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FUTURE VIEW FROM CLEVELAND'S DIKE 14 - WITH FOOT NOTESSubmitted by Jeff Buster on Sun, 04/08/2007 - 16:09.
 Actually, this is a view from the Peace Bridge which crosses the Niagara River at Buffalo. The view is through my Greyhound window and shows the (8 – count the blades) Clipper turbines on the huge slag piles of the old Bethlehem Steel mill in Lackawanna. Look how high the slag is over the ice on Lake Erie. The turbine towers are over 300 feet tall, so the slag pile is at least 100 feet high - that's the way we used to do it - just dump our debris in the Great Lakes. Cleveland did that too - Burke Lakefront Airport is on the old City dump.
However, this could though be the view from Dike 14 looking over Whiskey Island, the sewer facility, two marinas, and Edgewater Park. We could have this view within 12 months time.
But the members on the Cuyahoga County Regional Energy “Task Force” (listed below) DON’T WANT THIS VIEW from Dike 14. WHY NOT? Who concocted this list? Was the list vetted in a public process? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Mason, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, Task Force Chair and Policy Committee Committee Chairs: Saurabh Lawate, Global Commercial Manager - Industrial Gear and Specialty Products, Lubrizol, Chair, Technical Development Committee, Member Finance & Economics Committee Lou McMahon, Attorney, Thompson Hine LLP, Chair, Legal & Regulatory, Member, Policy Committee David Nash, Attorney, McMahon DeGulis LLP, Chair, Policy Committee, Member, Legal & Regulatory Committee Michael Wager, Attorney, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP, Chair, Finance & Economics Committee Andrew Watterson, Sustainability Manager, City of Cleveland, Chair, Site Evaluation Committee Members: Linda Abraham-Silver, Director, Great Lakes Science Center, Policy Committee Paul Alsenas, Director, Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, Finance & Economics Committee, Site Evaluation Committee Steve Dever, Chief Trial Counsel, Cuyahoga County Prosecutors' Office, Technical Development Committee, Finance & Economics Committee Joseph Jasper, Jr., Technology Transfer Officer, Cleveland State University, Legal & Regulatory Committee, Technical Development Committee Robert Klaiber, PE, Cuyahoga County Engineer, Site Evaluation Committee, Technical Development Committee Susan Luria, Vice President, Attraction and Expansion, TeamNEO, Site Evaluation Committee John Mitchell, Attorney, Thompson Hine LLP, Site Evaluation Committee, Finance & Economics Committee Jack Myslenski, Executive Vice President, Parker Hannifin, Technical Development Committee Paul Oyaski, Director, Cuyahoga County Department of Development, Finance & Economics Committee, Policy Committee Clarence Rogers, Former Commissioner, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Legal & Regulatory Committee David Rosenberg, Manager, Market Development for the Americas, GE Energy, Technical Development Committee Richard Stuebi, Fellow for Energy and Environmental Advancement, The Cleveland Foundation, Policy Committee, Finance & Economics Committee, Legal & Regulatory Committee Deborah Sutherland, Mayor, City of Bay Village, Site Evaluation Committee Sohan Uppal, Vice President for Technology, Eaton Fluid Power Group, Technical Development Committee Dr. Larry Viterna, NASA Glenn Research Group, Technical Development Committee Tyrone White, Business Development Coordinator for Wind Energy, Policy Committee and Technical Development Committee Matthew Zone, Councilman, Ward 17, Cleveland City Council, Policy Committee
Although this list of names was not included as required on the agenda prior to the County Commissioners meeting, the acceptance of these members was voted on and approved unanimously by the County Commissioners. See Commission Meeting Minutes for August 10, 2006. 5. Department of Development, recommending to establish the Cuyahoga Regional Also of note is the fact that there is no one from GEO on the list. I know that Steve Watt and Fletcher Miller (among others from GEO) have spent years and hours and hours of their own time on NEO wind issues. Steve Watt and Fletcher Miller (among others in NEO) are MUCH MORE informed and educated on wind energy than most anyone on the list.
