By: Colleen Heenan
Energy, who has it and who wants it? This seems to be one of the topics concerning the American population because of our current economic and security crisis. The energy topic also seems to have been an increasingly hot topic of debate between the potential presidential candidates. But what are individual states doing to ease their energy fears?
The state of Virginia has recently shown some concern about where their energy sources come from. Last year the governor of Virginia, Timothy Kain, proposed to have 20% of Virginia’s energy to come from renewable energy sources. One of those sources of energy is to come from Wind. And when a group called FreedomWorks proposed a plan for the state of Virginia to use their own wind for energy, this stirred up some unexpected debates.
FreedomWorks has proposed to place wind turbines in George Washington National Forest. The plan is to put up over 100 wind turbines, which stand over 44 stories high, along the Appalachian Trail. Surprisingly, many environmentalists are torn at the proposed alternative idea.
Environmentalists fear that the mounting of these turbines will ruin both the ambiance of the woods and could possibly cause harm to some bird and bat populations. It is not that these environmentalist are against alternative energy, it is that they want wise decisions made and other areas taken into consideration before the manipulation of a historical forest takes place.
Another wind company who wants to build an additional 19 turbines in another mountainous region of Virginia, claiming that they will create enough energy for 15, 000 homes in the area. These turbines along with the proposed 100 turbines near the Appalachian Trail would dramatically reduce Virginia’s green house gas emissions. Virginia’s energy sources come from coal (half), nuclear (a third) and gas and oil make up the rest. As of today Virginia uses virtually no renewable source of energy and the goal to have 20% of their sources coming from them seems like next best step.
Let’s hope that Virginia’s energy commission thinks hard about the location and placement of these wind turbines. Because the need for renewable energy and the preservation of natural areas go hand and hand- the act of destroying one for the other seems counterintuitive. Right now we need good environmental ideas to be stepping stones for better ideas and not further issues which need fixing.
For more on this story check out: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/02/AR2008080201382_pf.html
The state of Virginia has recently shown some concern about where their energy sources come from. Last year the governor of Virginia, Timothy Kain, proposed to have 20% of Virginia’s energy to come from renewable energy sources. One of those sources of energy is to come from Wind. And when a group called FreedomWorks proposed a plan for the state of Virginia to use their own wind for energy, this stirred up some unexpected debates.
FreedomWorks has proposed to place wind turbines in George Washington National Forest. The plan is to put up over 100 wind turbines, which stand over 44 stories high, along the Appalachian Trail. Surprisingly, many environmentalists are torn at the proposed alternative idea.
Environmentalists fear that the mounting of these turbines will ruin both the ambiance of the woods and could possibly cause harm to some bird and bat populations. It is not that these environmentalist are against alternative energy, it is that they want wise decisions made and other areas taken into consideration before the manipulation of a historical forest takes place.
Another wind company who wants to build an additional 19 turbines in another mountainous region of Virginia, claiming that they will create enough energy for 15, 000 homes in the area. These turbines along with the proposed 100 turbines near the Appalachian Trail would dramatically reduce Virginia’s green house gas emissions. Virginia’s energy sources come from coal (half), nuclear (a third) and gas and oil make up the rest. As of today Virginia uses virtually no renewable source of energy and the goal to have 20% of their sources coming from them seems like next best step.
Let’s hope that Virginia’s energy commission thinks hard about the location and placement of these wind turbines. Because the need for renewable energy and the preservation of natural areas go hand and hand- the act of destroying one for the other seems counterintuitive. Right now we need good environmental ideas to be stepping stones for better ideas and not further issues which need fixing.
For more on this story check out: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/02/AR2008080201382_pf.html
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