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Alerts
These postings are provided to help publicize and provide examples of the efforts of affiliated groups and individuals related to industrial wind energy development. Most of the notices posted here are not the product of nor are they necessarily endorsed by National Wind Watch.
How to Run a Campaign to Stop Big Energy
We at Communities B4 Power Companies (CB4PC) have been asked on several occasions, ‘Where do we start?’ Starting a campaign can be overwhelming. Not only are most people embarking upon a leadership role they had never anticipated, but it’s probably one that involves learning a whole new subject! But once you get stuck in, you will find people support you and want to lend a hand. Your knowledge of the new subject grows daily and you will begin to feel confident in your sentiments, what you believe in, and the approach you have decided to take. You will make mistakes along the way, upset some people, feel like you are always talking about your campaign, etc., but that is okay! You are only human, and more than likely doing this for free to help so many others!
CB4PC has compiled a ‘to do’ list, which is like a starter kit for any campaign group. Several of us at CB4PC are very seasoned – and successful – campaign leaders (many different campaigns, not just energy), and we have learned a lot over the years about what works and what doesn’t. The list may look daunting, but as you work your way through it the tasks will become easier, almost second nature. Some tasks will grow arms and legs and seem never-ending, but you will begin to settle into what you are doing, delegate to others, and eventually enjoy the ‘fruits of your labour!’
So here we go …
1. Raise awareness!
It is often the case that very few local residents are aware of what is happening in their local area.
Inform people through Facebook, post information notices in shops, visit your neighbours and talk to them, drop leaflets through doors.
2. Call a meeting!
Most communities have a village or church hall which is reasonably priced. Even a large sitting room can work in the early days. Gather together a handful of residents who share your concerns, create an agenda, deliver a talk or two on the topic of the campaign, and allow time for the audience to ask questions.
And remember: you are new to this, you are not a professional, you are just raising awareness. You do not have to have the answer to every question!
3. Contact your community councils!
Ask them to raise the matter at their next meeting. CCs must remain neutral and not be a part of any campaign, but they do have a duty to discuss the matter to ensure they have a well-rounded knowledge for when they must submit their representation.
4. Encourage everyone to write to their representatives!
A simple bullet point list can be helpful, for everyone will be as in the dark as you were the day you started the campaign group! We would discourage template letters, unless residents can change them to make them personal. Personal letters and emails are appreciated more by representatives. It shows real concern for the matter. Be warned, though … Political representatives are NOT allowed to form an opinion on the matter until the application has been submitted. Do not expect your representatives to be on any side and do not think their avoidance of engagement is a sign they aren’t supportive. If a councillor, particularly one on the planning committee, is seen to be partial to a campaign OR to a developer, they may lose the right to vote.
Politicians at Holyrood and Westminster don’t have any say in most developments, unless they are a minister, so don’t feel fobbed off if they tell you they can’t do anything / they have no say. It is true to some extent, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t discussing concerns with fellow politicians, so make them very aware of your feelings about the matter!
5. Create a name and logo for your campaign group!
Use this on everything you publicise. Let whoever you are campaigning against know who you are.
6. Leaflet drop!
Create a stand-out leaflet and ask local residents to drop in their areas. You can also use Royal Mail to distribute leaflets, but this can be costly.
7. Banners & Posters!
Using your name, logo and some catching (or shocking) imagery, design some banners and posters and get supporters to buy them so they can display them in their fields, on their fences, in shop windows – anywhere so people become informed.
8. Employ experts!
In the early stages of any campaign it is vital to consider what kind of experts you will need to represent your position, particularly if you go to a public inquiry (PLI). Lots of campaigners head straight for lawyers, but lawyers can do very little until there is a PLI. In fact, a KC has to be appointed by a lawyer or a professional. We advise finding a professional planning expert and that person in turn should know other experts who can do the groundwork and prepare the documents required to support your position, such as a landscape architect, engineer, environmentalist, etc. Laypeople’s voices are very important but so are those respected in their fields, and their evidence and submissions often carry a certain weight which cannot be dismissed at the planning stage or a PLI.
9. Fundraise!
Most of us have fundraised at some point. Hold a bake stall, a car boot sale, a fun run, a ceilidh, and ask supporters outright for donations. Whether or not you employ professionals to help fight your corner, you will need some money for leaflets, distribution, banners, hall hire, etc.
