[Editor Note: This essay, the fourth in a series aimed at correcting the most harmful wind energy-related policies of the Obama era, examines how the U.S. Department of Energy has set aside its scientific objectivity and, instead, has assumed the role of chief advocate for wind power in the federal government.]
Since 2008, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has touted the technical feasibility of using wind energy to meet 20 percent of the nation’s electricity demand by 2030. In 2015, the agency refined its plan with the release of its Wind Vision, which further qualified the opportunity and laid the groundwork for the US to achieve 10 percent wind power by 2020, 20 percent wind power by 2030, and 35 percent wind power by 2050.
DOE and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) insist that the industry is on track to meet these goals, but even a casual look at DOE’s claims makes clear that the reports are more advocacy than reality.…
“By 2008, nearly 40 percent of U.S. long-range radar systems were already compromised by wind turbines. Today, with more than three-times the wind capacity installed, the problem of radar interference persists.”
“Proper siting of turbines, while politically cumbersome, is the only tried and true form of mitigation. But this means denying wind developers access to land areas covered by radar.”
[Editor Note: This essay, the third in a series aimed at correcting the most harmful wind energy-related policies of the Obama era, examines how pro-wind federal law enacted in 2011 compromised U.S. aviation safety.]
U.S. air space has been made less safe and our national security compromised because of a reckless policy of siting wind towers within 30–40 miles of radar installations. By 2008, nearly 40 percent of U.S.…
“The IRS expanded the two-year development window to four years [from two years to give] … developers countless ways in which to secure the full PTC and never experience the phased-down PTC in the years 2017, 2018, and 2019.”
“One of the first actions by the new administration should be to withdraw and revise IRS notice 2016-31 and change the ‘Continuity Safe Harbor’ to a 2-year period. In addition, we recommend that the controversial elements of the IRS’s ‘start construction’ rules be subject to public review under the Administrative Procedures Act. Lastly, the Congress should … repeal tax credits for wind energy facilities and eliminate Section 45 of the internal revenue code of 1986.”
This essay is the second in a series aimed at exposing abuses by the Obama administration in its effort to force wind power on the public.…