Trump's putdown of wind energy whips up a backlash in Iowa

[teach1st]

Source: Washington Post

IOWA CITY, Iowa — President Trump’s putdown of wind energy at his Iowa rally was denounced Thursday across the state, which takes pride in its position as a national leader in wind generation.

Trump was talking up his support for coal during his speech in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday night when he said: “I don’t want to just hope the wind blows to light up your homes and your factories.” He paused before adding, “as the birds fall to the ground,” a reference to birds killed by turbines.

The remark drew some cheers and laughs inside the arena but didn’t go over well across Iowa, where the rapid growth of the state’s wind energy industry has been a bipartisan success story. Environmentalists and politicians said the president’s suggestion that wind is unreliable was outdated and off-base, and noted that bird deaths have been minimized and aren’t a source of controversy in Iowa.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andy McGuire called Trump’s comment “an attack on Iowa’s economy.” Iowa Environmental Council executive director Ralph Rosenberg called the president “inaccurate and misinformed.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/trumps-putdown-of-wind-energy-whips-up-a-backlash-in-iowa/2017/06/22/4e299a9a-578b-11e7-840b-512026319da7_story.html

[DetlefK]

1. Weird how the Republicans care only about the birds killed by wind-turbines.

Birds killed by pollution of air and water? Meh, who cares.

[lordsummerisle]

4. I was just thinking that as well n/t

[Shell_Seas]

5. Well, pollution isn't real

Exxon scientists told them so.

[MBS]

9. Bird kills are a problem, BUT

1) the problem can be solved, or at least minimized, with smart design and careful siting of turbines.
2) Trump is busy vandalizing the environment on EVERY front. His sudden interest in the plight of birds has, to say the least, ZERO credibility.

[truthisfreedom]

25. Nonsense. Don't drink the koolaide.

Wind turbines are the most bird-friendly of all public utility power generation methods. Period. Every other method of generation kills more birds. Domesticated cats are the biggest threat.

[MBS]

27. agree about domestic cats.

Another big source of mortality are lighted/reflective windows in tall buildings - a HUGE and- had we the collective will to address the problem - preventable problem for migrating birds.

Not saying that Wind Turbines are bad. Am saying that, like windows and cats and everything we do as a "so-called" civilization, there is potential for damage (whether or not the damage is worse than cats or reflective windows or oil and gas and coal pollution or solar panels, in fact some birds have been killed by turbines) , and we should do everything we can -with, again, mindful turbine design and siting of wind farms - to minimize those costs.

[teach1st]

19. From the Washington Post Article

“There are way more bird deaths from birds striking tall buildings, like the type of towers that the president owns, than there are from birds striking wind turbines,” Mandelbaum said. “If the president’s concerned, maybe he should take a look at his own portfolio.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that between 134,000 and 327,000 birds die in wind turbine collisions annually, while at least 365 million die from window collisions.

[packman]

21. Funny - image of a bird (canary) in a mine sprung to mind

When it died, the men in the mine had their warning - they, too, might be approaching death.

[Bengus81]

24. Look it up too,more birds killed by guy wires on antenna's

than will ever be killed by a wind turbine,those wires are invisible at night and not that easy to see during the day. That's just the Oil and coal industry giving those Trump bots their talking points. Talk to ANY Republican and they will parrot the same line....as they're loading up the shotgun to go out and kill birds.

But they don't care because those antenna's bring them HATE mongers like Limbaugh and FOX news.

[burfman]

2. coal is dying regardless of what anybody says....

Check out the projected cost of electricity by source in 2020:

Notice that on-shore wind power is cheaper than coal.








burfman..................

[Igel]

22. One of the big takeaways from looking at many examples of government regulation is this.

It works for air pollution, water pollution, anti-poverty, anti-discrimination programs, a fairly wide variety of activities.

By the time government steps in to save the day, the trendline for whatever it is that's so horrible has been improving for years. This only makes sense given the political process in the US. By the time there's enough popular outcry for something and public support to make it worth politicians' attention and effort people have been complaining to businesses or doing things differently on their own. If a problem's too big and means that the government made up of "we the people" has to tell a majority of "we the people" to stuff it and get in line, it's not going to happen. You can't easily reconcile the government's ordering around a majority of its citizens around outside of wartime or national emergency with the idea of a democracy. (Well, except for SCOTUS when it re-interprets a law, but I did say "democracy"--rule by SCOTUS is an oligocracy, something we love when we agree with it but hate when we're on the losing end.)

Totalitarian, non-democratic regimes have a real issue with things like rights, the environment, that sort of thing that progressives generally claim exclusive dibs on, and it doesn't matter if those regimes are left or right of center.

