My WSJ piece on the backlash against Big Wind, four new podcasts & "bullbats"

May 07, 2021

Land-use conflicts are the binding constraint on the expansion of renewable energy, podcasts to embarrass the guilty, Bullbats are back, a reminder about Not in Our Backyard

Another busy week here in Austin, including my first piece in the Wall Street Journal in several months. The closure of Indian Point hit me harder than I expected, which led to a bunch of podcast recordings.

My Wall Street Journal piece on the rural resistance to Big Wind
Four! new episodes of the Power Hungry Podcast
Bullbats are back in town
Reminder about my new report: Not In Our Backyard

It appears my article on the rural backlash against the wind industry has touched a nerve. Since the piece was published on the Wall Street Journal's website on Wednesday evening, more than 500 comments have been posted and the vast majority of them are critical of the encroachment of Big Wind on rural towns and counties. I began the piece this way:

Wind turbines are popular—in theory. Gallup data show about 70% of Americans want “more emphasis” on wind energy. Plenty of politicians like the idea, too. President Biden’s proposed Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard calls for “tens of thousands of wind turbines.” But where, exactly, will all those turbines be built? That question matters because local governments across the country are rejecting wind energy projects. Since 2015, about 300 government entities from Vermont to Hawaii have rejected or restricted wind projects.

As I mentioned in an earlier edition of this "news" letter, I have been tracking the number of rejections or restrictions against Big Wind since 2015. Those rejections are accounted for in the graphic at the top of this email. In my article, I pointed out that some of the fiercest fights against Big Wind "are happening in the bluest states" including Vermont, New York, and California. I concluded by writing:

Paving rural America with forests of giant wind turbines and oceans of solar panels won’t solve climate change. It will, however, cost trillions of dollars, blight landscapes, kill untold numbers of bats and birds, make people sick and lead to more economic pain in rural towns and counties.

I cannot reprint the whole piece as the WSJ requires a subscription. But if you have a subscription, please give the piece a read.

Four new podcasts!

The closure of Indian Point made me both mad and sad. After talking about it with my good friend, Tyson Culver, who is also the producer of the Power Hungry Podcast, we decided to commemorate the foolishness of the closure by recording some of the critics of the closure and publish them in a series that we are calling “Indian Point Blackout Week.” Tyson and I decided to follow the advice of the muckraking journalist Jessica Mitford, author of The American Way of Death, who said, “you may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty.”

We kicked off Indian Point Blackout Week with Mark Nelson, the managing director of the Radiant Energy Fund, which advises non-profits and industry groups about nuclear energy. Mark, a fellow Oklahoman and a passionate advocate for nuclear energy, said there was a “feeling of moral outrage” in Buchanan, New York last Friday, the day the plant was shuttered. Nelson, who recently moved from San Francisco to Chicago, also explained why electricity prices in California are "absolutely exploding."

The second episode features my talk with Mayor Theresa Knickerbocker, who has been the mayor of Buchanan since 2014. As you may recall, Knickerbocker appears in Juice. The plant was closed, she said, because anti-nuclear groups “stoked up the…nuclear fear that Indian Point was this big bogeyman that was going to blow up and kill us all.”

The third episode features Reiner Kuhr, an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, who explained why keeping nuclear plants open is the cheapest way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Kuhr, who calls himself an “energy technology economist” estimates that when it comes to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, keeping existing nuclear plants is 40 times cheaper than using rooftop solar. He explained how deregulated electricity markets are undermining the nuclear sector and why the U.S. is headed toward “a train wreck in power generation.”

The fourth guest, and arguably the one who brought the most fire to the podcast, was Madison Czerwinski, (pictured above) the founder of the Campaign for a Green Nuclear Deal. She told me why she attended the “funeral” in Buchanan for the Indian Point nuclear plant on April 30, why the closure is “unconscionable,” and why she is so angry that the United States built a “wonderful, world-class nuclear fleet that we are absolutely squandering for no good reason.”

Yes, that’s a lot of podcasts in one week. Believe me, I know. But the closure of Indian Point should -- repeat should -- be remembered as a shameful milestone in the annals of American energy and climate change policy. The premature shuttering of New York City’s most important electricity plant was largely due, as Knickerbocker explained, to rank fear-mongering by some of America’s most powerful “green” groups and in particular, the Natural Resources Defense Council. It may take a while, but the closure of Indian Point will come back to haunt New York. I hope these podcasts can help embarrass the guilty.

Please give them a listen and share them. As always, the easiest way to find them is via powerhungrypodcast.com

Common Nighthawks are back in Austin

The recent rain here in Austin changed the sound landscape. Along Barton Creek, the surge in water levels resulted in a chorus of singing leopard frogs. But on Tuesday evening, I heard, from high overhead, the familiar “peent...peent...peent” call of the Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor). For me, that sound is the sound of summer in Austin. Wikipedia describes the nighthawk as “a medium-sized crepuscular” bird. That led me to look up crepuscular, which refers to animals that are “active primarily during the twilight period.”

Common Nighthawks are also known as “bullbats,” a name that was bestowed on them because of their bat-like flying patterns. Indeed their long, narrow, wings allow them to make sharp turns in the air and, like bats, feed on insects in mid-flight. The Sibley Nature Center describes it as “a buoyant, but erratic flight.”

I’ve never seen a Common Nighthawk on land, only in the air. But they are easily identified by the white patches near the tips of the wing and, of course, by that loud call. So far this spring, I’ve only seen/heard a couple of Common Nighthawks. But over the next few weeks, many more of them will show up. I love to see them in big groups, darting through the air to feast on the insects that swarm around the lights at Barton Springs Pool, peenting all the while. Photo credit.

Have a great weekend.

A reminder to share this report

I have been pleased with the response to my recent report about land-use conflicts and renewables. "Not In Our Backyard," was published on April 21 by the Center of the American Experiment. The center is also the home of the Renewable Energy Rejection Database, which includes details on the roughly 300 times that local or regional governments have rejected or restricted wind-energy projects. Please share both of them. As I said last week, the only way to bring sanity to the decisions being made by policymakers is to relentlessly pound the facts. Here's a link to the full report. Please share it.

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