From: dean@vexcel.com (Dean Alaska)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.greens
Subject: Re: Disgusted (W#as Re: LET'S DISCUSS NUCLEAR ENERGY!)
Date: 12 Jan 93 16:03:39 GMT
Organization: VEXCEL Corporation, Boulder CO

In article <1iu4oqINNddn@smurf.sti.com> alaric@sti.com (Alaric Tekiahyn) writes:
>In article <1993Jan11.204914.27686@vexcel.com>, dean@vexcel.com (Dean Alaska) writes:
>] >In article 726755336@unix1.tcd.ie, kkretsch@unix1.tcd.ie (kevin patrick kretsch) writes:
>] >>WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT WE NEED NUCLEAR POWER.
>] >>The only rats I smell are people who insist on killing off nuclear power
>] >>leaving us no option but to burn fossil fuels (wind, sea and solar power
>] >>are still too expensive to be of any use).
>] >
>] Jan Steinman discussed the unequal support of certain types of energy
>] but it goes even further.  Wind power generation is already economically
>] competitive where its windy, espicially in the upper plains and solar
>] technologies are improving extremely fast.
>
>
>And the Altamont Pass comes to mind......
>
>Now that's a really disgusting sight.  It's one of the most consistently
>windy locations in the Lower 48, and the whole pass is lined with windmills
>and rotors.  And on any randomly-chosen day, you can drive through the pass
>and anywhere from 50% to 80% of them will be standing idle.
>
>Why?  Because to the fat-cat JERKS who own these wind farms, the power
>they can generate - and the small amount of revenue they can get from
>selling it back to PG&E - is worth less than the tax shelter they get
>by putting these things up, leaving them idle, and taking a net operating
>loss on them.  They keep just enough of them running to keep up appearances.
>It's almost as bad as being paid not to raise pigs.
>
>Bluntly, my opinion on these wind farms is if the selfish, grasping
>S.O.B's who own them now won't operate them, take them away and give
>them to someone who will.  Invoke eminent domain and let'em take *that*
>as a tax deduction instead.
>
>
>Who, me?  Angry?  Pissed off at these clowns?  Disgusted at the lengths
>people will go to to try to cheat their fellow man?
>
>	You bet I am.
>
>
>-- 
>      "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom."  --  Thomas Jefferson
>    ......................................................................
>    Phil Stracchino : phils@sti.com : alaric@sti.com : The Renaissance Man
>      PGP 2.0 - Freeware public-key data encryption.  Get it and use it!
>           Finger alaric@sti.com for PGP 2.0 info and my public key

Studies have shown that California has a relatively poor wind resource
compared to other parts of the US.  California has most of the wind
capacity because of some old tax breaks.  The energy bill passed last
year has some excellent provisions for wind and solar energy, so wind
power will probably be expanding much faster in the US.  I am not
familiar with the specifics of the operations at Altamont.  It sounds
like the problem is more with the owners than with the windfarms.
-- 
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	Dean Myerson     (aka dingo in boulder)     dean@vexcel.com
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