Wind project opponents arrested outside Kibby Mountain site (Earth First)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.kjonline.com/news/wind-project-opponents-arrested-outside-kibby-mountain-site_2010-07-06.html

WOMAN CHAINS HERSELF TO TRUCK

July 7

Wind project opponents arrested outside Kibby Mountain site

More turbines planned for area

KIBBY TOWNSHIP -- Four activists, including one who chained herself by the neck to a tractor-trailer, were arrested Tuesday during a protest of the Kibby Mountain wind-power project, according to the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

About 60 protesters tried to block an access road to the site of the TransCanada wind-power project, in order to prevent wind-turbine parts from being delivered.

The demonstration came on the heels of a week-long gathering of hundreds of environmental activists behind the Earth First! movement. It preceded a meeting of the Land Use Regulation Commission, which is scheduled to deliberate today on a proposal to build 15 wind turbines on a ridge north of Sisk Mountain.

Franklin County Chief Deputy Raymond Meldrum said protesters Tuesday were arrested both at the access road and about a mile away on Route 27, where one protester locked herself by the neck to a truck carrying a turbine blade. The activists were charged with failure to disperse and brought to Franklin County Jail, where their bail was set at $500 each. They had not been released as of 6 p.m. Tuesday.

…

[daggahead]

1. OK ...

I can appreciate some of what Earth First! does, but this is ridiculous.

[phantom power]

2. "the activists' argument against the wind-power project is the number, size and location"

People are beginning to discover that low-density energy has its own kind of environmental impacts.

I wonder what we'll choose.

[daggahead]

4. Small scale may be the best solution.

If the wind is there.

My neighborhood sits on a large hill, and we could easily power all of the houses here with one decent wind turbine.

[TheWraith]

7. Small scale is not the best solution.

The smaller the scale of a system, the less efficient it is. One big turbine with a 3 megawatt nameplate capacity will produce more electricity than 3,000 1 kilowatt home turbines.

Now it's true that wind power has serious costs in terms of environmental damage from construction and placement, but I wouldn't be surprised if these people were being either funded or fed their talking points from one of the coal industry front groups.

[Nihil]

8. I think you are reading "small scale" in two different ways ...

You:
> One big turbine with a 3 megawatt nameplate capacity will produce more
> electricity than 3,000 1 kilowatt home turbines.

Daggahead:
> we could easily power all of the houses here with one decent wind turbine

You are quite right with regard to "small = household" vs "large = windfarm"
purely from a generation perspective but Daggahead is also right with regard
to "small = community" vs "large = windfarm" when you include the infrastructure
and the localised impact vs benefit aspect.

It would also avoid idiocy like that raised in the OP article - EarthFirst! are
really good at times but they've shot themselves in the foot on this one.

[knownothing]

5. Yes, but...

once the wind mill is erected, that is that for that site (with the exception of whatever is needed to maintain the windmill). Not bad for a source of energy that, in theory anyhow, could run for hundreds of years if well maintained.

Contrast that with the oil well or a coal mine. I don't even need to tell you what the winner is in terms of which one delivers the most energy with the least environmental impact.

[jpak]

6. Maine people overwhelmingly support wind power & Mainiacs are putting turbines in their backyards

Support for developing wind power strong, according to statewide poll

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/Support-for-developing-wind-power-strong-according-to-statewide-poll.html

Maine residents overwhelmingly support wind power development, chiefly because it cuts dependence on fossil fuels and creates jobs, according to the first survey released by the industry.

In a statewide telephone poll of 500 registered voters, 88 percent supported wind power in Maine. Calls to residents in seven rural “rim” counties, from Aroostook to Oxford, where most wind power projects are built or planned, showed 83 percent in support.

The survey was done by Portland-based Pan Atlantic SMS Group for the Maine Renewable Energy Association, a trade group whose members include wind power developers and construction companies. The group said it commissioned the poll to learn whether recent, critical media coverage of land-based wind power was translating into negative public opinion.

“We saw an uptick in coverage of opponents and wanted to know if there was something developers needed to be aware of,” said Jeremy Payne, the association’s executive director.

<more>

I see wind turbines popping up in people's yards all over Maine - last year 11 homes within 8 milles of my house installed new domestic wind turbines - mostly Skystream 3.7s.

The visual impact of the Kibby Mountain wind farm is minimal. You have to look really hard to see it from ski areas in western Maine - the steam plume for the biomass powerplant in Stratton Maine (just down the road from Kibby) is more visible. Kibby Mountain supplies all the power needs of Franklin County (the county where its located). Franklin County is also a net exporter of renewable electricity - biomass, wind and hydo.

Earth Firsters are idoits.

yup!

[Odin2005]

3. These people aren't enviromentalists, they are misanthropic luddites.

A few years back I predicted when renewables started getting cheap these nuts would suddenly start opposing it. I was right.