The Macon County News ran this letter to the editor from a Canary Coalition representative.
Here’s what I sent to the Macon County News to respond to this letter (learn more about the Ridge Law and wind power here):
In his September 28 letter entitled ?More Spin on Wind,? Mr. Friedman of the Canary Coalition alleges that Senate Bill 1068 would ban wind development in the mountains.
This is false. The bill promotes wind development by expressly allowing large residential wind turbines that could be over 100 feet. Under the Mountain Ridge Protection Act of 1983 (Ridge Law), these large residential wind turbines would be prohibited.
As Mr. Friedman points out, the Ridge Law has an exception for utility structures. However, it only applies to equipment for electricity transmission, not electricity generation. As Mr. Friedman knows and Attorney General Roy Cooper has argued, wind turbines are generation facilities not transmission facilities.
I found it amusing that Mr. Friedman defends his position based on the current claims of a legislative aide who worked on the Ridge Law in 1983. No court is going to care what some aide says about the intent of the law, especially when the plain language of the law is clear.
Mr. Friedman tries to defend wind power arguing that it is both ?practical? and ?affordable.? According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), wind power receives a federal subsidy of $23.37 per megawatt hour. Coal receives a federal subsidy of $0.44 cents per megawatt hour. Even these outrageous subsidies aren?t enough to develop wind power. As a result, in 2007, the state legislature had to require utility companies to buy renewable energy.
Based on EIA data comparing costs per megawatt hour, new onshore wind power plants are far more expensive than conventional sources of electricity, including 37 percent more expensive than a new advanced coal plant. This is a low estimate because it doesn?t account for the cost of back-up electricity generation needed for wind power.
If the Canary Coalition is so confident about wind power, they should agree with me that the legislature should eliminate any mandates related to wind power. For some reason though, I think their actions won?t mirror their rhetoric.