In a few cases, improvement speeds up under government supervision. In more cases, improvement continues at the same pace for quite a while. You look at the historical trend and the only thing that lets you know a federal law was passed is an arrow or comment nothing that some law took affect. It arguably makes a real difference when the incidence of the bad behavior gets sufficiently low: government can drive the disapproved of behavior or situation to a much lower level than mere public pressure, but seldom manages to completely dispose of it (because to drive a behavior to zero requires a really extreme level of totalitarianism, a level many strong advocates of the law seem to approve of when it affects not-themselves).

Take something like public education. By the time elementary school was required at the state level, most people were already finishing elementary school. By the time middle/junior-high was required, most people were finishing it. Half of the population got their high school degree for the first time just before the US joined WWII and didn't achieve that awesome 50% number until a couple of years after the war. And high-school became required (until you were 16, still the law in some states) years after that number was reached, pretty much always in states that had already long passed the 50% mark. In a few the state legislatures decided they needed to play catch-up.

[Esse Quam Videri]

3. Watching Morning Joe

There was just a great wind energy commercial. It hi-lighted all the jobs the industry is creating in America's heartland.

[Igel]

26. Most of the jobs are build-out.

"This project will create 5000 jobs" has two sides.

If you rephrase it, "This project will create 5000 6-month jobs and 15 long-term jobs" it's less exciting. A lot of solar and wind build-out are precisely these kinds of jobs. I think just being factual requires some sort of time-span to be attached to the claim.

Why?

Because when we hear of a oil pipeline being built, we hear the same kind of claims. "5,000 jobs will be created." We rush to point out the short-term nature of most of the jobs because we don't like the industry. We're biased against it. That kind of claim from an oil company reeks of hypocrisy and a sort of Trumpian blindness, which we all delight in pointing out. When the claim is largely falsified, it creates suspicion on the party of many fence-sitters, but supporters don't care about the difference. The claim really is duplicitous and misleading, however, taking all of another 3 seconds to make it true and transparent.

I can't condemn something as dishonest and deceitful and then turn around and say it's a virtue to do the same thing based entirely on my particular biases.

The temp jobs are great, to be sure. You can make a living on a string of temp jobs (for example, the entire "construction industry&quot . But the quotes from people a year or two later and the way people have to walk back their claims or pretend they were never made are embarrassing to even hear.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. There's a factory in Newton where blades for wind turbines are made.

Last edited Fri Jun 23, 2017, 09:29 AM - Edit history (1)

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[bullwinkle428]

16. Acciona (Spanish manufacturer) has a huge plant in West Branch, IA, as well.

You can see it from I-80.

[rurallib]

18. And I believe Siemens has one just outside of Fort Madison

or they did have when Obama was president.

[gordianot]

7. If wind and solar could be made as dangerous to workers as coal...

Republicans would be all for it. Think of the potential savings you could potentially pull down so many health services.

[dalton99a]

8. "How stupid are the people of Iowa?"

[pangaia]

10. Stupid is everywhere.

Just visit parts of Upstate NY sometime,. where I live....

Remember we have Chris Fuckface Shitstain Collins.

[Chipper Chat]

11. and Virginia has

North Carolina Foxxxxxxx.

[pangaia]

12. Stupid is everywhere...ain't it.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

14. She's in the next state to the south, North Carolina.

I think you meant to say, "North Carolina has Virginia Foxx."

[Chipper Chat]

15. I just wanted to see if everyone was awake.

She is a very bigoted woman.

[Pauldg47]

20. And very stupid...must mean most her constituants are like her.

[tblue37]

23. That post was a direct quote of what Trump said when he lost the Iowa primary. nt

[Mopar151]

34. Easy to find the NIMBYs

And most are very white collar / Republican. They buy "view rights" and "wind rights" to stop the filthy windmills, write letters to the editor, complain about the neighbor's solar panels knocking down their property values.
Most of them have no idea how electricity actually gets to their house.

[riversedge]

13. Rosenberg called the president inaccurate and misinformed. BINGO

[Canoe52]

17. Awww little donnie cares about the cute little birdies

what a nice guy!

[DK504]

28. God forbid green energy is becoming incorporated into conventional energy

and OMG they are creating greens jobs. These fucking zombies still haven't figured out out this asshole they cheer for is trying to taking away their health care and health care jobs.

[blue-wave]

29. That's Great!

I'm glad he stuck his foot in his mouth again. He is the gift that keeps giving. Now democrats, go out there and use it for all it's worth. Beat the drum until it falls apart.

[niyad]

30. hey, douche boy, did you know that the KY coal museum is now solar-powered?

[SharonClark]

31. I don't want to just hope the wind blows to light up your homes and your factories.

He truly is an idiot.

[Martin Eden]

32. He's a con man

Those who voted for and continue to support him are truly idiots.

[Mopar151]

35. It's a "pitch"

Think about it - it's how he operates. No careful debates and actual experts! If the pitch catches hold, go with it. They did'nt quite boo this one, it just needs a little update.

[Bradical79]

33. "How stupid are the people of Iowa?" -Donald Trump

And he wins the state by 10.

Maybe some of those 50% that voted for him will finally get it?