25 Comments

I am borrowing this from Mary Ellen McWilliams:

Beware of the contracts...they are often paid based on production...with a base amount...if the field doesn't produce as projected...the land owner may get little to nothing. The landowner may also have his land rezoned from agricultural to commercial as well as his liability insurance. Could be very costly.

Definitely these projects need to go around the cities and in the back yards of their advocates. I would never wish that on a city without adding that the 2014 government stand that these can be taken down (may I borrow the phrase 'with prejudice') if they are burdensome be reinstated. It looks to me that one of the theories of capitalism, that products (such as electricity as the product of a wind turbine project) earn their right to exist, is decimated by this tax equity gambit. Teach me.

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"Dimon invoked the specter of climate change, writing that the “window for action to avert the costliest impacts of global climate change is closing” and that we “need to do more, and we need to do so immediately” to meet “science-based climate targets.”

Apparently Mr. Dimon doesn't know that urgent reductions in CO2 emissions will take no CO2 out of the atmosphere to affect the climate. And money spent on renewables will have to include the fuels used in the conventional vehicles that are doing the work. Making the transition to renewables and all-electric transportation possible. Those fuels are gasoline and the renewable biofuels that depend on gasoline. That's a lot of money to follow to meet climate targets.

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Following the rabbit trail of terrible CO2, there is much more than just vehicle traffic involved in CO2 emissions related to wind turbine projects (IWTs). As I understand it there has been found to be no CO2 emission amelioration associated with IWTs. Worse, tacit admission from the U.S. Energy Information Administration: "Wind turbines may also reduce electricity generation from fossil fuels", really, may?, not will?

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In the face of these extreme federal subsidies for renewable and CCS, one is compelled to ask " what was Joe Manchin thinking?"

Instead of being a point of resistance, he was duped and merely capitulated.

What a failure

Rational climate and energy policy could only be achieved via carbon taxes based on an intellectualy honest social cost of carbon calculation uniformily applied across all developed economies. Nothing else can really work.

Manchin should have resisted 1. 5 madness but failed to. Now we reap this fiscal madness.

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This recent poll is interesting. Is it possible that all the catastrophism is hurting the climate movement?

“Americans are less convinced that climate change is caused mostly or entirely by humans, declining eleven percentage points in just five years. This increased doubt was just as significant for someone who graduated from college as someone with only high school education or less, and was more pronounced for younger Americans. A rising number of Democrats and Independents were also less convinced by human-driven climate change”

https://epic.uchicago.edu/insights/americans-views-on-climate-change-and-policy-in-10-charts/

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Great article! Thank you! I have always been a huge fan of a fair market where you get ahead by solving other people’s problems. It’s essential to have a fair market for political freedom. But when you merge government and business, you need a good lobbyist, good knee pads, and good political connections to get ahead.

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OMG: Dimon: "Commandeer the land, we need our tax credits before they sunset"! Freeeeeeee Enterprise!

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Follow the money. Consider the case of the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project in southern Idaho. It is on federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, and it will ship “clean” electricity to California and Nevada. It will place 400 huge wind turbines (some as tall as 740 feet) in a project area of 308 square miles. Since the project area is mostly wilderness, it will require 486 miles of new roads. And like all wind farms, it will kill golden eagles and other birds of prey.

The company building this ecological catastrophe is LS Power. According to Open Secrets, LS Power owners and employees have given more than a half a million dollars in campaign contributions to federal office holders. In 2020, 93.98 percent went to Democrats, including candidate Joe Biden. Also according to Open Secrets, the company has spent over $6 million on lobbying over the years. And it has paid off in a big way. The Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which LS Power lobbied for, gave wind producers a 30 percent tax credit for the construction of their product. (IRA also gave tax breaks for their existing wind farms.) And in 2022, after the passage of the IRA, LS Power gave 87.99 percent of the campaign contributions to Democrats.

There is not a public official in Idaho in favor of the project, but it is on federal land so the Biden Administration can force Republican Idaho to accept this ecological disaster so Democratic California can achieve their unrealistic renewable goals.

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It's hard to discuss wind and solar at the same time since the two are so radically different

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Apr 14, 2023·edited Apr 14, 2023

Wind turbines also kill bats. Bats are critical to the environment as they keep the insect population in check.

I've driven through Alberta, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Eastern Oregon and Idaho. These are wide open windy and sunny. places. Still feels like the Old West, full of sagebrush, unique flowers, coyotes, major fly way for migrating birds, and bats.

Few people understand that without building more energy storage, there is no point to building all this solar and wind. The additional generating capacity won't be matched to the time of day when there is peak demand for power. Just as the sun is setting in Utah and Nevada, California maxes out its power in the late afternoon and early evening when everyone turns on their air conditioning, washer/dryer and plugs in their car.

