January 3 2015 - Wind Turbine Collapses in Northern Ireland

I didn't see this make the news anywhere in the US, or maybe I missed it.

We can't have bad news about wind power generation floating around in the media can we? If a similar situation presented itself during drilling or fracking we all know it would be covered and smothered on every "news" channel.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-30667411

At least no one got hurt.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on January 5, 2015 at 5:57pm

Of course, in Ireland, they know all about the fatalities, evacuations, fires, and explosions associated with the shale craze here in the States.

I'm sure it was on the evening news in Dublin.

I'll take a windmill over a gas well any day.

Permalink Reply by S S C on January 6, 2015 at 4:53am
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Permalink Reply by rmc on January 6, 2015 at 11:13am
Just not in my back yard hu?
Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on January 7, 2015 at 4:19pm

You're back yard is ok.

I already have the wells.

But to be clear, I don't think anyone should have either one where it does them harm, and both have the potential.

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on January 6, 2015 at 1:53am

This is the best news I've heard all day . . . . so long as nobody was injured or killed, of course.

But it's a better world with even one less wind turbine in it.  Now if only we could blow them ALL down!!

Wind turbines are a despicable and unsightly scourge.  For those who support them, my wish is for several to be erected within a mile or two of their homes!!  That would shut the supporters up FAST!!

Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on January 6, 2015 at 4:44am

I wonder if any of the ~30 Ohio families who spent most of the 12 days of Christmas in a motel would concur.

Personally, though it's not the only consideration, I think that wind turbines have an elegance about them; an elegance not evident when driving on torn up roads, past batteries of tanks and separators/compressors, and the scars of the right-of-ways cutting through the forests.  I'll bet that more people have taken pictures of wind turbines than of gas wells; I know I have.

This was an insignificant incident in an insignificant country, yet O&G types are willing to tout it as some sort of indication that wind power is the work of the devil.  

In fact, I wonder how craig (original poster) discovered this at all.  To his credit, it was not publicized in the US, again, because it is insignificant here.  

Perhaps craig is an emigrant, and likes to keep up on the news from the 'old country'?

More likely, he/she was mining the internet for anything negative regarding wind turbines.

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on January 6, 2015 at 5:07am

You are entitled to your opinion.  My wish for you is what you appear to want and crave:  Wind turbines, near enough to your home so you can enjoy them 24/7/365.  Near enough so you will have to look up a word new to you:  infrasonic.  You so richly deserve all this, you and all of your selfish kind who implicitly wish these things on others with no thought or consideration whatsoever of the harm and disruption you would inflict.  I can see your filthy wind turbines from my front yard.  I just want some of that same "joy" for you personally.

Also here where I live, in Bradford County, PA, we have more natural gas wells than in any other PA county.  So I speak from personal, up close, experience.  They are unobtrusive and very low to the ground.  They are no problem whatsoever.  Your filthy wind turbines, OTOH, can be seen from twenty miles away, completely destroying the rural ambiance we once enjoyed here.  Just go away and take your liberal nutcase friends, and your wind turbines, with you.  Put them up next to your home and see how you like them!!

Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on January 6, 2015 at 6:21am

What I "want and crave" is rationality.  

Whales communicate infrasonically, so do submarines.  Guess they gotta go, too.

Here's one for you to look up: ad hominem.

Your vitriol belies your true interest in wind's failure, and it's money.  I have a stake in shale gas, too, but that doesn't make me turn a blind eye to all the suffering borne by myself and my neighbors, both now, and in the future.

As I indicated previously, the aesthetics (google it) are not, and shouldn't be, the only consideration, or even the most important one, in the wind turbine debate.  I am aware of the low-frequency vibration issues (I did have to look up OTOH, though).  As a counterpoint, my house quite literally throbs at night from the vibrations of the engines used in the drilling process.  While this is temporary, sleep lost is lost forever.

"Rural ambience"?  I live on a country road in rural WV >25 miles from the nearest red light.  In <2 years there has been an explosion (1/2 mile from home) which launched a flowback tank over 4 fracking trucks, and to within 20 feetof the road and breaking a worker's leg.  My neighbors have been evacuated and the road closed (this due to 'ordinary venting of gases as part of the completion process'), delaying me and my children from returning home from an outing.  The road has been destroyed.  To be fair, the company eventually resurfaced it... to their standards, with edges so high and sharp that a car will drag on the new surface if you drive off it.  It's a one-lane road, so it is customary to yield to oncoming traffic at certain known spots, but with drop-offs from 4 inches and up, it is now often necessary for one driver to reverse to a less hostile spot to pass.  State highways have been blocked for hours by slips from building pipelines in the rain, forcing me to backtrack for tens of miles.

