Republicans Are Trying To BAN New Wind Power Projects

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://trofire.com/2019/04/20/republicans-are-trying-to-ban-new-wind-power-projects/

Republicans Are Trying To BAN New Wind Power Projects
By Farron Cousins - April 20, 2019

Republicans across the country are trying to pass legislation at the state level that would prevent wind farms from being built in their states. This is an egregious abuse of power that is only meant to protect fossil fuel interests, and it is also a death sentence for the environment. If this country does not start switching over to renewable energy we are going to run out of time to make a positive impact on the planet and reverse the expected damage from climate change. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

[Finishline42]

1. Where? Maybe in states that don't have wind resources

One of the main reasons for the extension of the renewable energy credits the last time was that the main beneficiaries are from red states - Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, etc.

Farmers and ranchers in those states get something like $500/month per windmill on their land.

Can you imagine a rancher in West Texas making a $1 million a year watching 170 windmills spin - or not?

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Republicans push anti-wind bills in several states as renewables grow increasingly popular

https://thinkprogress.org/renewables-wind-texas-north-carolina-attacks/

Republicans push anti-wind bills in several states as renewables grow increasingly popular
In regions like the South, the potential for renewable energy abounds. That isn't going over well with fossil fuel interests.
E.A. Crunden
Apr 15, 2019, 8:00 am

As the cost of renewable energy drops and its popularity rises around the country, Republican lawmakers in several key states are ratcheting up their attacks on wind power.

Data shows that renewable alternatives to energy sources like coal are increasingly cheaper, in addition to helping offset greenhouse gas emissions. But as they continue to gain prominence, power sources like wind are becoming a popular target for those with a vested interest in fossil fuels. Now, opponents are using everything from national security arguments to targeting tax incentives in order to hobble wind power.

“It’s the inevitability of change. [The] renewable industry is creating jobs, bringing money into the communities… it just gets harder and harder to justify why we shouldn’t be doing them,” said Molly Diggins, state director for the Sierra Club’s North Carolina chapter, in an interview with ThinkProgress.

North Carolina is one of several states in which lawmakers are pushing new proposals to undercut wind energy. State Sen. Harry Brown (R) has long positioned himself as a wind power opponent and this legislative session he is pushing Senate Bill 377, the “Military Base Protection Act.”

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