A lot could be done with more battery storage and smoothing out the demand for power. Without that, it seems like an unjustifiable sacrifice to build wind and solar in the pristine deserts of Idaho, Eastern Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Montana.

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I agree with you, but I think there are many young people who have bought into the Communist plan and who can be won over with a little education

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Dimon and J.P. Morgan always seem to have their hands in a little bit of everything, much of it criminal. All they ever get is a slap on the wrist and a few millions in fines and then it's alwys back to business as usual. Follow the money and be sure to connect the dots as well!! Good article, linking today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/

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I think we should first confiscate 99.9% of Dimon's wealth and use that to build homeless shelters, a start.

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Without mental health and drug addiction treatment, homeless shelters are probably a waste of money. But I could take "homeless shelter" to be shorthand for all the additional care that a real solution needs.

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The subject of property values is a debatable one. Here in Texas the realtors I have spoken to, out here in the the rural areas, can't even get people to look a land next to or near a solar facility, never mind sell it! So how do we put a value on that. I'm sure that is state wide and probably even across the US.. Unfortunately the battle over renewables and land issues did have a foreseen consequence of eminent domain and I have spoken of this for the last 3 years. Let's hope it doesn't get to the "you will own nothing and be happy" point - every day there are letters in the mailboxes for solar leases - just how much land do they need? - they have about 1 millions acres signed up just in Texas alone according to ERCOT figures. God help us if they build it all..... that's a lot of over build - still fighting!

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Great article. I am a member of many of the small groups that I think Ruth Miller is part of. We share suggestions, successes, articles (such as this one) and encouragement, to others all over the country.

These banks etc are destroying a way of life for many, just to fuel the energy needs of the overgrown urban areas.

WHY should we give up our peace and quiet and way of life for them. Put their crap in their neighborhoods.

We have one of the largest solar projects (10 Sq miles/6500 acres) near me. We fought it but this began almost 10 years ago and rhe company was VERY persuasive. Promises of jobs and income to the local jurisdiction. They brought in installers who will leave when the project is complete and they will have a single contractor to maintain the property. The utility rates are up 30% for locals and rising. The power from this has been bought by Amazon, Google, Microsoft and U of Richmond, all 70+ miles away. They have destroyed beautiful farm and forest for WHAT? A tax break for co.panies who write off utility bills as "cost of doing business".

Many of the companies behind these wind/solar projects are foreign...so nothing about this garbage is of benefit to locals.

Beware of the contracts...they are often paid based on production...with a base amount...if the field doesn't produce as projected...the land owner may get little to nothing. The landowner may also have his land rezoned from agricultural to commercial as well as his liability insurance. Could be very costly.

Lots to consider BEFORE agreeing. I'm not a big fan of lawyers but feel anyone considering one of these (30-40 page) leases, hire a CONTRACT lawyer.

Sorry to prattle on but I'm passionate about this. 😕

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"Beware of the contracts...'

Also, what does the contract say about cleaning up the installation when it reaches end of life? Is there a decommissioning fund in a trust? Is the land owner left holding the bag? Does the corp claim it will take care of it, but then "goes bankrupt" at the end, so the land owner is still left holding the bag?

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That can be covered by HUGE bonds that cover the landowner and another for the local. The cost of the bond, if large enough, may scare them off.

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That's pretty much what I expected the standard practice would be, but you'd think we'd hear more about it. Back in the day, that would have been "60 Minutes" bait. Snicker.

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All excellent comments. I'm following a problem among landowners who lease to solar companies: contractors who aren't being paid by those companies are now filing mechanics' liens on the landowner's property. Recently looked at one totaling a combined $1.5 million on a property worth a fraction of that. The owner can't sell the property and can't use it. A lawyer reviewed the contract, but not all have experience w/solar developer antics. The developer sold the project after failing to pay those contractors. Thinking of leasing? Get a GOOD contract lawyer. Better yet, don't sign.

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Better yet...Don't lease, Sell the land. Then when the panels start losing efficiency and die, they are the ones stuck with their removal and replacement. Of course, those companies understand that and that's why they lease. Don't lease.

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🎯🎯🎯

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Apr 13, 2023·edited Apr 13, 2023

I like to think of myself as a citizen first, and 'consumer' is a distant third or fourth behind 'activist'.

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The solar energy issue exists because of claimed human caused over heating of the environment. That argument can be disproven by simple logic. If the sun does not overheat the environment, how could the much smaller human contribution cause overheating? It cannot and does not, in fact we are seeing a colder climate now because of decreases in the suns output.

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Thanks Robert! Keep up the fight on behalf of “the little people”. We can’t outspend corporate greed, but we have numbers and we vote!!

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