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Craig Koplien: Weather or NotWindmills Sprouting UpBy Craig Koplien
email: ckoplien@todaystmj4.com
This is good news. We Energies has plans to build a wind farm in northeast Columbia County. The Glacier Hills Wind Park would be located in the towns of Randolph and Scott, about 60 miles northwest of Milwaukee and 45 miles northeast of Madison. The plan is for up to 90 wind turbines (windmills) to be constructed, enough to power 45,000 homes. The project would cost between $340 million and $530 million, depending on the specific size of the turbines used in the project. We clearly have issues with energy in Wisconsin and the United States. Our reliance on foreign oil to makes things "go" has our nation in a weakened position. On top of that, the excessive burning coal and oil continues to release way too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This has likely lead to the climate change we have experience over the past 50 years. Now, one wind farm of 90 wind turbines isn't going to fix all of the issues we have. But it's a start...or perhaps a continuation...of a moment toward using cleaner, and renewable, energy sources. And that movement must accelerate. It looks like the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin will take 6-12 months to review We Energies' plan. Construction can't begin until some time after that, so apparently we're not looking at any windmills spinning until 2012. We Energies completed a similar project earlier this year in Fond du Lac county when 88 turbines began making energy in what's called the Blue Sky Green Field Wind Energy Center. I don't know enough about either plan to know if they're perfect. But I do know that the U.S. has to start working toward energy-independence...with a focus on fixing the climate problems we have created. |
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