If you hire experts or get legal advice, the costs can start to mount up quickly. So it is best to raise money from the start and ask supporters to top up the kitty as the campaign gathers pace. We have found a standing order can be a good way to raise funds, particularly for those supporters who don’t have a lot of spare cash to hand.
And finally …
10. Join CB4PC!
As you will know, because you have found this information on our Facebook page or Website, Communities B4 Power Companies wants an over-arching campaign to fight the infrastructure SSEN is proposing. There are going to be dozens of campaign groups up and down Scotland attempting to protect their own patch. CB4PC believes to protect your own patch, whether that means campaigning to shift a pylon here or there, get a substation moved down the road, or using the existing corridor for larger pylons, can only result in pushing the problem into someone else’s area. We feel very strongly that this is unethical and inappropriate.
We have been professional advised that there is NO NEED for any of this infrastructure other than to enable more onshore wind farms (which we don’t need as Scotland produces far beyond its renewable energy requirements) and A LOT more profit for BIG energy companies. This infrastructure is for one thing only – exporting energy.
If you agree with us, please join us, and together we can do our absolute best to STOP SSEN.
Thanks for reading. Good luck with your own campaign!
Ask Questions Before Signing a Contract
- Does signing an Option Contract lock me in with a developer for turbines, whether I want them or not?
- Is the original contract term 50 years? How long is the developer’s option to extend?
- Will my children and grandchildren be tied to the contract after I’m gone?
- How much of my land will the wind turbine developer have 100% access to for building roads, placing buried and above-ground transmission lines, and installing turbines?
- Will the developer have the option to move existing or install new turbines and transmission lines at its discretion at any point during the life of the contract?
- Will I be required to get permission to build a structure or plant a tree over 25 feet tall anywhere on my land?
- Can I build a residence on my land if there’s a turbine on it?
- Will my contract state that I cannot speak poorly of the developer about the projects on my land or any other of the developer’s projects?
- Will I be allowed to hunt on my property? What about burning my fields? Aerial spraying?
- How can I be guaranteed the developer will be responsible for maintaining and then removing the turbines and restoring the property 50 or 90 years from now?
- If I purchase adjoining land, am I required to sign that over for development as well?
- Can the lease of my land be sold to another company and/ or used as collateral for financing?
- If I or my family have health issues resulting from wind turbines, will I have the option to sue the developer for failing to disclose these issues?
If you are considering signing a wind lease, take the contract to a lawyer. Go over every detail. Find out exactly what can happen to your fields, find out all the developer will be allowed to do to your land. Go through that contract completely, and think hard before making your decision.
I can tell you from first-hand experience, once you sign that contract, you will not have a chance to turn back.
Steinich Farms, Inc.
Cambria, WI
National Photography Competition
The theme of this national photo competition is
RECKLESS RENEWABLES: ADVERSE IMPACT IN IMAGES
Enter “The Impact of Reckless Renewables” national photo competition. Use your photographic skills to capture and share the negative effects of commercial wind turbines, high voltage transmission towers, grid solar systems, pumped hydro facilities, and grid batteries on farmers, fishermen, the land and sea, wildlife, the environment, communities, and everyday life. Opens 2nd April 2024 and closes 1 June 2024.
Residents of Australia only. Enter via: https://www.nren.com.au/new-nuclear
Action alerts, Energy, Environment, Massachusetts, Meetings, Safety •
Source: Save Greater Dowses Beach
“Close to the Wind” Summit — January 4, 2024
The “Close to the Wind” Summit, a gathering to bring together concerned voices to discuss the technology, wisdom and risks of offshore wind development. Guest speakers will discuss offshore wind power development, interconnection and better approaches to the transition to renewable energy. The conference will take place on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at the Hyport Conference Center, 35 Scudder Ave., Hyannis, Mass.
Organized by the group Save Greater Dowses Beach, East Coast activists, energy and environmental experts will discuss offshore wind energy construction, transmission and its onshore impacts. The conference will focus attention on less harmful and costly ways to develop offshore wind energy while minimizing the damage and disruption to residents and businesses that operate offshore and onshore.