Why was no GEO member included on the “task force”?
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the answer is blowin' in the wind
Is this a case of assuming outside help is better than inside Ohio expertise? Could it be that GE plans to bring in a wind expert from another country? Eaton, GE and Parker Hannifin have the build it know-how? I am curious as to how Linda Abraham-Silver as the director of a nonprofit is going to help choose the site. It looks like they have a Westside, off shore Bay Village site in mind, since they have a Bay Village official onboard and Matt Zone -- no eastside mayors or council persons. Maybe they are looking at Whiskey Island as an onshore location. But basically, who knows. We will surely be treated to whatever they feed us via the Plain Dealer and nothing more; unless maybe Roldo goes digging, or Bill Callahan, or you. How is this all being financed anyway? Are these folks doing this with pay or without? A public process? Are you kidding!? This is Northeast Ohio, where every major decision affecting residents and taxpayers is kept largely under wraps until there is nothing the taxpaying public could do to change what has already been decided. After all, we just provide the money and that doesn’t mean we should understand or that they should educate us. So bottom line, Jeff, I don’t know. I’d have to quote that old Dylan song, “The answer, my friend is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”
Four months left - so who should be nominated for next year
Well, according to the minutes above, the Cuyahoga Regional Energy Development Task Force appointments are for the period 8/10/2006 – 8/9/2007, so they have exactly four more months to blow us away, not only with their blueprint for developing our wind industry, but for all advanced energy (and greenhouse gas reduction, etc... I'd like to learn what they plan for reducing emissions from suburban commuters, county vehicles and all the coal powerplants around here, and for regional demand side management, myself) - then, current task force members should be judged and new members assigned. We can either wait four months for the results, and see the process repeated, or we can insist on open meetings, reports, plans and strategies and can insist on a new list of people to be considered by the commissioners when they vote on the membership of this committee again, next August... knowing we all vote for them.
Disrupt IT
Stay on top of this
Jeff--Was GEO contacted about the committee? It seems they are based in Columbus, but recently opened a Cleveland office in the City Club building. Some wildlife experts I would like to see consulted are Frank Greenland at NEORSD and Roger Thoma, who was with Ohio EPA. Roger Thoma floated the idea of creating offshore islands in Lake Erie. I will have to dig around for that original proposal. In a previous life, I worked in environmental planning. We have some top-notch and underappreciated scientists working at our bloated governmental agencies.
That is exactly what Jeff and I were just talking about
I was consulted at the origination of the Wind Energy Task Force. Last spring I got to know David Rosenberg from GE, who is a very nice and good spirited guy. He had the idea of putting together a group of people to explore developing wind here - he is a global level employee of GE and he works all over the world for them so it isn't like he needs the local business, but he knows how fast wind is going to grow and he wanted to help the Cleveland area get moving - maybe GE would be part of that but I don't think that was his driving force - more just knowing we needed to do this. His vision was wind wherever - not to focus on manufacturing or on water or anything like that but just get some wind turbines sited cause you know its time has come.
By then Jeff Buster had already stirred up interest in this through REI - there were lots of other people involved and several great meetings - Dick Pogue was at the last one, along with many industry reps from major local industrial companies, including Lincoln Electric - everything was right on track to get wind manufacturing going here. And then Case shut down REI, and the energy and platform of that entire initiative died.
I told David getting wind here is for sure, and must be a priority, but the interest that surfaced through REI was we need to also develop turbine manufacturing as a core business sector here. Jeff I believe met with him and expressed the same. We also talked about offshore and I thought that sounded cool - but that was not the focus at the beginning.
When David asked me who should be on the task force, I said there wasn't a leader but there were many people already on track and what was needed was to expand the dialog already developed through REI and activate that momentum again, and use open economic development to bring together all of the community - all the environmentalists - all citizens - the tax base that is being asked now to fund offshore wind, in a strategy developed wrongly, the opposite way to what I recommended.
