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California lawmakers are crafting a package of proposed laws that could streamline the building of solar and wind energy projects, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Democratic legislators, who have shared drafts with environmental groups, industry, lobbyists and other interested parties, are negotiating the details with Gov. Gavin Newsom. The talks among staff in the state Senate and Assembly and Newsom’s office are being held behind closed doors and the proposals are not yet public. California’s legislative session ends Aug. 31.
CalMatters obtained draft copies of five energy measures that Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire helped draft. They aim to revamp the way the state approves and supports solar, offshore wind, battery storage and other green energy projects.
Spokespersons for McGuire and Assembly Leader Robert Rivas, a Democrat from Salinas, did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the proposals.
Simultaneously, the Newsom administration is working on a separate proposal that aims to make electric bills more affordable for Californians, two sources told CalMatters. No details were immediately available and a spokesperson for the governor declined to comment.
Electric rates have nearly doubled over the last decade. The state Public Utilities Commission overhauled the rate structure with a controversial new billing system this year.
The renewable energy proposals — a package internally called the “California Made” package — seek to offer incentives for building projects and their components in California. They would create tax credits, streamline local and state permitting and change how environmental reviews are conducted.
California is facing twin challenges: Meeting renewable energy targets mandated by law, as well as dealing with some of the highest energy bills in the country.
Under state law, 60% of California electricity must be generated by clean energy sources by 2030 and 100% by 2045 — a mandate critical to the state’s efforts to combat climate change.
One measure in the renewable energy package would provide a tax credit for certain renewable energy projects.
Another would grant “by right” approval to developers building in areas already zoned for them, eliminating the need for local approvals. Such proposals curtailing local control have proven controversial with city and county officials.
Under another proposal, state officials would conduct a “master” environmental review, which would serve as a comprehensive, umbrella analysis addressing large-scale issues like air emissions and cumulative impacts. Developers then would have to conduct more limited reviews of their specific projects.
Two additional proposals — one specifically for offshore wind projects and one for other renewable energy projects — would consolidate the permitting process by creating a “one stop shop” system that would consolidate applications, hearings and decision-making.
Local opposition and environmental reviews have held up large solar projects and transmission projects for years, and permitting reform was taken up earlier this year by the state Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform.
Steven R. Bohlen, an energy expert and senior director for government and external affairs at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, reviewed the proposed legislation obtained by CalMatters. He said they address many concerns, and are “headed in the right direction.” But he added that timelines should be added.
“Though the legislative proposals create a path for streamlining, there is still no statutory requirement that each agency respond with a certain period of time, or that the overall process be limited to a certain period of time, provided all the appropriate information were submitted by the applicant,” he wrote to CalMatters in an email.
“As written, the streamlined process could still be slow, even though it is being conducted under the ‘streamlined’ process.”
Permitting reform has become a mantra for California’s newest renewable industry — floating offshore wind. The complexities of creating the new industry are enormous: creating an extensive system of ports and greatly expanding power transmission infrastructure.
Each of the five federal projects off the coast of California will have to navigate overlapping jurisdictions and duplicative reviews with a thicket of federal, state, tribal and local agencies. The process, especially with an industry that has never operated in the state before, is slow.
Policymakers use the word “urgency” to describe efforts to expedite offshore wind power, since they are critical for meeting California’s goal to decarbonize the electricity grid.
According to the California Energy Commission,“under current federal, state, and local project review processes, the environmental and permit reviews for offshore wind facilities could take more than 10 years to complete.”
Legislators this year are already trying to tackle the rising costs of electricity.
Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, a Democrat from Irvine and chair of the Assembly standing committee on utilities and energy, amended a bill to direct state officials to “produce an affordability metric” for future electric rate increases.
Petrie-Norris told Politico in June the goal is to shave $10 off consumers’ bills. The bill passed the Assembly and was amended in the Senate, and is now undergoing more debate. A spokesperson for Petrie-Norris’ office declined to comment.
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Let’s hope the offshore wind debacle planned for Humboldt is scrapped, and they focus on Morro Bay and Long Beach, where transmission lines are already developed. Building them offf of Humboldt’s coast is just stupid.
A big wave might well come crashing down before these rate- exploding offshore wind projects get started
Oh…you mean about when he will be projectile vomiting on election day?
Why do I suspect Trump commissioned this drawing himself. (With your donations, of course).
The plan is to “streamline” approval by eliminating meaningful environmental review and taking permit authority away from local government.
