On this page you will find information about wind energy and wind projects that are local as well as national and international. Views on the impact of the wind industry in local, state, national and international politics are also covered in news, opinions, and letters.
News -
County hears wind farm recommendations
The East Oregonian
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The Umatilla County Planning Commission is working to strengthen, or at leasst refine, its requirements for wind farms starting up in the area. complete story >>
Davidson fields wind farm questions from Union council
The LaGrande Observer
Friday, February 26, 2010
County Commissioner Mark Davidson appeared before the Union City council last week, answering questions and hearing comments about Horizon Wind Energy's proposed Antelope Ridge Wind Farm. complete story >>
For the sake of green or greed
The LaGrande Observer
February 26, 2010
In 2009, the U.S. Department of Treasury awarded $546 million to Iberdrola from the stimulus program. Per the CEO of Iberdrola, the offshore parent company of Horizon and the developer of Antelope Ridge, they expect to receive another $470 million in 2010. complete story >>
Lawmakers pass restrictions on energy tax credits
Statesman Journal
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
A bill headed fdor Gov. Ted Kulongoski will limit a business tax break for alternative energy projects - but expand the break to makers of electric cars and component parts - and recoup state tax money for the budget. complete story >>
Take a closer look at wind farms
The LaGrande Observer
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Citizens of Union County have a proposal for a wind
energy generation facility to be constructed on the southern end of the
valley, in close proximity to Hot Lake and the city of Union.
complete story >>
Increased costs are blowin' in the wind
The Cascade Courier
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wind energy on the Pacific Northwest's electricity grid has increased substantially over the years, and this is leading to a number of problems. complete story >>
OR BETC program will bring future liabilities
The Oregonian
Tuesday, Feburary 9, 2010
As the Oregon Legislature tries to stabilize the budget-busting growth of its Business Energy Tax Credit program, it ha become clear that the state is already locked into a large and unpredictable stream of future liabilitiies from the program. complete story >>
Oregon's Steens Mountain could soon have wind farms
Statesman Journal
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Ruggedly beautiful Steens Mountain stands in an area of southeast Oregon so isolated that it's barely changed since cattle king Pete French arrived in the late 1800's. complete story >>
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Business Energy Tax Credit
The Cascade Courier
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) has comu under fire from Oregonians as the costs of the program have ballooned beyond anyone's expectations. complete story >>
Consultants study touts benefits of wind farm plan
LaGrande Observer
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The company hoping to build a second wind farm in Union County says annual revenues to local governments from both facilities would range between $2.7 and $6 million. complete story >>
Recent study adds to wind turbine Debate
The East Oregonian
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
A group of researchers found "no evidence"
that wind turbine sounds have any adverse
physiological effects on people
who live close
by, according to a recent study - but that
goes
against some local residents and strong
testimony suggesting otherwise.
complete story >>
Walmart, others make money on Oregon tax credits
The Oregonian
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
When Oregon started handing out jumbo tax subsidies for renewable energy projects two years ago, one of the biggest beneficiaries was also one of the world's richest corporations - Walmart. complete story >>
Coho salmon numbers surge on the Columbia River
The Oregonian
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Coho salmon, once close to extinction in the
Columbia River's upper
tributaries, are
returning at post-dam record numbers...complete story >>
Study says wind farm is too loud
East Oregonian
January 22, 2010
The Willow Creek Energy Center is in violation of state noise standards for at least three nearby homes, its accoustical expert revealed at... complete story >>
Oregon curbs controversial tax breaks for wind and solar firms
The Oregonian
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
"Oregon energy officials released new rules Tuesday aimed at curbing a controversial state program that grants lucrative tax subsidies for wind, solar and other renewables power plants.
The changes are intended to rein in some of the
runaway costs of the program by making it harder for one project to
qualify for multiple tax credits and by giving...."
complete story >>
State lowballed cost of green tax breaks
The Oregonian
Saturday, October 31, 2009
A scary story was brought to us on Halloween by the Oregonian; this is a story we will relive for many years to come. We have been given the strongest case yet that the Business Energy Tax Credit program can break the people of this state unless it is cut off immediately.
"State officials deliberately underestimated the
cost of Gov. Ted Kulongoski‟s plan to lure green energy companies to
Oregon with big taxpayer subsidies, resulting in a program that cost
40 times more than unsuspecting lawmakers were told, an
investigation by The Oregonian shows....
complete story >>
Wind turbines show how costly 'free' energy can be
Minnesota Public Radio
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Ron Reimer is an organic farmer in Ettrick,
Wisconsin. Through the Minnesota Public Radio he shares solid
information and the reality of what is happening worldwide, and what
the wind industry is really costing us.
complete story >>
Wind farms springing back to life
The East Oregonian
Editorial
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
In this article, the East
Oregonian relates information about three new projects in various
stages of construction that can add up to 265 MW of energy
production at peak capacity. The industrial wind turbines can
now be viewed from Highway 11 north from Pendleton.
complete story >>
Stop the turbines
Suntimes
Sunday, September 27, 2009
"'You begin to feel like you're being used,' a
long-time Maine Audubon supporter and state legislator told me about
the wind power movement in Maine. "There seems to be no real benefit
to the people or communities of Maine." What? We are being used? No
benefit to the people..."
complete
story >>
Double standard exists for wind companies
Gazette-Times
Sunday, September 27, 2009
"So why are wind companies not being
prosecuted for killing birds? Rob Lee, now retired, was one of the
Fish and Wildlife Service's lead law-enforcement investigators on
the problem of bird kills in Western oil fields. Lee said that he
doesn't expect to see any prosecutions because..."
