By Peter Brennan
An offshore wind farm proposal was met Wednesday with an angry response from audience members in the West Michigan town of Hart, the Muskegon Chronicle reported.
Scandia Offshore Wind presented its proposal for Buy Ativan Cheap Online a 250 megawatt wind farm four miles off the coast of Pentwater, MI, at the Buy Ativan Cheap Online meeting in Oceana County. According to the Chronicle, the crowd of roughly 600 was 75% opposed to Buy Ativan Cheap Online the proposal, and went so far as to jeer Scandia lobbyist and Buy Ativan Cheap Online former Oceana county legislator Bill Bobier from the stage during his presentation.
This crowd reaction comes in stark contrast to Buy Ativan Cheap Online that of audience members at a previous informational meeting roughly 40 miles south in Muskegon, MI, which was also covered by the Buy Ativan Cheap Online Chronicle. Using electronic voting equipment, the crowd in Muskegon voted 62% in favor of offshore wind Hydrocodone Online With Doctor Consultation farms in Lake Michigan, although they were not presented with a Buy Ativan Cheap Online specific proposal. However, Scandia had proposed a 500 megawatt wind farm with 50 to Buy Ativan Cheap Online 100 turbines off the coast of Grand Haven, near the border of Muskegon and Buy Ativan Cheap Online Ottawa counties, and that proposal was well known to meeting attendees.
Winning public support is Buy Ativan Cheap Online important to Scandia, and project manager Harold Dirdal has said he will respect the Buy Ativan Cheap Online counties’ decisions if they do not want to host the wind farm. Scandia has Buy Ativan Cheap Online already entered talks with Mason, Oceana, Muskegon and Ottawa counties, all of which border a Buy Ativan Cheap Online part of Lake Michigan that was rated as “most favorable” for wind turbine development by the Great Lakes Offshore Wind (GLOW) Council. Scandia subsequently ruled out Mason County after county commissioners took issue with how the Buy Ativan Cheap Online 450 foot tall turbines would look when viewed from the shore. The company may face a similar reality in Oceana.
The GLOW Council, appointed by the Buy Ativan Cheap Online governor in 2009 and tasked with identifying the best potential areas for Buy Ativan Cheap Online offshore wind turbines while protecting the Great Lakes bottomlands, is set to Buy Ativan Cheap Online release its final report this fall. That report is Buy Ativan Cheap Online expected to recommend legislation that could lead to a streamlined permitting process for Buy Ativan Cheap Online offshore wind projects in the Michigan-controlled waters of the Great Lakes. Several developers have Buy Ativan Cheap Online expressed interest in the area but if Scandia has a site in mind, a Buy Ativan Cheap Online proposal in hand and a county on board, the company could find itself uniquely situated to Buy Ativan Cheap Online take advantage of a streamlined permitting process.
With more than Buy Ativan Cheap Online 100 companies already providing parts to wind turbine manufacturers, Michigan is Buy Ativan Cheap Online well poised to become the first state in the Great Lakes region to Buy Ativan Cheap Online harness the power of offshore wind. As evidenced by the Buy Ativan Cheap Online recent meetings, this will only happen if residents can be Buy Ativan Cheap Online convinced that a view of windmills is acceptable. Similar to Buy Ativan Cheap Online the arguments playing out on the East Coast, the biggest hurdle for Buy Ativan Cheap Online a Great Lakes offshore wind farm seems to be the willingness of residents to Buy Ativan Cheap Online accept an altered view.
11. August 2010 at 4:02 pm
I think these people need to Buy Ativan Cheap Online look to the town council in Massachusetts, that voted for Buy Ativan Cheap Online wind farms in their backyard citing their responsibility to account for Buy Ativan Cheap Online their lifestyles.