Oh, I've been a bad boy.
Maybe.
A Minnesota based company called Scandia has scoured areas for its next Three Billion Dollar, 1000 MegaWatt wind farm and has settled on a spot in Lake Michigan 40 miles north of Muskegon near a city called Pentwater. Scandia is partnering up with a Norwegian company for this project...
Wind speeds on the Eastern side of Lake Michigan are excellent for wind power, or technically "Outstanding" for wind power.
The company says it will require 2 million man hours just to construct the windmill platforms and foundations, and will take up to a decade to complete.
There's even been talk of manufacturing some parts here locally, though I don't know the particulars of that, yet. There is also scant news about the incentives they're getting.
I do not believing they're receiving Federal Stimulus money. From the bit I've gleaned, they and their investors are fronting the cash, most likely with tax abatements and whatnot.
Anyway...
The company came and spoke to the people of the small town of Pentwater in an open forum a couple weeks ago. And what did most of the attendees do?
Bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch, moan moan moan moan moan, gripe gripe gripe gripe gripe
"Oh pooooor us! Think of the view!"
Yes. People with their million dollar estates on the coast of Lake Michigan nearly passed out at the sight of digital examples of wind farms barely obstructing their view of the sunset from 2 to 6 miles out. They instantly mobilized a movement to shut down the wind project.
Forget the hundreds, even thousands of jobs in a region of 19% unemployment.
Forget the clean energy.
Forget the national attention for the region.
Some folks in this little tourist town are worried about how it's going to affect their view.
They argue that their town is 100% tourist based, that they sell sunsets, that the wind turbines will kill their tourist industry. Though I question that from the get-go when I see the massive houses along the lakeshore bluffs...seriously, are they getting their money from working a mini-golf court? Or a bed and breakfast? No way.
...and at 19% unemployment in the area I wonder how the regular folks think the "tourism industry" has been panning out for them.
My initial reaction to the response of the people of Pentwater was "Feh...if you don't want it, we'll take it." And I immediately began reaching out to friendly elected officials and started a Facebook group which 48 hours later has 163 members.
My thought "If the folks of Pentwater are going to piss and moan about this project, I'm going to see if I can get support to move it to Muskegon." We can use the jobs. We can use the tax revenue. We can use the national attention. We can use the investment in our community. We could use the morale boost, especially since our coal plant is slated for de-comissioning soon and we stand to lose 4 million in tax revenue to the city, knee-capping school funding and other civic funding.
I very seriously want to drag that project down to the shores of Muskegon.
But tonight I was having second thoughts about my knee-jerk reaction.
I know.
I know damn well what the dynamic is in Pentwater.
It's not the 19% desperate for jobs who are organizing to scuttle the project. I'm almost certain of it. It's not the people scraping by to feed their families, or heat their homes who are trying to scuttle this projet. It's not the middle and working class trying to scuttle this project.
It's a small handful of powerful, organized people who personally live along the coast in crazy expensive homes. It's the people who personally make massive salaries from the status quo.
Yeah. I'd love nothing better than to work with those guys to drag those windmills here to Muskegon. If that were even possible. I'd LOVE that. Oh god, I'd love that. I've fantasized about it. Seeing those windmills out there in the distant horizon and thinking "YES! I helped make that happen here!"
But what about the folks in Pentwater? The ones who aren't living in mansions along the lake? The ones who would continue to feel the loss of this project in their daily lives? It's not the Many who want to kill this project? It's most likely the few.
I should be working to help the Many keep this project alive in Pentwater.
I've been speaking with a wind consultant I met through Kos user Stranded Wind. He's suggested luring a Second wind farm to Muskegon. I think that's probably a wise idea.
Img from Meteor Blades - what the project is expected to look like from shore
More images can be found here