Respectfully, what do you anticipate research in Lake Michigan would show that we couldn’t already learn by looking at the off-shore wind farms in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Northern Germany?

Out of necessity, the fine people of Holland are as concerned as anybody could possibly be with any adverse environmental effects from mounting wind turbines on steel pylons stuck into the ocean bottom. Has their experience been negative?

What could our government officials and politicans learn about “responsible guidelines” by you writing them that the Dutch and Danish bureaucrats and politicians haven’t already learned or know?

I submit that all that is needed is for the Michgan PSC and local politicans to contact their Dutch and Danish counterparts and see if there is any reasonable cause for your alarm.

You have obviously thought about this a great deal. Please tell me what kind of adverse effects to our eco system you expect from 24 ft diameter steel tubes stuck in the lake bottom several miles off shore?

I’m not worried about what the research may show, I’m just puzzled that we would waste time and money on research when we already have real-world examples to look at and learn from in Northern Europe. The only difference between theirs and ours is that their wind farms are in salt water.

I am on no one’s payroll. It’s just that I believe the operative word should be “We” and not “Me.”

Looking at historical wind data for the Great Lakes, it’s obvious off-shore wind farms would provide a much needed and reliable source of electrical energy for the entire Upper Midwest.

To take advantage of those winds, the turbines would be several miles off shore. Far enough that there will be no erosion due to waves, and no adverse efect on personal sightlines and vistas.

Anyone who objects is thinking of themselves instead of the country as a whole.

The highways that go past those people’s lakeside houses, and the Interstate highways that carry tourists up from Detroit and Chicago have more of an adverse effect than would wind turbines several miles out on the lake. But why don’t they object to those highways? Because they have a direct need for them, while they sense no need for wind energy.

Please further explain why more research is needed when we have the 20-year example of offshore wind farms in Denmark and the Netherlands. Shouldn’t we learn from their real-world example instead of funding more research with time and money?

Mr. Slocombe,

Your comment seems to offer the perfect summary of your own thought process. Ms. Alvesteffer has offered an analytic argument why more research is needed. By contrast, you seem only capable of appealing to the all-knowing Dutch and Danes, while at the same time bashing the good people of Nantucket simply for being fortunate enough to have lemonade for sipping.

Whose payroll are you on, anyhow? You post more than anyone here, and yet you’ve indicated very little about your own motivations for supporting this project (assuming that you do in fact support it). What gives?

Yes, it does ~ especially the objections of the people who would feel offended to sit on their porches drinking lemonade while having to look at wind turbines way out on the horizon of the lake.

If the Dutch and Danes don’t find offense with offshore wind turbines, why should it bother the Michiganders and Massachusians? Afterall, there are many people of Dutch heritage in western Michigan.

I’ve got no problem with research, although it’s not really necessary. There’s already plenty of real world experience from Denmark, the Netherlands, and northern Germany,

In case your not aware, the Dutch are very sensitive to maintaining their shoreline and preventing erosion since a large portion of their country is below sea level. If their offshore wind turbines were causing any adverse effects to their coast, don’t you think we would have heard of it by now?

Have you heard of any examples of erosion along the Dutch coast due to their offshore wind farms?

Connie,

An immense effect? Please explain how towers with a diameter of about 24 ft, located several miles* off shore, will effect the structure of waves in Lake Michigan and their effect on the beaches.

The waves from the “Gales of November” that roar across the Great Lakes have far more effect than steel pylons stuck in the water ever will. Have you ever protested the “Gales of November?”

Instead of being analytical, you’re grasping at straws.

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* The steady winds that make the Great Lakes attractive for offshore wind farms, are only steady starting at about seven miles offshore.

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Matt~

Not in the U.S. But if we look to Denmark, the Netherlands, and northern Germany, we’d find the impact has been minimal.

When you think about it, why would there be an impact? Why would an array of wind turbines keep tourists from an area?

* Have high-voltage power line towers kept people away from the ski slopes in the West?
* Have very high TV and radio broadcast towers ever kept tourists away from an area?
* Have wireless communications towers ever kept tourists out of an area?
* Have the the tall skyscrapers in Manhattan ever kept tourists away?

I think the impact on the local tourist economy is a valid concern and I’d like to see studies of a cost benefit analysis.

I’m not terribly interested in wind power because its green, I’m interested in it because its cheap…and cheap power is like mana for an economy.

The more pollution I see, the more I think we’re turning into a communist nation. Most of the worlds most polluted cities are in Russia and China.

No, really! I’ve amassed about 100 names today of people in Muskegon who would love to move this project to Muskegon.

Ms. Burdick,

Wind turbines will stop you from doing none of those things. You sound like those rich, privileged Massachusetts families who are obstructing the offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

This may work in Denmark etc. but it is not the reason people live and visit Pentwater and surrounding areas. Why should Pentwater bear the brunt…

Unfortunately, you are probably right. It will work in Denmark or the Netherlands, but not here. The reason it won’t work here is the American trait of putting “me” before “we,” while the Danes and Dutch think “we” first and consider the good for their entire countries.

LakeshoreOwner,

Please explain how wind turbines in Lake Michigan would lower property values and lower the tax base. There are many people in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Northern Germany who live within sight of wind farms in the North and Baltic Seas and who have not found that to be the case.

I believe this project will only help those who need the energy and are willing to pay for it (Detroit and Chicago). Locally, aesthetically, and economically the Oceana and Mason residents will pay for it in lost property values and tax bases.

If you’re interested in wind energy, check out http://www.greencollareconomy.com. It has hundreds of case studies on emerging green technology and wind farms. It’s also the largest b2b green directory on the web.