Heading for a crossroads?

[vc1111]

The oil spill will cause a lot of talk. Sometimes people can talk something into more than it is. That is not to say that the problem is not catastrophic, but so is a volcanic eruption and we do not live holding our breath fearing that will happen.

I am concerned that this will be politicized more than it already has. The prez doesn't seem to hesitate to weave it into his talks.

Today I read an article about wind energy towers being built in Ohio. Interestingly, certain sources of renewable energy are now being mandated. To me that means we'll do it whether or not it makes sense and at this point in time, I'm not convinced that it does.

Furthermore, I read that the turbines are having adverse effects on certain types of wildlife. Raptors are being snuffed from flying into the blades in California and birds and bats are dying elsewhere from similar events. The bats are apparently dying from the change in air pressure from simply flying near the blades (the blades can obtain speeds of up to 300 mph)...the change in air pressure causes their lungs to expand rapidly and they die.

Now, we've seen where progress in the way of damns and other types of construction can be halted by environmentalists concerned with certain critters such as special species of fish and so on, so its all got me wondering where this will all go next...mandates versus the animal environment and mortality rates? Oil needs versus the risk versus the demand versus the prices at the pump versus the unbalanced cost for alternatives? Domestic oil versus foreign when prices hit a break point and the economy is crushed?

History is happening...

[ipscshooter]

Just wait for the new oil taxes... Obama's already pushing. They've been collecting something like 13 cents a gallon that was supposed to be for disaster clean up. I guess that all got shuffled into the general fund and has been spent, so, now they'll need to steal some more of our money. Lousy, stinking Democrat thieves.

[Fieldmouse]

VC, never let a good disaster go to waste.

[falcon]

The blowout in the gulf is a catastrophe of the first magnitude. We will have that well spewing oil for at least the next two months and probably a lot longer than that.

This catastrophe happened because the dysfunctional US government let it happen. The last two Sec'ys of the Interior are truly sorry specimens. Ken Salazar is a career political puke: Ditto for his predecessor Dirk Kempthorne. Neither could successfully supervise the construction of a two hole $hithouse.

There are 37 other deep wells in the gulf. No one in the US government has any idea what the condition of the blowout preventers on those wells are; nor do they even care.

Yes, there are problems with wind power. There is a big wind farm north of Lawton; it does kill quite a few birds. At any one time at least ten percent of the windmills are out of service. Blades come off the things: Would not want to be in the area when that happens.

The solution to our electricty problem is to build nuclear power plants. Too bad that the ultra liberal blissninny types will never allow that to happen.

[petasux]

Yes, there are problems with wind power. There is a big wind farm north of Lawton; it does kill quite a few birds. At any one time at least ten percent of the windmills are out of service. Blades come off the things: Would not want to be in the area when that happens.

Falcon, I think I already know the answer to this question but do you happen to know what company owns these towers the "blades are flying off of"?Not gonna argue the fact, just curious.

Birds getting killed, that Ill argue, Im sure it happens but at this point in time Ive been around thousands of these towers and never seen a single dead bird and exactly one dead bat.

. Ive noticed the opposite actually, a lot of the wildlife thrives around these things, it doesnt take deer, fox, coyotes, etc... long to move back into an area once they go up, and they stay there cuz there safe in these areas for the most part.

The oil spill is a true tragedy for lots of folks in the gulf area who rely on the waters for thier livelyhood.But I do hope it doesnt get blown out of proportion, it was a freak occurence and not likely to be repeated.

[falcon]

I think I already know the answer to this question but do you happen to know what company owns these towers the "blades are flying off of"?Not gonna argue the fact, just curious.

Not sure who owns them but i'll find out. There are almost always a few that are missing blade/s.

[slicendice]

Happens that they are in the process of building those wind turbines on top of a ridge that I hunt in western MD. They are in the land preparation phase now (clear cutting; earth removal) but I already can see problems with the process. Forgetting the props taking out birds, having long swaths of a top of a mountain completely void of all trees can't be a good thing. I have to wonder about run off. I mean you have a long strip of ridge top being completely leveled off and all the trees removed, where does the water go when it rains? The North Branch of the Potomac is not far and I wonder if the run off will wind up having an effect on the Potomac up there. They're only a couple months into the construction and they've already been shutdown once for safety violations.

[etothepii]

I hope I'm way wrong on this,but my fear is that this oil spill will do to domestic oil production what Three Mile Island did for nuclear power.

[falcon]

I hope I'm way wrong on this,but my fear is that this oil spill will do to domestic oil production what Three Mile Island did for nuclear power.

+1

If this well continues to spew oil into the fall deep water drilling in the gulf will be dead.

[Aught Six]

I blame Bush.