But no matter what they do they’ll fail to meet their goal, enshrined in law, of producing 60% clean energy by 2030 and 100% by 2045.
But in the process of trying there’ll be a lot of devastating environmental impacts.
It’s kind of like “in order to save the environment we must destroy it.”
There’s going to be a lot of devastating human impacts. Don’t worry about the environmental impacts, the environment will take care of the problem, and the problem no one is addressing or even talking about (except me) is us. Too many people desiring ever more crap to keep the whole ponzi scheme going. I know humanity (sic) is not capable of making the fundamental changes to how capitalism works (endless growth) or mindless consumerism that are the foundations of our society (sic). Sit back and enjoy the ride, it’s going to be a wild one.
There are lots of people, powerful people, who talk constantly about the issue of “too many people”. You’re not alone at all.
I’m not sure how you live, but most of the people that talk about this overpopulation “problem” live decadent and privileged lives.
The reality is that if we all moved toward the current mean human lifestyle (including the uplifting of the masses that live below that) we would experience a lot less resource stress. The problem is a small fraction of percentage that live wildly consumptive lifestyles, and the larger (but still fairly small) group of humans that have been coaxed into lives of excess consumption to support the continued decadence of the wealthiest sliver.
We could depopulate the world by 1,000 people and have more impact that removing a billion if the depopulation was of the most destructive members of our society. Unfortunately, they’re also the most powerful. So that’s never the actual plan.
Good to hear. Can you name any of them? I’m not aware of the issue being discussed.
It is true the people in first world nations consume more resources and produce more pollution per capita, far more. But what does the lifestyle that we should be targeting look like?
Ted Turner
Bill gates talks about it regularly. Yuval Noah Harrari has written about it and he has a good number of followers who parrot his philosophy. The UN discusses it as a major concern, as do many prominent environmental groups.
Some simple changes that we could all make toward raising the carrying capacity of our world would be to abandon the disposable consumption model, especially of major purchases. Things like cars and appliances can and should last a person a decade or two. We can also shift our food consumption toward seasonal, local, minimally processed foods and support farmers and food system components that are less destructive and ideally actively restorative to the ecosystem they operate in
There’s a simple solution to capitalism’s need for ever expanding markets – we need to start selling our widgets to the Martians. No big deal.
“It’s kind of like “in order to save the environment we must destroy it.””
The My Lai effect has been a local phenom for decades.
Here is what CNPS does with our local wildlife habitats, If we can not bridle
the local CNPS to behave themselves around our existing natural resources,
what do you expect to gain on this?
Exportable whale meat to Japan?
Wind Turbine burial pit. Not very Green or environmentally friendly in reality.
So let’s see…..the dumbasses in Sacramento mandate that almost everything in kalifornia run on electricity and only much later do these same dumbasses address additional electric generation to provide the power for all this? Putting the cart before the horse? Better start thinking about building some big ass nuclear power plants because if they think solar and wind are going to power the revolution we are all going to have to get use to living in the dark.
Follow the campaign donations…
Are you implying our representatives are bought and sold like common chattle? Although I’m sure they think themselves most uncommon….
They could have focused on bringing back incentivised energy conservation measures for retrofitting all buildings. Even incentivising gasoline vehicles with ever better milage standards. But NOOOO, we have to make stupid bets on their horses (tech) that aren’t even born yet.
The legislature is full of dumbasses and Sacramento shits on all of California.
Zipline has a solution and you all know what it is…..
And nukes and waste to energy plants have major issues too including water use and more.
California has even managed to screw up long term nuke waste disposal using containers for fuel storage rods with thin walls found to be prone to early metallurigical radiation caused cracks.
Best to let those industries die.
breeder reactors are the solution
An asteroid is the solution. No need for any energy for about a decade until after the chosen government mole people come out of their Continuity of Government underground bunkers.
This is so heartbreaking! Urgency is due to being called out on the unspeakable environmental destruction from this project. When you have more money than God you can ruin a beautiful little community in the redwood curtain because there is no way the citizens can fight it.
Remember when they planned an open discussion about this ?? Suddenly a group of rioters closed the campus were the meeting was supposed to take place. It’s obvious not even environmentalists can’t stop this . 😢
Ecological wisdom is not in the best interest of the political elite. They need totalitarianism, liberal facism imposed as next stage socialism with them at the top.
Liberal fascism is an oxymoron. I think you are confusing socialism for fascism, which is exactly what some famously horrible leaders of the past wanted you to do.
