The September 15 article, Winds of Change Can Benefit Virginia, by “guest columnist” Randall Swisher is full of false and misleading information. It is another step in the campaign by the wind industry, the US Department of Energy, and DOE’s National Renewable Energy “Laboratory” to mislead the public, media and government officials about the wind energy

However, thanks to dozens of citizen groups that have emerged in the US and other countries where “wind farms” have been built or proposed, the facts about the true costs and benefits of wind energy have begun to emerge. These include: 1. Tax avoidance -- not environmental and energy benefits -- have become the prime motivation for building "wind farms." 2. Huge windmills -- taller than the US Capitol -- produce very little electricity. All the 20,000 windmills combined that are now scattered across thousands of acres in the US (88% in CA, TX, MN, IA, WA and OR) produce about as much electricity in a year as Dominion's North Anna generating plant. 3. Electricity from wind turbines is intermittent, volatile and largely unpredictable and thus has less value than electricity from reliable generation. It detracts from electric system reliability. 4. The true cost of electricity from wind is much higher than advocates admit. 5. Claims of environmental benefits of wind energy are greatly exaggerated. 6. "Wind farms" have adverse impacts on environmental, ecological, scenic and property values, and create potential hazards to health and safety. 7. "Wind farms" produce few local economic benefits -- and these are overwhelmed by higher costs imposed on electric customers. 8. Various other subsidies shift large amounts of costs from "wind farm" owners to ordinary taxpayers and electric customers. 9. The big "winners" are "wind farm" owners and a few landowners; the "losers" are electric customers and taxpayers. 10. Government subsidies for wind energy are greater than for other energy sources when existing and potential contributions are taken into account. (Each of the above points is detailed in a paper that can be downloaded from various web sites including http://www.iainmurray.org/MT/archives/AECIFA~1.pdf and www.tsaugust.org. Mr. Swisher’s claims about local economic benefits are greatly exaggerated by overstating benefits and ignoring costs. Real economic costs ignored by wind advocates include (a) costs of backup power, transmission and grid management because electricity output from wind turbines is intermittent, highly variable and largely unpredictable, (b) the adverse impact of higher electricity prices in monthly electric bills and (c) the cost to ordinary taxpayers of the huge tax breaks and other subsidies received by the wind industry. Few local jobs are created even during the few months it takes to construct a “wind farm.” Tourism is also exaggerated. The huge windmills are a curiosity that some may want to see once (like an auto accident) but cannot begin to compare to the lasting value of destroyed scenery. (Errors and excesses in the wind advocates’ claims about local and state economic benefits are described in detail in a paper that can be downloaded from www.tsaugust.org in the “renewable energy” section. The proposed Highland County, VA, project is used in that paper to illustrate the errors and excesses of the wind industry-DOE-NREL claims.) Mr. Swisher’s claims that “wind farms” do not adversely affect neighbors’ property values is false, as people who live near them have learned. The highly biased “study” on property values that he cites has been discredited because of its faulty assumptions and methods. Citizens of Virginia should not rely on the wind industry's chief Washington lobbyist when considering the critical issues presented by the proposed “wind farm” in Highland County. Glenn R. Schleede 18220 Turnberry Drive Round Hill, VA 20141-2574 540-338-9958 Note for editor: For your information, I am retired after spending more than 30 years working on energy matters in government and the private sector. I now use some of my time to analyze and write about government and private sector energy policies, programs, regulations and projects that are detrimental to the interests of consumers and taxpayers. This focus led me to study “wind energy” and to the discovery that the public, media and government officials have been misled about this energy source by the activities of DOE, NREL and the wind industry. My activity is entirely self-financed and is not on behalf of any client or other interest.

link to article