“Trump’s energy policies are my energy policies. Mission accomplished.”

 – Marita Noon, “My Work Here Is Finished,” November 14, 2016.

Marita Noon has been a talented voice in the energy debate during what will be remembered as a particularly dark era. She began by surviving New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson and outlasted Barack Obama at the end.

Interestingly, Marita started from scratch and learned all about energy at a time when there were very few of us working full time from a free market perspective. As a newcomer, she weighted the arguments on their merits and constantly asked: What is energy, why is it important, and why do citizens and voters care about energy?

Marita’s high energy level was something to behold–as in ‘turning your umbrella inside out’.  She spoke to common men and women throughout the industry at conferences, in print, and on the air.…

“So why did nations from Australia to Europe and states such as California adopt an ineffectual bureaucratic cap-and-trade system? In a word: bribes.”

– James Hansen, “Washington [State] can Lead: Unwashed Version,” October 26, 2016.

“In every country and state where I have tried to make the case for a simple, honest carbon fee-and-dividend the politicians respond that they want part of the money to spend on ‘this and that’ ….”

– James Hansen, “Carbon Pricing: A Useful Cautionary Tale.” October 28, 2016.

The civil war in the environmental community, already evident in the debate over the future of nuclear power, also exists in climate policy between carbon taxation and cap-and-trade. MasterResource has published numerous posts summarizing the views of climate scientist James Hansen, and intellectual leader of CitizensClimateLobby.org…

“A single 1.7 MW wind turbine, like the 315 Fowler Ridge units, involves some 365 tons of materials for the turbine assembly and tower, plus nearly 1,100 tons of concrete and rebar for the foundation. Grand total for the entire Fowler wind installation: some 515,000 tons; for Roscoe, 752,000 tons; for Shepherds Flat, 575,000 tons. Offshore installations of the kind proposed for Lake Erie would likely require twice the materials needed for their onshore counterparts.”

The alter ego of climate change in these renewable energy debates is sustainability: the argument that wind and other “renewable” energies are sustainable, whereas oil, gas and coal are not.

This assertion may have had some merit a few years ago, when it could plausibly be claimed that the world was running out of fossil fuels.…

“Overwhelming evidence has been formally brought forward to the OPSB concerning possible and inevitable damage to the fragile ecosystems of Lake Erie. This ‘incubator’ project is intended to spawn more like projects, up to, we hear, 1,700 industrial machines in this one Lake or any of the Great Lakes.”

Members of the Great Lakes Wind Truth group for years have pointed to the fact that there are tens of millions of migrating birds and bats, possibly billions, that would be seriously impacted by even the six-to-nine industrial wind turbines at Cleveland. The Hawk Migration Association of North America and Rick Unger, past president and current advisor, of the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, also expressed concerns to the OPSB.

Additionally, quoted in the joint letter of 2014, is a statement about

staggering environmental damages.