Cal poly ruined Arcata.
Glass roots is still ruining the 299.
Look at how much diesel is being used every day just for the bay trail ! Any guesses?? There is probably at least 200 gallons of off road diesel fuel burned daily for a walking trail built on a railroad! We are declining as “conservatives”. Imagine all the extra diesel used to haul giant windmills through out our roadways. They will need giant ships that poof big black smoke clouds all day for years to accomplish this ! Also , they will still have to run power lines out of the water and through the mountains (ongoing environment destruction). We need Marine protection now! This is how you kill the ocean.
You mean conservationists or conservatives? They are very different things.
Stupid to build facilities in Eureka Bay Area when ample facilities already exist in SF Bay Area. Oakland has humongous port with huge docks and cranes already. Destroying our wetlands, bay, and surrounding environment with massive new construction and dredging makes no sense at all. Unless you are a member of County Government poised to make $$$$$$$$ for forcing project down our throats.
Not in my backyard. Time almost for mud-flat sitters to protest.
The dock already exists, the deep water channel already exists.
What new development?
https://www.northcoastoffshorewind.org/faq-wigi-humboldt-bay-impacts
Those are already industrial sites.
Not all of it is industrial. With limited access by land. Requiring more dredging for access via Ocean.
Everything on the bay side from the Samoa bridge to even the north jetty itself has been developed and redeveloped for over a century. The railroad itself went all the way to the very end of just to get it all built. There were steamships built before 1900 on the bay. A canal diverting the Mad River. Headwaters had a rail line and a town the size of Fields Landing within it to support the mill there and all the other bay side mills. Log ponds were all over the place. Shallow draft clipper ships used to pull up at Pt Kenyon fish canneries by Ferndale. Arcata marsh was a marsh. Then wasn’t. Then is again for water treatment. Bayside “cutoff” used to have a small hill in the way when 101 was cut through it. Everything west of Broadway in Eureka is former wetlands. Jacoby Ave area is below sea level in spots now since all that land dried out. The redwoods used to grow right down to the bay. All our restoration efforts are based on what photography exists from the 19th century and anecdotal evidence because nobody is still alive that remembers what anything looked like before development. But they were all industrial sites at some point in history. All those wetlands can be restored I suppose, but they’ve all been destroyed before.
And you learned nothing from the Chinese purchase of the pulp mill which was abandoned when it was made unprofitable?
Why do you think this will destroy our wetlands, bay, and surrounding environment?
You can answer that yourself I’m sure. Everywhere is evidence of rampant destruction wrought by the hand of man. Irreversible changes made to the environment. It’ll never be the same again. I think it’s important to recognize how rare and valuable are our wild spaces, to protect them from the hand of man, to preserve them for future generations.
Let’s face it. Everyone wants what they want (cheap, easy, ego affirming with lots of uncritical praise) but no one wants the downsides of what they want (there’s never enough money, it’s always a thousand times more complicated than anyone wants to hear about and no one is as important as they think they are.)
Magic- that’s what people want. And the most firmly addicted believers in magic are liberal California legislators, who somehow think they can legislate it into existence if the public could just be brought into line. Unfortunately the closest they can come to it is when they personally make lots of money out of lobbyists providing them with delusional visions of fixes they they can sell to the public and get a government building named after them after they retire to multiple mansions in other States.
😍👍
Offshore wind generation is a stupid plan…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX_PeNzz-Lw
Look at some other countries first…
This is great- we need to move forward, create new industry up here and make it a liveable place for our kids. Most of the commenters here are overly stressed enviro pearl clutchers or new breed conservatives (trumpers) that have found common cause and are working together to make our area a backwater, haven for tweakers or a welfare state. We are at our best when we have jobs and a direction to move forward towards. Get on board or get left behind.
I’m very much an environmentalist, and I’m very in support of these projects.
Most of the people complaining about these projects are worried about things that are really non-issues.
At the very least, any environmental impacts of solar and wind pale in comparison to those of fossil fuels.
Have you even noticed the amount of toxins used to create windmills? Others have. ““There will be all sorts of problems which they haven’t conceived of.”” Make turbine blades here, create huge toxic chemical issues here. Bring them from elsewhere? Will have to widen and expand roads and use (ironically) gasoline powered huge trucks to get them here. Once the are at the end of their lifespan? Who does the disposal?
