Informed Citizens Takes a Stand Against the Energy Fair

[XLFD]

 

The LDN set their intern Garrett Ritchie to report on the Michigan Energy Fair that took place at the West Michigan Fairgrounds this last weekend, but failed to report any more after the fact  michigan-energy-fair-makes-going-green-fun.  If you had went past the fairgrounds during this Energy jamboree, you would have noticed an array of protesters lined on the highway in front of the entrance.  You may have thought it was CARRE, who have raised serious issues with the Lake Winds Energy Farm currently going up.  But you would have been mostly wrong.

 

The organizers of this protest was a group called the Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition, and their cause is the same as CARRE's, to make sure energy policy is based more on wisdom rather than by government fiat, often propelled by special interest groups.  Michigan Capitol Confidential (CAPCON) a division of conservative Michigan think tank group, The Mackinac Center, had this article about them this last weekend:

 

Group Rallies Against Push For Unproven Alternative Energy

Wind energy is 'a scam of Olympic proportions'

 

Unexpected guests are visiting this year's Energy Fair in Ludington.

Opponents of government mandated renewable energy are coming to the event to protest the blind push for renewable energy and hand out information showing that most wind energy is a farce.

Spearheading the effort to present this politically incorrect point of view at the fair, is a group called the Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition.

"Wind energy is a scam of Olympic proportions," coalition director Kevon Martis said. "It has no meaningful capacity value because the wind stops blowing whenever it feels like it. Far from liberating us from fossil fuel, it actually binds us to fossil fuel at one-to-three ratio of wind-to-fossil forever. It is simple economic lunacy slathered with a shiny 'green' paint job."

The Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs proposal — also known as the 25 by 25 plan —has formed the backdrop for what's happening in Ludington. It appears that this proposal is headed to the statewide ballot in November. If passed, the proposal would increase Michigan renewable energy mandate to 25 percent of the state's energy sources by 2025.

Those behind the proposal are making the familiar claims people heard for years from former Gov. Jennifer Granholm — that government-forced mandates for so-called renewable energy will create thousands of jobs and attract billions in investments.

While the 25/25 proposal is theoretically about all renewable sources, in reality it's primarily about wind energy.

"Wind energy is just the latest incarnation of big industry and big government working hand-in-taxpayers-pocket to fatten their own wallets while the common person picks up their tab," Martis said. "Michigan is losing its economic competitiveness regionally and globally. We pay the highest utility rates in the region and wind is guaranteed to make that worse in the U.S. just as it has done in Europe."

Protests against wind energy are a relatively new development in the United States and are new to Michigan. But in Europe, where wind energy has been around a few years longer — and largely failed — such protests are not uncommon.

Under current law, Michigan is mandated to reach a 10 percent renewable level by 2015. At that point the mandate is supposed to be re-evaluated. However, there are signs that forcing Michigan's utilities to hit the 10 percent level has already become problematic.

Recently, voters of Huron County's Lake Township rejected efforts to allow wind turbines to be located there. In that situation, voters had to face an effort by some government officials to ignore election results.

The attempt by some government officials to circumvent the election result failed. Other areas of Michigan have rejected efforts to establish wind farms as well.

http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/17127

 

Those last paragraphs are really telling as to how some county's officials try to overcome the will of the people to get these installed.  That's what happened here in Mason County; the elected officials and Consumer's Energy worked behind the scenes for awhile before the idea of wind turbines became common public knowledge.  By then, the zoning rules had been changed and the covert contracts were all signed.  All they needed to get it around the protesters here in the county was to get our Honorable Judge Cooper's son's law firm to represent Consumer's Energy in front of Honorable Judge Cooper.  Honorable Judge Cooper ruled with his son.  No big surprise.

Michigan Energy Fair?  In this case, it was not.

[XLFD]

In related news, Cary Shineldecker, leader of the CARRE movement in southern Mason County, are trying to sell their house, overlooking the Lake Wind Energy Factory.  You will note that he commented several times in the comment section of the article above.  The LDN relates this story.

[XLFD]

Here's the full story as regards the Shineldeckers.  Just think, if our County Government and all the neighbors of the Shineldeckers had told them of this years ago when they were creating lax zoning laws, formulating covert plans, and signing gag-ordered contracts with Consumer's Energy (some doing both), they would have been able to get out of there earlier.   

[Willy]

I have family not far from the Shineldeckers and their having the same problems. Turbines out front and turbines out back. Turbines can be seen from every window. They also tried to voice their opinions in a nice way but were met with negativity and cold shoulders from those that are allowing these industrial travesties to be erected on their property. This has been a bad situation in a "friendly" community.