As the US considers an infrastructure bill, we need to ask ourselves how much is the New Green Deal really going to cost. Let us start with looking at the cost of industrial wind. We are told turbines are cheap. I am seriously reconsidering the information that the media has “reported” in recent years. In Iowa we have cashed in $20 Billion federal dollars to build about 5000 wind turbines. Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy CEOs have admitted publicly that 100% of the cost of building wind turbines, about $4,000,000 per turbine, is paid for by the federal government and it is the only reason they build wind turbines.
The US has 68,792 turbines or 700 installations when averaged to 100 turbines per installation. If everyone else is receiving what Iowa admits it receives that means US citizens have paid $275,168,000,000 to build wind turbines. This does not include industrial solar, batteries or the thousands of excess power lines ($1-3 million/mile) required to move the power to more densely populated areas. It is not surprising that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is now pushing for a new Production Tax Credit to build power lines. There is also a push to give the federal government eminent domain to build these power lines like the Rock Island “Clean” Line, the Grain Belt Express or the Plains and Eastern “Clean” Line. These would be thousands of miles and billions of dollars on top of taking the property of hundreds of thousands of Americans. While sometimes necessary eminent domain should be used sparingly, not in wide swaths. Wind energy is being branded as necessary when it is actually only designer energy for people who already have access to electricity.
Rural communities fight industrial wind and solar. Absentee landowners tend to sign wind contracts without considering the impact on people that live there. Just since 2015 291 communities have banned or blocked industrial wind. This number does not include the ones that fought and lost. Wind turbines are now 60 stories tall with blades that can spin at 200+ miles per hour yet the wind industry wants to put these things on farmland 1250-1500 feet from the foundations of homes. There are negative impacts to the inside of homes so people fight it. I am a board member of the 100% volunteer National Wind Watch (wind-watch.org) that has been cataloging these fights for 20+ years.
Last week Indiana citizens finally defeated HB 1381 in their statehouse. This bill sought to take away their local authority on wind turbines because so many communities are refusing these industrial installations. In Iowa, Madison County is being sued by MidAmerican Energy for blocking wind turbines that do not have the support of the people. If the wind companies receive the goodwill of the people they can build.
In Worth County, IA where the former Supervisors refused to protect citizens Invenergy is building wind turbines 900 feet from the foundations of neighboring homes. The present Supervisors have called for a moratorium on wind.
The other night on Flashpoint I heard General Flynn talking about sacrificing for the common good. The Liberals talk about that a lot but there is a glaring difference. General Flynn meant that a person could choose sacrifice for the common good like soldiers do. Liberals usually mean that someone else should sacrifice for the common good. Rural communities are being sacrificed to the common good defined by one side as Climate Change and defined by the other as Economic Development.
Our entire Iowa Republican delegation of top leadership did not support President Trump. They even mocked him when he stood against wind turbines. They did not question our stolen election or demand that the courts hear the evidence. Their collective dream for our future includes covering our world-class farm ground in wind turbines, 2,000- 5,000 acre solar installations and power lines. Our Iowa lawmakers are making deals with Amazon, Google and Facebook that demand “renewable energy”. Farmers are made to carbon sequester under threat of not being allowed to do business if we do not comply. They want us to return our land to “natural” and support carbon taxing. Iowa’s economy is being built on the Green New Deal. It is hard to fight a government that has a Swampy bi-partisan bit in its teeth.
I cannot stand to watch our lawmakers wringing their hands about Biden’s proposed infrastructure deal like they have had nothing to do with paving this trail.
I think most Iowans want to make an honest living where they work and get paid through commerce. We do not want the money made by lobbyists through policy changing. We voted RED and do not support the Green New Deal. I believe that God created the world by the words of His mouth as recorded in John 1. I believe that when He in Genesis 8:22 gave us a Climate Promise that He meant it.
Our government was never meant to be our source of income. God is our source for all things. We just need to seek Him and obey Him. Luckily for us that His ways bring us freedom and joy.
Author: Janna Swanson
Janna Swanson helps her husband Paul farm in NW Iowa with their two young daughters. Since 2013 Janna has volunteered her time and energy for her community. She was a key member of the Preservation of Rural Iowa Alliance that protected landowners from the Rock Island Clean Line. From there she helped start and facilitated the grassroots group, The Coalition for Rural Property Rights to help protect community members from industrial wind installations. She is also a board member of National Wind Watch, a 25-year online collection of information of the industrial wind opposition from around the world. Most importantly Janna is a follower of Christ and seeks to help others to know and understand Him. Yet because she is also seeking deepening her own knowledge and understanding she welcomes critical, constructive debate. No one has the corner on truth, we all see “through a glass, darkly”. (I Corinthians 13:12)