This idea is being sold by the usual pie-in-the-sky touting of benefit and the complete dismissal of the unfortunate side effects. Just like every other grand scheme people complain about now- nuclear power, industrial farms and the petroleum industry.
They are issues to be flicked off by calling the opposition “enviro pearl clutchers or new breed conservatives (trumpers).” That is exactly the sort of short sightedness that led to where we are today. No company should be allowed to get away with not setting aside money to deal with these issue because others have starry eyed fantasies. Yet, looking at this article, that is exacting the plan.
https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/wind/big-winds-dirty-little-secret-rare-earth-minerals/
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/28/world/wind-turbine-recycling-climate-intl/index.html
How about the toxins and pollution associated with the fossil fuel industry.
Of course the environmental impact of solar and wind is not zero.
But it’s a tiny fraction of what our current energy sources produce.
How about it? We are still cleaning up after a century of legislation of petroleum. Putting the windmills will not reduce the damage of this that has already been done, that which will keep being done as power will still be mostly from petroleum products, and, even if wind turbines reliably produce energy here (a big if), the ever increasing demands of powering everything from window shades to cryptocurrancy will still leave us reliant on fossil fuels. And even if there is a dent in that, the fossil fuels will just move to China, India, etc, leaving the earth in worsening demand. This will only at best create energy to be wasted by profligate tech industries,
This unmindful advocacy is like the scams about Nigerian princes want to give you lots of money if you send a small amount to them now. Yet you are not the least bit cautious about it, seeing only the shine and not the reality.
If you doubt it, just ask the companies seeking to lease and build windfalls to pony up a trust fund to pay for remediation, decommissioning and damage. Guaranteed they won’t do it in any reasonable amount that can’t sold off as an asset when they leave business here. The real goal in not to save the planet but to make a lot of money then abandon the area leaving their damage for others to clean up. Us being the others.
So what’s your solution? Keep racing to the bottom?
*degrowth*
learn to live with less
this is the only way to survive (see Jeavon’s paradox)
A solution? Well I can think of some things that would stand a better chance of having a real effect rather than making things worse with the promise of making thing better sometime.
The pandemic shut downs, while not all that effective at stopping the spread of disease, did make it clear what was very good at reducing emissions. Anything not necessary for basic existence like vacation travel, transporting raw material across continents then shipping them back just to take advantage of cheap labor, immigration on a huge scale, designing everything from air fresheners to children’s toys to need power to work, making appliances that need replacement frequently, etc etc etc needs to be much more expensive. Expensive enough to be an occasional things. Not routine. Cryptocurrency needs massive amounts of energy and shouldn’t exist. Lighting up billboards, giant buildings and signage, but not streets, is an obscenity. Vacation houses, $2000 purses, multimillion dollar yachts should create more money for environmental taxes. In fact, foreign goods should have a tariff applied based on how much their manufacture created greenhouse gasses more than local standards. Making power up to a necessary level cheap but increasing it dramatically above that. A hundred other things that we refuse to do because people want them but do harm. But spend huge amounts on making more power? All in on that.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-19-coronavirus-greenhouse-gas-emissions-climate-change
“Cryptocurrency needs massive amounts of energy and shouldn’t exist. Lighting up billboards, giant buildings and signage, but not streets, is an obscenity.”
Crypto power useage? Oy. Throw in data centers and social media server farms like there is in central Oregon. It is a stupid amount of electricity.
BitCoin power use is just ONE of the hundreds of crypto out there, each with its own needs. How much? Bitcoin yesterday used as much electricity as all of Ukraine. https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption
There’s nothing more satisfying to any true environmentalist than a massive project that tortures whales and shreds birds.
If we get the fish farm too, spewing a constant stream of shit through the offshore discharge pipe, we’ll really be ‘green’.
Same old speculations.
Still no like to any study confirming that that offshore wind “tortures whales” or “shreds birds.”
https://kymkemp.com/2024/08/02/california-lawmakers-negotiating-sweeping-package-to-speed-up-solar-wind-energy/#comment-1751868
You’re joking, right?
No. But if you insist 🙂 , my (non-)”joke” is as funny as their statement:
https://www.northcoastoffshorewind.org/faq-offshore-wind-impacts-to-whales-and-marine-mammals
Definitely. I am an environmentalist also, I also believe in well done capitalism, and we know we need new sources of power and that one day, we will run out of fossil fuels. We need to prepare for that day so we avoid a hard landing. Also, way before that happens, we will keep seeing prices for fossil fuels climb up and up as they get more scarce. A new reality is coming quicker than we think, and blaming the other political party isn’t going to get us out of it.