Somehow the planning got taken over by Sustainable Cleveland and became a back room Cleveland Foundation project, and went top down, and look what we get. A task force of the strangest mix of people. The County Prosecutor, lots of lawyers, some industrial folks, and David Nash - I don't even see Rosenberg on the final task force. They increased their scope from just figuring out wind to figuring out all advanced energy - like one task force can do that - and the people on the task force are all very busy people who cannot possibly devote sufficient time to any sophisticated analysis of these things - this is actually a consultant (Sustainable Cleveland) facilitated, industry, public and foundation funded analysis, without RFP or competitive bid - follow the money.
I think this is a very failed process and each person involved should be held accountable for the outcomes, under intense public scrutiny. There were not public meetings and public money is being spent.
Further, I believe it is time for the community to put forth who should be involved in making the decisions about using public funds to develop the wind industry here - just as we should be involved in defining leadership in decisions about urban redevelopment, historic preservation, the environment, education, including the Breuer.
Laura, you suggest some good people for deciding about wind, so start a formal list as a new posting and let's add to it! We'll choose the task force here, in public, and get them to work.
LIGHTS OUT
This post also reminds me that Cleveland HAS to adopt a lights out policy during peak spring and fall bird migrations ASAP. There should be a similar policy for wind power, by suspending operation during peak migrations.
http://www.audubon.org/local/chicago/lightsout_home.php
Wow is that cool - think of the energy being saved
It drives me nuts that in Cleveland we light up our buildings at night, sometimes just to make it seem like we have a bright city. We waste so much energy like this - we should have a region-wide lights out policy at all times - that would earn us much more respect.
Disrupt IT
sent to sustainability guy
I sent this link with a note of encouragement to Andrew Watterson. Maybe local Audubon folks can get this going. A public, private, nonprofit partnership could easily get the word out.
Thanks for the link. I often visit the coast of Florida where because of the nesting turtle lights out policies, you can see the stars.
A real Waterfront proposal
Here is the Thoma article from 2003. I recently found out that he left Ohio EPA and works as a private consultant. And I do know how to spell legitimately...legitably...web 2.0 spelling. Aaargh.
It sounds good but
What was the price of turbine outside of the Science center and how much energy does it produce? Is it getting enough wind?
First energy is invloved in two project for wind farms, both in PA
It is because they are being regulated to maintian a certain percentage of their energy portfolio as renewable in source. http://www.raponline.org/Slides/RS-NCSLwind-6-05.pdf
Why them and not us? we do not have enough wind.
We are a class 2 area not a site for wind, farms are being built on class 5, lower number less wind.
check it out: http://www.infinitepower.org/reswind.htm
We have no potential wind energy in ohio!
Solar? we are not a sunny state either!
oh this is interesting,
oh this is interesting, seems that the federal government says that there is 4-5 regions along the lake? http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy02osti/32512.pdf
I got this idea, if they need to be built in and around CPP they have to connect to the grid it is right there!
What is the price of a GE wind turbine? how many megawhatts do they produce.
If you buy turbines say as CPP then you are trading them for megawhatts that they currently buy from some source, the price to finance the turbine becomes the alternative price per megawhatt. I would think CPP needs to be carefull it could price itself above First Energy, then what? Some will buy the wind energy for a higher price but I believe CPP also is making a profit and adding that to it general budget. Is CPP powering municpal buildings at no cost? Street lights?
CPP getting invloved in wind turbines will eventually make it loose its advantage to offer cheaper power. I could be wrong?
I would wait for the turbine technolgy to improve it getting improved, it would be wise to chart the energy production to see if it is improving, also is the price lowering for the turbines as so many people are interested.
I think that it should be First Energy and it should be mandandated to do so, CEI is on the Lake and it is the State that needs to require that. The legislation should be that if a utilty is in proximty to viable wind sources it needs to develop that resource as a certain percentage of its production. Suitable locations are avon and muni and cei, where there is a load center access to the grid.
OH LOOK SOMEBODY DID ALL THE WORK ALREADY....http://www.greenenergyohio.org/page.cfm?pageId=709
http://www.towertechsystems.com/images/main/index.html
ARE THESE WIND TURBINES A 100M EACH?