[Lancaster Online]

[Shirley U Geste]

The grass always looks 'greener'...

The SunZia transmission line that would link sun and wind power from central New Mexico with cities in Arizona is just the sort of energy project an environmentalist could love — or hate.

But the line would also cross grasslands, skirt two national wildlife refuges and traverse the Rio Grande, all habitat areas rich in wildlife. The graceful sandhill crane, for example, makes its winter home in the wetlands of New Mexico's Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, right next to the path of the proposed power line. And much of the area falls under the protection of the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30240000/

[wrsny337]

Green energy is quickly gaining momentum.
Check it out:

"In 2008, with over 8,500 magawatts (MW) installed, wind power provided 42% of all the new generating capacity in the U.S., according to initial estimates, up from less than 2% new capacity added in 2004. The fact that wind power is now mainstream is good for our economy, our environment, and our energy security."

http://www.awea.org/...utlook_2009.pdf
http://www.awea.org/

[CUBSFAN3150]

Another kool-aid drinker who will be the first one to complain when they want to put windmills and solar farms in their back yards.

[wrsny337]

Another kool-aid drinker who will be the first one to complain when they want to put windmills and solar farms in their back yards.

Kinda like the green-energy naysayer and drill-baby-drill proponant who complains about the price of gas and the cost of electricity (which will not remain affordable)?

I saw a bumpersticker on a Suburban back when petro was $4/gallon that said, "Gas prices suck." I wondered whether the owner really understood that his/her choices helped to contribute to those prices. I've also wondered why vehicles with Bush-Cheney/McCain-Palin stickers are either gas-guzzlers or worn-out jalopies.

Time to get off the brown energy merry-go-round, move fossil fuels to a supplementary energy-related role, and move on: Alternative energy can create another U.S. manufacturing base that can create jobs, save billions of energy dollars annually, and balance our trade deficit.

I'm not a Kool-Aid drinker (nor an idealist). I am, however, a realist: Someone smart enough to know that America can't continue to engage in the exact same energy-related policies of the past and expect different results in its future (the layperson's definition of insanity).

Some folk get their science from Rush and Hannity. Others carry with them this pre-conceived notion the the transition "can't be done." They would do well if they'd pay attention to the real world around them: Even that world that's located in their own back yard.

http://eedition.lanc...409/A/1/2134707
http://eedition.lanc...410/A/1/2134985
http://www.reuters.c...E5386XG20090409
http://www.forbes.co...latedstoriesbox

This post has been edited by wrsny337: 18 April 2009 - 01:34 PM