"Are the Merits of Wind Power Overblown?" (1997 op-ed: How does it read today?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 17, 2012 6 Comments

It was an opinion-page editorial that was not warmly received by my employer at the time, Enron Corp. “Wind power poses several major dilemmas,” my Washington Times piece read.

Among them, it remains uneconomical despite heavy subsidies from ratepayers and taxpayers over the last two decades—through 1995 the Department of Energy (DOE) had spent $900 million in wind energy subsidies. Second, wind farms are noisy, land intensive, unsightly, and hazardous to birds, including endangered species.

In response, Ken Karas, chairman & CEO of Enron Wind Corporation, wrote to Tom White, chairman & CEO of Enron Renewables Corporation:

Does Bradley still work for Enron? If so, I believe he should be terminated. This article is pure yellow journalism….

I was not terminated, but I reached a (fair) agreement with Enron CEO Ken Lay that I would stop writing about windpower given the obvious commercial interest and stockholder stake Enron had in this sector.

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Killer Energy (Time to Apply Endangered Species, Wildlife Laws to Windpower?)

By -- January 18, 2012 5 Comments

Gleaming white wind turbines generating carbon-free electricity carpet chaparral-covered ridges and march down into valleys of Joshua trees.” Such is “the future” of American energy,  not “the oil rigs planted helter-skelter in [nearby] citrus groves.”

So reads a recent Forbes article. But Wind vs. Bird by Todd Woody also raises concern about the fate of a 300-megawatt “green” turbine project threatening California condors, a species just coming back from the edge of extinction. The project might be cancelled as a result.

Indeed, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has asked Kern County to “exercise extreme caution” in approving projects in the Tehapachi area, because of potential threats to condors. The “conundrum will force some hard choices about the balance we are willing to strike between obtaining clean energy and preserving wild things,” the article suggested.

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Renewable Mandate Challenged in the Centennial State (An economic, legal case for free, fair energy choice in Colorado)

By Tom Tanton -- April 5, 2011 19 Comments

The American Tradition Institute (ATI) and the American Tradition Partnership (ATP) have filed suit in Federal District Court in Colorado to have Colorado’s renewable energy standard (RES) declared unconstitutional. The plaintiffs find that the Colorado RES discriminates on its face against legal, safer, less costly, less polluting and more reliable in-state and out-of-state generators of electricity sold in interstate commerce, and thus violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Given 29 states with either a RES or a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) of varying strength, the outcome of this case will likely have far reaching implications. The suit was filed yesterday, April 4, 2011.

Part of the suit is a “declaration” of technical aspects and the costs and benefits of how the RES is implemented; I am the author of that declaration.…

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“Cuisinarts of the Air” (Revisiting an environmentalist term for windpower)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 19, 2010 12 Comments

Avian mortality is the scientific term applied in environmental assessments of windpower. But there is another term that has gained currency where industrial wind has impacted local bird activity.

This post documents the historical use of the term, which was coined by the Los Angeles representative of the Sierra Club in the late 1980s. The term came back into use when environmentalists challenged a project of Enron Wind Corporation, now a subsidiary of General Electric.

Looking back, if environmentalists and regulatory authorities had cracked down on industrial wind, this artificial government-dependent industry could have been avoided altogether or shut down.

Instead, with Big Environmentalism leading the way, and anti-energy intellectuals welcoming the high cost-low reliability of wind, this inferior power source has been allowed to grow.

And now, grass-roots environmentalists are leading the charge against industrial wind.…

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Paul Gipe on Wind’s Ecological Problems Circa 1995: Worth Another Look?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 3, 2010 6 Comments Continue Reading

Simon Kinsella vs. South Fork Offshore Wind (eco-issues aplenty)

By Sherri Lange -- September 1, 2022 7 Comments Continue Reading

Nothing Here? AWEA/ACPA on Altamont Pass’s Golden Eagle Carnage in 2011

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 20, 2022 No Comments Continue Reading

U.S. Offshore Wind: Problems Aplenty

By Sherri Lange -- February 9, 2021 15 Comments Continue Reading

Sustainability: Ideology versus Reality (Part II: Wind Turbines)

By -- August 27, 2019 2 Comments Continue Reading

LEEDCo/Icebreaker Offshore Wind Project: More Troubles

By Sherri Lange -- July 3, 2019 21 Comments Continue Reading