Ever hear of “Tourism”? To possibly the last place on Earth that hasn’t been developed? That is the real future. Save it while we can. So precious. And becoming so so rare.
Well, tourism is never a sure thing. But yes. Humboldt Bay is probably the very last of its kind left in the country. It is worth protecting.
Well, we *have* been developed. Have you seen our bay? What are you proposing? Some kind of ‘land that time forgot’ where we rely on cruise ships to stop in and bring us money, and we can all have service jobs? Maybe a tourism sector like say, Bend, but tourism is no Panacea and has many issues. Like for example a pandemic. Or obnoxious people from out of the area annoying us. Paying for parking at moonstone beach. Tourism is great but not something we want too much of.
Solar is a disaster in California. Net Metering 3 destroyed the industry. SunPower, the once industry leader & California company, is going bankrupt and laying off thousands of employees. Local solar companies have lost 80+% of their business. I personally lost my job when NEM 3 started. Had to pivot and obtain my Life, medical, health and disability insurance license. PG&E and CPUC together destroyed an entire industry. Look at solar stocks. They’ve all been destroyed. The ONLY way solar works in Humboldt County is if you can store credits during the summer then use them in the winter. We’re not SoCal with sun everyday. We needed NEM 2 to remain to keep everyone employed and the industry thriving. CPUC fooled everyone into thinking NEM 2 made solar inaccessible for the working class when in reality 75% pf NEM 2 customers were middle/working class. Now with NEM 3 homeowners need a battery system which is essentially the cost of a brand new car. Now solar in California is ONLY for the wealthy. The high interest rates along with NEM 3 has made it impossible for solar to work financially for homeowners. The industry is dead and you can once again blame PG&E! 💯
PG&E, not solar, is the disaster. PG&E is the one that pushed through Net Metering 3.
Even so, you are right that solar is more efficient in sunnier places.
We are in a prime location for offshore wind and could be contributing hugely to the State’s power grid, or converting the surplus to Hydrogen or Ammonia.
No. We are a prime location for water and we should be be getting cheaper power from places without water but lots of sun for the water they are already taking.
How disgusting, a prime location to corrupt and sell out Humboldt bay is what you’re implying. How dare you treat this earth like more rampage and torture will help the solution. I can imagine a giant chunk of windmill falling on me at the Jetty from massive winter surf here,, stuff your thoughts on that .
… Oh and you can’t even RECYCLE solar panels remember??
🚮
I’m a little intrigued what scenario you’re imagining that might cause a chunk of windmill to fall on you at the jetty.
And solar panels are up to 95% recyclable. https://blog.ucsusa.org/charlie-hoffs/solar-panels-should-be-reused-and-recycled-heres-how/
They are also developing recyclable turbine blades.
Most importantly, neither solar nor wind emit Carbon Dioxide as they produce energy.
But producing solar and wind parts does emit Carbon Dioxide. Are there studies which include production emissions in the totals?
Here’s what I found on how long it takes to offset the Carbon output caused by construction:
For solar: 1-3 years https://hcb-solar.com.au/understanding-the-carbon-footprint-of-solar-panels/#:~:text
For wind: 2 years https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1875176/wind-farms-offset-carbon-emissions-within-two-years-%E2%80%94-study#:~:text
I’d imaging that these figures come from using current fossil fuel-based means of production. As the energy network becomes increasingly decarbonized, I’d imaging these numbers will go down significantly.
Thanks! Is mining included? Make a mine, mine the ore, etc.. Probably not.
Silicon is easy; rare earths, not.
Anyway, I get the picture — Thanks again for the research!
I feel bad for all of the homeowners that bought SunPower panels through local companies like Haven Electric (Westhaven Solar) & Scurfield. Now their customers are going to be left hanging when SunPower closes up shop. How will the software work if $SPWR is out of business? I see 👀 a lot of lawsuits coming! Not sure if the local business owners will get sued, but SunPower FOSHO! 💯 FACTS!!!
Open Source Software to the rescue! It will happen…
AI assistant generated software, actually. CEO of NVIDIA and Zuckerberg himself said it–AI is eventually going to be writing it all, at first with “assistants” to employees that do the actual coding. Then just AI. You’ll never talk to another human on the phone or Zoom in the not distant future. https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/ai-data-centers/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-and-mark-zuckerberg-tout-their-vision-for-ai
More failure, more debt and higher utilty prices are inevitable under these ridiculous leftwing policies.
