Janeel, Where is your outrage over the bubbling bitumen stretches of decimated land (former pristine natural forests) that are the tar sands of Canada? ..over the environmental devastation of the Gulf of Mexico? ..over gasoline ruptures and oil car derailments that kill and maim hundreds (if not thousands) and destroy entire communities? When you "cherry pick" what you want to be outraged over, it reveals your biases. David B. has it right: let's eliminate subsidies of fossil fuels as well as renewables, so we have a truly level playing field, and see what shakes out from that!
Janeel Hew - 11 years ago
Wind turbines hide behind the muse of the label “Renewable Energy”, while the media only portrays the “idea” that wind turbines are a clean source of energy, when in fact they cause death and environmental devastation before they are even assembled. There is a lake of toxic waste at Baotou, China, caused by the rare earth processing plant, that makes the giant magnets for wind turbines which require two half circle magnets, approximately the size of a car, each. The following statements may be found in an online article written by Simon Parry in China and Ed Douglas in Scotland at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/hom... ,created on January 26, 2011, for Live Magazine. “Live has uncovered the distinctly dirty truth about the process used to extract neodymium: it has an appalling environmental impact that raises serious questions over the credibility of so-called green technology.” , “an old farmer stares despairingly out across an immense lake of bubbling toxic waste covered in black dust. He remembers it as fields of wheat and corn.” , “It has killed farmland for miles around “, “their teeth began to fall out, their hair turned white at unusually young ages, and they suffered from severe skin and respiratory diseases. Children were born with soft bones and cancer rates rocketed” , ‘”Anything we planted just withered, then our animals started to sicken and die.’”, “Jamie Choi, an expert on toxics for Greenpeace China, says villagers living near the lake face horrendous health risks from the carcinogenic and radioactive waste. ‘There’s not one step of the rare earth mining process that is not disastrous for the environment. Ores are being extracted by pumping acid into the ground, and then they are processed using more acid and chemicals.”. “Vast fortunes are being amassed here in Inner Mongolia; the region has more than 90 per cent of the world’s legal reserves of rare earth metals, and specifically neodymium, the element needed to make the magnets in the most striking of green energy producers, wind turbines.” , “a giant, secret toxic dump, made bigger by every wind turbine we build”Taking into consideration that this article was created in January of 2011, and had already made thousands of innocent people ill, and continues to devastate the environment with processing of 30,000 tons of rare earth metals a year, and seven million tons of waste a year (according to Du Youlu of Baogang's safety and environmental protection), with toxic waste being pumped out 24 hours a day; What gives the US Government the justifiable right, legally, morally, scientifically, and environmentally, to contribute to the suffering, the loss of life and the destruction of environment for the building of wind turbines when there are alternative power sources (even without alternatives it would still be wrong and unjustifiable)? Please specifically justify the answer and include all documents and data/sources which were used in obtaining the response to this question.
David Bruderly - 12 years ago
Until government policy is enacted that internalizes the external costs to society created by the production , distribution and use of fossil energy there will be no "free market" in energy or energy services. Critics have it backwards; current policy allows the fossil energy providers to avoid the full costs associated with their profits. This is profoundly unfair to consumers those who bear these costs. Anybody who rejects subsidies for "clean" or "renewable" energy while ignoring this reality is being dishonest or ignorant.
Janeel, Where is your outrage over the bubbling bitumen stretches of decimated land (former pristine natural forests) that are the tar sands of Canada? ..over the environmental devastation of the Gulf of Mexico? ..over gasoline ruptures and oil car derailments that kill and maim hundreds (if not thousands) and destroy entire communities? When you "cherry pick" what you want to be outraged over, it reveals your biases. David B. has it right: let's eliminate subsidies of fossil fuels as well as renewables, so we have a truly level playing field, and see what shakes out from that!
Wind turbines hide behind the muse of the label “Renewable Energy”, while the media only portrays the “idea” that wind turbines are a clean source of energy, when in fact they cause death and environmental devastation before they are even assembled. There is a lake of toxic waste at Baotou, China, caused by the rare earth processing plant, that makes the giant magnets for wind turbines which require two half circle magnets, approximately the size of a car, each. The following statements may be found in an online article written by Simon Parry in China and Ed Douglas in Scotland at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/hom... ,created on January 26, 2011, for Live Magazine. “Live has uncovered the distinctly dirty truth about the process used to extract neodymium: it has an appalling environmental impact that raises serious questions over the credibility of so-called green technology.” , “an old farmer stares despairingly out across an immense lake of bubbling toxic waste covered in black dust. He remembers it as fields of wheat and corn.” , “It has killed farmland for miles around “, “their teeth began to fall out, their hair turned white at unusually young ages, and they suffered from severe skin and respiratory diseases. Children were born with soft bones and cancer rates rocketed” , ‘”Anything we planted just withered, then our animals started to sicken and die.’”, “Jamie Choi, an expert on toxics for Greenpeace China, says villagers living near the lake face horrendous health risks from the carcinogenic and radioactive waste. ‘There’s not one step of the rare earth mining process that is not disastrous for the environment. Ores are being extracted by pumping acid into the ground, and then they are processed using more acid and chemicals.”. “Vast fortunes are being amassed here in Inner Mongolia; the region has more than 90 per cent of the world’s legal reserves of rare earth metals, and specifically neodymium, the element needed to make the magnets in the most striking of green energy producers, wind turbines.” , “a giant, secret toxic dump, made bigger by every wind turbine we build”Taking into consideration that this article was created in January of 2011, and had already made thousands of innocent people ill, and continues to devastate the environment with processing of 30,000 tons of rare earth metals a year, and seven million tons of waste a year (according to Du Youlu of Baogang's safety and environmental protection), with toxic waste being pumped out 24 hours a day; What gives the US Government the justifiable right, legally, morally, scientifically, and environmentally, to contribute to the suffering, the loss of life and the destruction of environment for the building of wind turbines when there are alternative power sources (even without alternatives it would still be wrong and unjustifiable)? Please specifically justify the answer and include all documents and data/sources which were used in obtaining the response to this question.
Until government policy is enacted that internalizes the external costs to society created by the production , distribution and use of fossil energy there will be no "free market" in energy or energy services. Critics have it backwards; current policy allows the fossil energy providers to avoid the full costs associated with their profits. This is profoundly unfair to consumers those who bear these costs. Anybody who rejects subsidies for "clean" or "renewable" energy while ignoring this reality is being dishonest or ignorant.