An environmental riddle is brewing off the shores of Lake Erie, and its answer is blowing in the wind.
The
planned launch of a wind turbine demonstration project seven miles off
of Cleveland’s lakeshore in Ohio – the first of its kind on the Great
Lakes – has politicians, developers and labor there on board.
That’s
a totally different vibe from what took place in Buffalo Niagara in
2009 and 2010, when the New York Power Authority gauged interest in a
similar project in lakes Erie and Ontario. Local governments here
quickly scuttled the idea after intense political pressure from a
well-organized group of local lakeshore residents.
The
environmentalist community, meanwhile, still searches for a Solomonic
solution to the question of harnessing wind on the Great Lakes.
Can
support for coveted renewable energy that reduces reliance on fossil
fuels outweigh potential collateral damage to birds, bats and fish – not
to mention aesthetic and noise considerations, as well as possible
water pollution?
It’s a tough one, but Lynda Schneekloth of the Sierra Club’s Niagara Group thinks so.
“If
we don’t switch from fossil fuels, all the fish in the lake are going
to die anyway,” Schneekloth said. “Anything that gets us off of fossil
fuels should be tried now.”
Citing a climate change “emergency,”
Schneekloth says projects like wind farms in the lakes should be
fast-tracked without having them mired down in years of public debate.
Others disagree.
“It
could be a disaster,” said Sharen Trembath, a Southtowns resident who
leads the area’s annual Great Lakes Beach Sweep and helped spearhead
efforts to quash the Power Authority’s plans to install turbines in Lake
Erie a couple years ago. “It’s giving up one natural resource for
another.”
Added Tom Marks, a local charter boat captain who also
opposed the former Power Authority plan: “There are environmental
hazards with locating the turbines in the lake.”
Offshore hazards
Here
are some of the concerns about offshore wind development, according to
Marks, Trembath and the 2010 and 2011 resolutions put forth by Niagara,
Erie and Chautauqua county legislatures as well as several lakeshore
towns opposing them:
Disruption of the flight patterns of some
migrating birds and some of recently resurgent species, such as bald
eagles.Interference with boating and fishing.Stirring up “a 40-year cap”
on toxic sediment in the lake bed left behind from the region’s
industrial heyday.Potential for damage to the turbines and the lakeshore
from fire, electrical shock or other problems from large power cables
stretched along the lake bed, and leakage from an oil cartridge that
Trembath calls “the size of a bus.”
What’s more, dissenters say,
windmills are just not that efficient, don’t create jobs, can only
operate when winds reach specific speeds and can be expensive.
And, they add, they’re eye pollution.
“I’ve spent my life taking care of the lake’s environment,” Trembath said. “I don’t want it filled with turbines.”
In Ohio, however, many don’t see it that way.
The
Cleveland-based Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. has received support
in Northeast Ohio for its “Icebreaker” project, which it says “is a
blueprint to position Ohio as the leader in the region.”
The
demonstration project calls for six 3-megawatt, American-made wind
turbines to be placed offshore of downtown Cleveland, with full
operation beginning in 2017. In contrast, Lackawanna’s on-shore “Steel
Winds” consists of more than a dozen 2.5-megawatt turbines.
Bolstered
with $4 million in startup money from the U.S. Department of Energy,
the Cleveland company Thursday launched its “POWER Pledge program” to
continue building “local stakeholder support” for the wind farm. About
5,000 supporters in Northeast Ohio have already pledged to buy
electricity, at higher prices, from Icebreaker’s offshore farm, said
Lorry Wagner, president of the Lake Erie energy company.
“Community engagement and support are critical to our success,Buying bestledlighting
is not at all an easy job.” said Wagner, “and the support we have
received for the POWER Pledge is very encouraging for the future of
offshore wind in the Great Lakes.”
Three of seven wind
demonstration projects nationwide – of which Cleveland is one – are
scheduled for selection by the DOE next year for an additional $46.7
million award to build out the balance of the offshore project. Either
way, however, Wagner said his company has invested time and resources in
the belief that offshore wind will happen near Cleveland with or
without the extra federal money.Choose from a wide variety of solarledlight.
By 2030, Wagner expects that his company could be managing “a few hundred” offshore wind turbines in Lake Erie.
Click on their website www.indoorilite.com for more information.
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