What do you propose? You just piss on every single project that gets floated in this county. The past is over. Move forward or get out of the way.
Ahhh, the resort to totalitarianism…..no thanks….it doesn’t end well when people are pushed out of the way by the pushers. The pushers end up getting pushed off a cliff. Problem solved. No more pushing people around. History matters, it is littered with examples of this fact. With our founding in fact. We sent the tea and biscuit eating, spiceless, fog people packing. Now they beg for our help. I love how things eventually work out for those being pushed around.
So you don’t think that old guys have always pushed back against new technology? I know we have a family story of my gg -grandfather who refused to use the new gas powered coaches and kept his horse coach until he died. I’m sure many like you will be the same. Nothing wrong, just realize that time will trample you if you don t evolve.
I am all for new ideas. That is how society moves forward. However, I am not for new ideas which solve problems that certain humans say exist when they do not. And currently, no human can prove there is a problem with the climate, except to say that it changes. Our society has become so lazy and uneducated in the Sciences, that children today believe they are supposed to live in a static, never changing world of perfect weather. They have no idea about geological time, solar cycles, or any of the other myriad of factors which influence our Earth, and its climate. Ripe for the pickings by Political Scientists seeking the Gollum Ring of Power to control others.
As a scientist, I will absolutely oppose any new idea utilized to push an unproven notion for political gain. The climate changes. The Poles were tropical and redwoods grew all over the world. The Little Ice Age occurred very rapidly in a matter of years not very long ago. It all points to one definite conclusion, don’t listen to humans who have no idea of what they speak because they don’t know either. Science is never settled and Windmills conclusively shred birds and interrupt cetacean migration and sonar capabilities. That is unacceptable, now, and forever. Ban windmills.
This makes sense; Humboldt does not:
Offshore wind: California doubles down on climate plan https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/kcrw-features/wind-long-beach
Long beach is already a done deal. The harbor district is just griffing at this point.
“Oops, I made a mistake” — Pigpen
The KMUD links in the previous post were incorrect, here corrected. corrections in BOLD type:
Listen to KMUD Local Public Affairs program of July 31, 2024 5PM https://archive.kmudfm.org/ Here’s a direct link https://archive.kmudfm.org/mp3/kmud_240731_173000PA.mp3
Listen to them discuss the catastrophic failure of wind turbine on US East Coast ( https://kymkemp.com/2024/07/08/new-website-launched-to-answer-questions-and-combat-disinformation-about-offshore-wind/#comment-1748158 ) “Oh we were so embarrased” and make excuses about how there have been so few (so far — edit mine) worldwide, the failure is a rare occurrence — fiberglass exposed to Sun and undergoing constant flexing stress is not going to hold up, even made with modern epoxy resins and carbon fiber. “No harm to birds or whales — no evidence has ever been found” –here’s an experiment: tow a dead beached whale and some dead seabirds out there, wait a week and see if any “evidence” can be found.
Those poised to make $$$$$$$$$ are already buying up media time — they’ve already bought EPIC it seems. I hope KMUD and RHBB let us know when they come a-knockin’ with suitcases full of cash — remind anybody of things that did happen in the county during last gold rush? Same people in shiny new tie-dye.
it’s crazy that Tom and Jen went to Norway to see the same thing they saw in Mass which is not even comparable to what is proposed here. If they went to a port that fabricates these 1,200 foot tall deep water turbines, it would take them about 10 minutes to know that it will not happen in Humboldt Bay. everyone seems to be griffing the taxpayers.
I heard on TGIF this morning a caller pointed out the size of the turbines proposed here is something like 10 times the size of those in Norway.
Bait & switch…
the ones in Norway and Mass that Tom and Jen went to see on the taxpayers dime are 150 feet tall. The one proposed here are 1,200 feet tall and have never been anchored in water deeper than 1,000 before. The proposed deep water area off Eureka is greater than 1,000 feet with the outer edge being 4,000 feet deep. it’s a pipe dream.
Why do Tom and Jen ride on the taxpayers dime?
It helps to have friends in “high” places.
Be careful to not believe everything you hear or read in the comment section.
