conservative think tanks, and Big Oil front groups to attack President Obama’s green economic agenda. However, the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) finds that the Spanish authors’ claim that renewable support kills jobs “is not supported by their work.“