Event Highlights:
1. Speakers: Local and regional thought leaders from the fields of renewable energy, commercial fishing and community activism will deliver inspiring addresses. Speakers to include:
- Lisa Quattrocki Knight, Cofounder and President, Green Oceans https://green-oceans.org/
- Jerry Leeman – New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Assoc. https://www.nefishermen.org/
- Val Oliver, Founding Director, ACK for Whales https://ack4whales.org/
- David Buzanoski, President, Falmouth Heights Maravista Neighborhood Assoc. https://fhmna.org/
- Barnstable Speaks https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=barnstable%20speaks
- Joe Bourne, Protect Sandbridge Beach https://www.protectsandbridgebeach.org/
- Susanne Conley and Adam Mirick, Save Greater Dowses Beach https://savedowses.org/
2. Q&A: Attendees will have ample opportunity to ask questions and express their own viewpoints on offshore wind development and its impacts.
Registration and Details:
- Date: Saturday, January 27, 2024
- Time: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
- Location: Hyport Conference Center, 35 Scudder Avenue, Barnstable, Massachusetts
- Registration: Reserve your place by emailing saveourbeach22@gmail.com
- Donation: $20 at the door (checks preferred)
Economics, Environment, Flyers, Massachusetts, Publications, Rhode Island, Videos •
Source: Green Oceans
Wind energy facilities planned off coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts
INDUSTRIALIZATION DETAILS
1,000 or more wind turbines.
800- to 1,000-foot tall turbines, taller than any building in Boston. 12.9 miles from RI and 8.2 from MA.
1,400 square miles of ocean, 1.5 times the size of RI, will be industrialized.
Pile driving into the seabed, heavy diesel vessel traffic, sediment plumes, and detonations of ordinances will harm whales, kill plankton, and reduce fishery stocks.
CLIMATE CHANGE
“No measurable influence on climate change” will result from these projects, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
CO₂ emissions from construction front loads the carbon cost. None of the projects’ websites claim they will help reduce CO2 emissions or help climate change.
Wind power without battery storage requires 100% backup and will therefore never reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.
SF₆, a greenhouse gas 23,500 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and millions of gallons of oil and lubricants are contained on site and may leak.
Biodiversity loss threatens human health and contributes to climate change. One project alone will imperil fourteen endangered species.
ADVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Significant, irreversible environmental damage to the marine ecosystem will result. 11-14
Cod, squid, tuna, and shellfish fisheries will all suffer.
Major Longterm adverse impacts on commercial fishing will result from the developments according to the Final Environmental Impact assessment for Revolution Wind.
The North Atlantic right whale may become extinct. Sean Hayes, division chief of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, stated that “impacts from installed and operating turbines cannot be mitigated.”
More than 700,000 marine mammals may be harmed. NOAA has or is in the process of granting offshore wind companies permission to harm and/or disturb 716,978 marine mammals, including more than 23,000 whales.
EMFs and temperature elevations from the high-voltage cables and substations will adversely affect marine animals from plankton to apex predators.
410+ whales have died along the eastern seaboard since 2016, when offshore wind companies began their seismic surveys in the region.
Microplastics will contaminate the marine food web from blade erosion.
Forever chemicals (PFOAs), toxic metals and bisphenols (BPAs) will be resuspended by jet plowing for the cable installations. No sediment samples have been tested for PFOAs.
ECONOMIC CONCERNS
Major adverse impact on employment according to the Revolution Wind Final Environmental Impact statement.
Decommissioning has not been factored into either total expense or environmental impact and may cost 70% of the installation price.
Reduced fishing, tourism, property values, and elevated electricity costs will decrease state tax revenues and cause economic hardship while foreign-owned wind companies will profit (Ørsted, Avangrid, Equinor, Shell).
Wind developers have donated $millions to environmental groups, universities, and research organizations.
1,000 turbines will cost $50 billion. US taxpayers are currently expected to shoulder 30% of this cost.
Destruction of natural beauty in our public spaces. These 873-1000 foot structures will be visible from nearly every public beach in RI.
Hidden impacts and costs. The developers of Revolution Wind will not allow the public to access 25 out of 51 appendices, including the emergency response plans.
Navigation safety and radar will be compromised. The projects will deter search and rescue operations within the 1,400 square miles of development.
Download this one-page fact sheet.
(Download full paper with references.)
Green Oceans: Protecting the ocean and preventing the industrialization of our coastal waters
To contact us: info@green-oceans.org
To donate: https://green-oceans.org/donate
Environment, Products •
Source: Long Beach and South Shore Residents Opposed to Turbines
Save Our Seas – artwork by Marion Chapman
Yellow Vests
