LAKE ERIE WIND - SO CALLED "TASK FORCE" REPORT PDF NOW ON WEB

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Mon, 03/05/2007 - 17:41.


  Click here to then click on NEW ENERGY and read the 83 page "task force" lake wind energy report - I haven't read it yet, and will comment on it I'm sure.    I did notice that the title doesn't read "new energy JOBS".    

I also noticed this statement on Page 11 "More importantly, the Task Force is aware of developer interest in an offshore Lake Erie wind farm". Is the tail wagging the dog? Is the preferred ventor already in the tent? Is so called "public process" just confirming the pre-chosen victor? Before I read the report, however, I will stick my neck out and commit to the following:   the authors of the report, and the Force people behind the report,  don't have the courage of real conviction that wind energy is the solution for future energy needs -  If they had real conviction, they would have the courage to attempt to persuade their public that land based turbines - which can be implemented immediately - are the first and most practical goal.  The committee is not so concerned with global warming or clean energy that it is willing to take on what they are really afraid of : namely NEO NIMBY’s in their ward or on their boards.  For that reason, I see the choice of waiting to develop lake based machines first as a cop out…

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As early as 3 years ago I

As early as 3 years ago I heard about big east coast (NJ and NYC) wind energy firms courting cleveland and lobbying hard in town.  There was a totally closed door, invite only wind energy summit 2 years ago with  RR, a GE wind energy guru, select guests including leading industrialsts, etc.   I have notes / minutes but I aint posting em...

Anyhow think the company that pushed hard for a turbine on Cape Cod, and one other company, again NJ based.   Your right, the deal is in the bag.   

Callahan on Wind Task Force and "Citizen Buster"

It was nice to see Jeff's insight picked up at Brewed Fresh Daily and Callahan's Cleveland Diary where Bill says: "I think Jeff’s got a point.  It isn’t just that the Task Force didn’t advocate land-based wind development — they didn’t bother to discuss it, except to note in passing that the City of Cleveland is looking at some sites. (Which seems to be true… the Utilities Department just got an ordinance introduced in City Council to authorize them to start doing wind speed testing at the water plants.)"

I was there at the beginning of the Wind Task Force and was asked for suggestions of how it should operate and who should be included at the beginning. Of course, I strongly advised this should be an open and collaborative process - they did not take my advice so I withdrew from invfolvement... I do not believe doing well for a few is related to doing good for the environment, economy or public... typically, when it comes to the environment, the oposite is true. Isn't alernative energy all about public good - global good. We don't seem to get that here... where is the task force recommendation on saving our ecosystem?

Now we see the result of the industrial approach - a task force for wind that is run in industrial fashion by industrial sustainability profiteers, out of the Prosecutors office, excluding the public, and thus justly raising the criticism of regional citizen leadership. Perhaps a lesson will be learned by the command and control... I'm sure this is not what Ronn Richard has in mind.

"Citizen" Jeff Buster is to be commended for leading the public dialog going forward - an Ed Hauser for wind. Hopefully it won't take nine years for the wind task force to realize economic development is not driven through rusty industrial development and prosecution and that they must engage the community in their processes, because they need greater insight and collaboration. Jeff is more insightful on this subject than most people in the world and brings more energy and creativity to the visioning on this than anyone else in NEO!

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