complete story >>
Wind energy rush threatens historic sites
East Oregonian
Sunday, September
20, 2009,
In 1859, Oregon became a state because so many
American settlers had come here on the Oregon Trail. In 1959, Oregon
celebrated the centennial of statehood and commissioned public
projects to identify and mark the Oregon Trail for the benefit of
future generations...But in 2009, the Oregon Trail is in the way of
a gold rush that will demolish part of our history and..."
complete story >>
Energy sprawl and the green economy
The Wall Street Journal
Thursday, September 17,
2009
"The Nature Conservancy released a report last month, "Energy Sprawl
or Energy Efficiency: Climate Policy Impacts on Natural Habitat for
the United States of America....The term "energy sprawl" accurately
describes the multiple trade-offs that face the nation. The American
people need to think through what they are being urged to do."
complete story >>
Official warns electric rates could double if Intertie built
MT Standard
Thursday, September 17, 2009
"Electricity rates could more than double in
Montana if NorthWestern Energy is allowed to build its proposed
Mountain States Transmission Intertie, or MSTI, a Montana Public
Service Commission official said."
complete story >>
Environmental scientist exposes wind farm scam
Stacey-International
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
"In The Wind Farm Scam, to be released on 30th
September 2009, Dr. John Etherington argues that wind farm
technology is a wholly counter-productive and undesirable response
to the problems of climate change and electricity generation."
complete story >>
Clean energy may be bad for wildlife
Austin Fox News
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
"If you have to pay for wind power, Texas
Parks and Wildlife says clean energy may not be as green as most
people think. The state agency is holding a conservation
conference in downtown Austin this week to address the idea that
sometimes clean energy, like wind power, can actually be bad for
wildlife. Not only that, critics of wind farms say there are a
slew of other reasons..."
complete story >>
Power lines planned from the plains to the Pacific
The Idaho Statesman
Sunday, September 13, 2009,
"Two projects, considered vital to the region’s future power needs,
can’t seem to find the path of least resistance."
complete story >>
The war over wind; Critics say green group too tight with industry
The Daily Page
Thursday, September, 10, 2009
"It was the strangest sensation Lynda Barry ever felt: a
near-constant vibration within her body. ...Barry was standing in a
house in Fond du Lac County, near a wind farm. The vibration she
felt was created by wind-power turbines, one just 1,100 feet away."
complete story >>
Goal 5 meeting cancelled
The East Oregonian
Wednesday, August 26,
2009
"The Milton-Freewater area man who has been fighting wind turbines
in the Blue Mountains through a Goal 5 amendment with the planning
commission has withdrawn his proposal - for now. The planning
commission has canceled its meeting Thursday night."
complete story >>
OR State tax breaks for alternative energy to cost more than expected
The Oregonian
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
"So many businesses are getting tax subsidies
under Oregon’s effort to promote alternative energy that the state
now estimates it will spend $167 million on them in 2009-11, up from
$68 million it gave out in similar tax breaks in 2007-09."
complete story >>
Turbine debate goes into round 3
The East Oregonian
Sunday,
August 23, 2009
Richard Jolly, the man who filed the Goal 5 amendment aimed to
disallow windmills in a 200,000 acre area of the Blue Mountains, may
re-file his amendment. Jolly said he wanted to rewrite it to
include more than just the viewshed....The proposal has flared up
opinions on both sides - those who want to preserve the beauty of
the Blues without wind farms, and those who want a chance to get
their share of the wind energy gold rush by putting windmills on
their land..."
complete story >>
Beauty of the Blues is worth more than some give it credit
The East Oregonian
Editorial
Sunday, August 22, 2009
The final of three meetings on the
highly-controversial issue of wind turbines in the Blue Mountains
takes place Thursday before the Umatilla County Planning Commission.
We've said it before and we'll say it again: The commission should
recognize the "significant resource" in our Blue Mountains and its
foothills. Frankly, we don't see how the commission members
could decide otherwise.
complete story>>
BPA to install better tools to track wind
The Oregonian
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
"Today the Bonneville Power Administration will install the first of
fourteen anemometers to better track where and how hard the wind is
blowing."
complete story >>
BPA reports peak wind power of 2000 MW
KTVZ.COM
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
"Bonneville Power Administration reports a
milestone in wind energy this month."
complete story >>
Green power collides with Endangered Species Act
Oregon Natural Resources Report
Monday, August 10, 2009
"Green power, green jobs, renewable energy
collide with the Endangered Species Act in a proposed wind farm in
Southwest Washington."
complete story >>
Environmentalists oppose Oregon wind farms
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
"Environmental groups in Oregon have united to
oppose the construction of new wind farms in the foothills of the
Blue Mountains. One county is listening to their concerns.
Umatilla County Planning Commission members intend to hear an
amendment to the community’s Comprehensive Plan that could ban
future wind power developments from certain areas."
complete story >>
County asks to discard designation
Sunday, August 2, 2009, The East Oregonian
Umatilla County leaders are petitioning to
have more control over wind project development in a 300,000-acre
box near Athena known as the Energy Generating Area (EGA).
complete story >>
Wind power throws a curve at BPA
Tuesday, July 21, 2009, The Oregonian
"Wind-powered generators dominate the landscape along the eastern
Oregon reaches of the Columbia River. Managing their intermittent
power output has become a major issue for the Bonneville Power
Administration."
complete story >>
As the wind blows
Saturday, July 18, 2009, The East Oregonian
"Consider the state's energy supply a giant juggling act. When demand spikes, the Bonneville Power Administration must send energy over its power grid to where it's needed, combining numerous sources into one system. When it dips, things scale back." complete story >>