The turbines off Humboldt will be 900 feet tall. https://www.northcoastoffshorewind.org/faq-offshore-wind-turbine-size
This is only twice as tall as Norway’s Hywind Tampen. https://questfwe.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Hywind-Tampen.pdf
Norway’s Norsk Vind Energi will have turbines 650 feet tall. https://www.airswift.com/blog/wind-energy-projects-norway
Thanks for more information. Are those floating windmills?
“the ones in Norway and Mass that Tom and Jen went to see on the taxpayers dime are 150 feet tall.”
900/150=6 times bigger…it’s still an ingenuous bait & switch tactic on the part of the sponsors.
Norway has both anchored and floating.
I linked to reports about their floating turbines since that is what will be installed here.
If it’s so benign, the companies who make a profit on this will be happy to set up a trust fund large enough to cover disposal, environmental damage and other issues. What they offer is to build then sell it then take the money and run.
Yeah, yeah. Those aged structures are touted to be recycled. But has anyone actually done it? Apparently not. “The wind energy industry is committed to finding a sustainable way to dispose of these decommissioned wind turbines with respect to the environment, health and safety of workers, energy consumption and cost, and we don’t have recycling process solutions yet. ”
Norway is pretty quiet about it although about 3 or 4 years ago They guaranteed to have the process in place. But like recycling plastic bottles, the catch comes about in having an actual market for them. So where are they sending these to?
“The collapse of the 71-metre-long (232 ft) wind turbine blade comes at a time when nearly half of the machines at the site are not working amid an ongoing process conducted by turbine maker Siemens Gamesa for the repair of previously identified manufacturing defects. Fifteen out of the 34 turbines were stopped in March.”
“The industry does not publish precise failure rates, making it hard to ascertain how widespread defects are. However, high provisions for payouts on warranties — guarantees a manufacturer offers to repair or replace faulty products — have helped push turbine makers to steep losses in recent years. ”
https://www.ft.com/content/00a792d2-d188-46f8-ba67-8c5ddb7c6df7
https://renewablesnow.com/news/siemens-gamesa-blade-collapses-at-troubled-wind-farm-in-norway-854445/
https://decomblades.dk/
“Traditional solutions include using pieces of decommissioned blades in cement kilns to manufacture cement, though this can be an energy intensive process.
Blades are also commonly disposed of in landfill sites, but this option is becoming increasingly less feasible with a number of countries, notably Germany and the Netherlands, banning the practice.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68225891
“German wooden wind turbine blade manufacturer Voodin Blade Technology has announced the world’s first prototype installation of its 19.3-meter wooden wind turbine blades. The blades are installed on an existing wind turbine in Breuna, Germany. Using laminated veneer lumber (LVL) as a material is more sustainable than current materials and enables noticeably better recycling of decommissioned blades, a high level of automation – which is not possible with current materials –, and more flexibility.”
https://www.nacleanenergy.com/wind/the-world-s-first-wooden-wind-turbine-blades-are-now-installed-in-germany-voodin-blade-technology-is-on-a-mission-to-make-wind-energy-even-more-sustainable
“Officials in Nantucket are considering legal action against a green energy company whose shattered offshore wind turbine has flooded their beaches with debris.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nantucket-wind-turbine-debris-b2584075.html
1100′ actually from waterline to blade apex, according Harbor District draft EIS (PDF, Page 3) https://humboldtbay.org/sites/humboldtbay.org/files/WindTerminal_NOP_2023%200628_0.pdf
900, 1000 whatever, they’re still up there.
your link says 900 foot turbine plus 775 foot diameter blade rotor. so i was off by 87.5 feet. they will be 1,280 or so feet tall. they won’t be build or stored in the Bay anyway. Long Beach has 400 acres set aside with the appropriate dry dock facility and permit.
So it’s about 90 to 10 now in opposition. Just a bit more and let’s sink this farce for good. The powers that be are losing the narrative. But see how they just keep going forward just like the change our name people. It’s called totalitarianism. Vote accordingly less you to become a serf in your own country feeding the fake man caused global cooling.warming/change beast.
Um man caused global warming has been proven using science.
here’s the info:
https://kymkemp.com/2024/07/16/humboldt-county-jail-reports-daily-booking-sheet-july-16-2024/#comment-1747027
We’re all just going to stick our heads in the ground and pretend population isn’t a problem. Even the most intelligent application of existing technolgies will not reverse climate change.
Bye bye windmills…
Silicon plus perovskite solar reaches 34 percent efficiency
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/08/continued-progress-with-dual-layer-solar-cells/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perovskite