by jboullion | Jun 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an article by Sara Daehn in the Cresco Times-Plain Dealer:
Cresco, Iowa – Construction is underway on a 99-megawatt wind farm near Riceville.
The Crane Creek Wind Project will consist of 66 GE 1.5 megawatt wind turbines and is expected to generate electricity to provide for the energy needs of approximately 27,000 homes serviced by investor-owned electric and natural gas utility Wisconsin Public Service, who will take over ownership of the project upon completion.
About 50-60 construction workers began working at the site of the Crane Creek Wind Project, located at 9895 Fir Ave. in rural Riceville, on April 13. So far, crews have been busy mobilizing the construction site, pouring foundations for each turbine and creating access roads.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin wind energy development stands still because of local opposition to wind siting. In other words, local opposition hasn’t stopped Wisconsin utilities from developing and electricity customers from using wind-generated electricity. The opposition just sends the jobs to workers in Iowa and Minnesota.
by jboullion | Jun 4, 2009 | Uncategorized
A story from WEAU News:
A western Wisconsin hospital wants to harness some of the mighty Mississippi’s power for its own energy needs.
Gundersen Lutheran Hospital is hoping to get approved to build seven hydrokinetic turbines at a Mississippi River dam, which the hospital says would provide about 90% of its energy needs. The hospital says it would take millions of dollars to create, and would use a local power company to convert the power. It’s in the permit stages now, which the hospital says could take three years.
“Versus wind which you never know whether the wind is going to be blowing or the sun is going to be shining so we think that this is a really good alternative as a renewable energy source,” says Jeff Rich with Gundersen Lutheran.
Rich says the hospital could recoup the cost of the project in about ten years.
by jboullion | Jun 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
From an announcement issued by the USDA:
On May 26, 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it is accepting applications for Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants and loan guarantees. REAP (Section 9007 of the 2008 Farm Bill) is the former Section 9006 under the 2002 Farm Bill and provides incentives for the development/construction of renewable energy projects, such as anaerobic digester projects.
REAP renewable energy grants can provide up to 25 percent of eligible project costs, up to $500,000. Loan guarantees or grant and loan guarantee combinations are capped at 75 percent of eligible project costs. More details are available in the Federal Register at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-12178.pdf or on the USDA Web site http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/busp/9006grant.htm.
Application materials may be obtained by contacting one of USDA Rural Development State Offices, which are listed at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html or by downloading at http://www.grants.gov. Applications are due on July 31, 2009.
by jboullion | May 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
From details of the Energy Fair, sponsored by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, in Custer, Wisconsin:
Friday, June 19 at 1 pm
Antonia Juhasz
Antonia Juhasz is an author and political activist. She was the author of The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time in 2006, Alternatives to Economic Globalization for which she received the 2004 Project Censored award. In 2008, she published The Tyranny of Oil.
Saturday, June 20 at 1 pm
Alan Weisman
Alan Weisman spoke at the 10th Anniversary Energy Fair, and we’re happy to have him join us another ten years later to celebrate our progress and help us look forward to another 20 years.
Alan Weisman is an author and journalist whose reports from around the world have appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Orion, Wilson Quarterly, Vanity Fair, Mother Jones, Discover, and more.
His most recent book, The World Without Us, (a staff favorite) is a bestseller, and was named the Best Nonfiction Book of 2007 by both Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly.
Sunday, June 21 at 1 pm
Wendy Williams
Wendy Williams, an is the author of Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound. The Wall Street Journal called Cape Wind “a ripe subject, populated with the sort of people who would be among the first to count themselves as friends of the Earth but the last to accept an environmentally friendly energy source if it meant the slightest cloud on their ocean views.”
Williams has written for many major publications, including Scientific American, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, The Providence Journal and The Baltimore Sun. She has been journalist-in-residence at Duke University and at the Hasting Center. The author of several books, she lives on Cape Cod.
by jboullion | May 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources:
MADISON – The public is invited to comment on an Environmental Assessment (EA) prepared by the Department of Natural Resources for the Enbridge Alberta Clipper petroleum pipeline system project.
Enbridge Energy Company, Inc., 119 N. 25th Street East, Superior, WI 54880-5247, has applied to DNR for waterway and wetland crossing permits, and air quality permits for the proposed project. The company will also need a stormwater permit and an endangered resources review for the project.
The proposed pipeline project consists of constructing a new 36-inch diameter petroleum pipeline (known as the Alberta Clipper pipeline), a new 20-inch diameter diluent return pipeline (known as the Southern Lights pipeline), an associated pump station for the Southern Lights pipeline, and five 250,000 barrel breakout tanks. The proposed pipelines would be constructed along a 13 mile route in Douglas County from the Wisconsin-Minnesota border to the Enbridge Superior Terminal in Superior, Wisconsin.
The pipelines would be largely constructed in parallel within an existing pipeline right-of-way that includes four other crude oil pipelines. The pump station and the breakout tanks would be constructed at the Enbridge Superior Terminal at Superior.
The purpose of the Alberta Clipper petroleum pipeline and breakout tanks is to bring crude oil from the tar sands area of Alberta, Canada to refineries in the Midwestern U.S. The Southern Lights diluent pipeline and pumping station are intended to return diluent from the Midwestern U.S. refineries to Alberta, Canada. Diluent is similar to gasoline, and is used to thin crude oil so that it can be pumped through pipelines.
The proposed pipelines would require 17 water body crossings, including 10 tributaries to the Pokegama River, three un-named waterways, two tributaries to the Little Pokegama River, one crossing of the Pokegama River, and one crossing of an un-named tributary to the Nemadji River.
The proposed pipelines would temporarily impact approximately 75 acres of wetland. The pump station and breakout tanks at the Superior Terminal would fill approximately 12 acres of wetland, and temporarily impact approximately 3 acres of wetland.
Air emissions directly associated with the proposed pipeline project at the Enbridge terminal in Superior are from the proposed construction and operation of five new external floating roof tanks having capacities of 8.7 million gallons each, and from associated fugitive emissions from pumping and piping on site. The estimated potential emissions from the tanks and associated fugitive sources are 39 tons per year of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). The project will also increase the facility emissions of hazardous air pollutants from crude oil (e.g. benzene, n-hexane). Construction and operation permits from DNR’s air management program will be public noticed separately. . . .
Copies of the environmental assessment that led to the DNR’s preliminary determination can be obtained from Benjamin Callan, Water Management Specialist, at DNR (OE/7), PO Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921, or via E-mail at benjamin.callan@wisconsin.gov.
DNR has scheduled a public informational hearing where individuals can learn more about the proposed project and submit written or oral comments about the EA and any DNR wetland and waterway determinations associated with the project. The public informational hearing will be held on June 4, 2009 at the City of Superior Public Library, Large Meeting Room, 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Public comments on the environmental assessment are welcome and must be submitted to Benjamin Callan no later than 4:30 p.m., June 8, 2009.
