By PennFuture

Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future wrote this letter to members of the General Assembly this week on the issue of wind power in Pennsylvania.

As the Pennsylvania legislature is set to begin its Special Session on Energy, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) today released a letter to all legislators showing that wind energy development is vital to Pennsylvania’s economy, environment and public health, and urging elected officials to base their votes on good information.

“If we are to build an energy future for Pennsylvania, we must take advantage of all resources – especially renewable energy such as wind, and energy efficiency,” said John Hanger, president and CEO of PennFuture. “We cannot let our need for clean and affordable energy be blocked by a search for a mythical perfect technology. With global warming already destroying the arctic, one million Pennsylvanians with respiratory problems at risk of illness and even death, our forests destroyed by acid rain, and our fish and other wildlife poisoned with mercury, we must act now to replace our outdated and dangerous coal-fired power plants. And wind energy must be available to help make that happen.

“There is no perfect form of energy, but wind power comes closest to being perfect,” continued Hanger. “And wind energy is already delivering for Pennsylvania’s economy, environment and public health in a variety of ways.”

In the letter to legislators, Hanger detailed the benefits wind energy has already provided to the state, including:

More than 1,000 Pennsylvanians are already employed in Pennsylvania’s wind industry. Gamesa, a wind turbine manufacturer, shortly will be hiring another 300 Pennsylvanians. That is just the beginning of the many good paying jobs wind power is bringing now to Pennsylvania.

Electricity from Pennsylvania’s wind farms increases electricity supply and helps keep electric market prices affordable and avoids pollution that would be caused by burning fossil fuels to make the electricity wind now already does.

Electricity from Pennsylvania’s wind farms creates no air pollution. Wind energy emits no mercury that is poisoning birds, fish and working its way into the human food chain, no soot that kills 2,000 Pennsylvanians each year and belches from coal plants, no arsenic, no smog causing pollution that sickens and kills humans, and no global warming pollution that is causing dangerous climate change that will destroy Pennsylvania’s existing forests.

Every kilowatt-hour of zero pollution electricity produced at a wind farm is a kilowatt-hour that will not be produced by traditional dirty generation sources that cause massive environmental damage. Supply and demand for electricity must constantly be kept in balance and so every kilowatt-hour produced by a wind farm is instantly consumed and avoids the need for that kilowatt-hour coming from another dirty plant.

Traditional sources of energy like coal-burning power plants pollute every hour of the year that they run. Some opponents of wind wish to focus just on a few peak hours of the year and ignore the enormous environmental damage done during 99 percent of the hours of the year when electricity demand is not at peak levels.

Wind energy helps Pennsylvania reduce our contributions to the global warming problem; Pennsylvania ranks third worst in the nation for production of heat-trapping gases that cause global warming, as much as 105 countries combined. That equates to a full 1 percent of the world’s total global warming pollution.

Wind energy also requires no mining, blowing up mountain tops, and burying hundreds of miles of streams, as coal production does.

Wind power uses no water in production, while coal and nuclear plants consume huge amounts of water and cause major damage to rivers and aquatic life.

Wind power creates no dangerous coal ash or radioactive waste that must be stored, as do coal and nuclear plants.

Wind energy has no fuel costs. Investing in wind energy now means that costs will never escalate in the years ahead, no matter what. The same cannot be said for traditional sources of energy in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania’s forest, wildlife, and water resources are enhanced and protected by wind energy production, since it does not result in pollution. Each and every wind project proposed in Pennsylvania is reviewed thoroughly by four state regulatory agencies, applying guidelines that were designed specifically for the Commonwealth, using the best science from all sources. These reviews are conducted for two years prior to the construction of a wind project.

Many wind energy companies have voluntarily agreed to the nation’s most rigorous set of project review guidelines and requirements developed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Pennsylvania is a model for the U.S. in this regard.

Wind farms enhance tourism and create much-needed annual revenue for rural landowners, and do not decrease property average property values, according to research conducted by Lawrence Berkley Laboratories using Pennsylvania and New York data.

“Unfortunately, some well meaning but totally misinformed activists have launched a campaign against wind energy,” continued Hanger. “But we cannot let the Commonwealth’s progress on job growth, environmental protection and public health and safety be sacrificed. We must move Pennsylvania’s clean energy future forward.”

9/22/2007