As to the low-lying wells, I agree, though the xmas tree is pretty big.  At the well that I pass within 100' of daily, there is a battery of 6 (it was 7 until one exploded) liquids tanks, and 2 compressors that run, if I may borrow a phrase from you, "24/7/365", and will in perpetuity (that means forever).

So you'll pardon me if I don't go away, and also if I don't shed a tear because there is something in a distant corner of your view, that you can only see on clear days.

Take heart, though, for the medical/legal systems are here for you.  If you haven't already, you should start preparing your WTS case immediately.

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on January 6, 2015 at 8:03am

You obviously know nothing whatsoever regarding strong infrasonic output of windmills and the impact on human beings.  I'm certain you also care nothing about the destruction of wildlife happening as a result of windmills and the other "renewable" energy sources your kind favors.  You care solely about your nutty environmentalist religion.  You care nothing about others.  We are collateral damage to your kind.

My wish for you remains the same:  windmills;  many of them as close to your home as is possible.  You and your family so richly deserve this outcome.  I would contribute to any entity willing to make it happen.  And after your family is made ill and driven nuts by those windmills and you are forced to move away, my additional wish is for still more windmills to be built nearby to whatever place of refuge you might find.  You, and fools who share your thinking, are so remarkably deserving of this "reward".

Meanwhile, I'm getting along just fine with the tens of natural gas wells which literally surround my home.  So if you wish for me more of them, well, bring 'em on!!  But keep your filthy and unwanted windmills at least thirty miles away.  Better yet, don't build them at all!!!

Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on January 7, 2015 at 12:12pm

As previously stated, I do know something about it.

I have a friend who had a compressor station constructed directly across the road from him.  The station periodically vents high pressure gases for whatever reason, and usually in the wee hours (coincidence, I'm certain).  The first time it occurred, no less than twelve 911 calls were made, reporting an explosion.  The compressors throb all night, disturbing the rest of several families.  A nshort time after startup, he suffered a heart attack.  The company completely misled the community during the permitting process by buying off the local government, who required no publication in the local paper.

I can't help but wonder what demons in a man's mind would evoke this sort of emotion regarding someone he'll never meet, nor really knows anything about.

Could be WTS

More likely it's money.  

Makes me feel kinda powerful in a way.

WINDMILL!

...Gotcha

Permalink Reply by Thomas Lilli on January 6, 2015 at 9:08pm
My perspective on these "arguments" is, O&G, like wind energy, is an "Industry". Some might like the aesthetics and majesty (although they just planted a bunch right near me, I'd rather the well pad) of a wind farm, if your an industrialist, it's all progress.

O&G's pitfalls in today's day and age does not hold a candle to some of the industrial processes that brought humanity into the 21st century and, no doubt, there will be more learning curves as new industries associated with change and progress evolve.

What is troubling is the devision and ignorance about the necessity of all these industries if humanity wishes to continue to grow to survive. And, it has to. Our social and economic structure is based on one of growth. If you live in a civilized and developed society, and wish to retire, the economy must expand so investments can generate income. everything about modern economies is based on a growth model. If you don't have a growing population, your growth will sag. Many would suffer. I believe this is one of the reasons why industry and the government are pushing US immigration policy. They think it will stimulate growth.

Might as well get used to Fracking and wind turbines. As long as people want to continue to live a civilized life with all the comforts of an advanced society, we are going to have industry and Energy production is crucial.

Personally, I like NUC.
Permalink Reply by Dan Warner on January 7, 2015 at 11:43am

Thomas,

Your perspective is appreciated, both for it's reasoning, and for providing me with an opening to present mine more completely.  

Except in niche applications, I do not support wind turbines.

I am here on GMS to try to maximize my families mineral holdings' potential.

Still, this is a discussion group, and I've never been one to sit silently while others in the group turn to mis/dis-information, and ad hominem criticism.

Facts are what I bring to the table.  

What started as a simple counterpoint by me, quickly turned into an outright attack on my character, all of it assuming (incorrectly) that I am a shill for the wind power industry.

The same thing occurred when I argued with a post regarding fracking, when an inference was made that I might be a Communist operative.  This kind of paranoia can have only one source, and that's greed.  Only money can transform what are probably otherwise good men into wild-eyed, rabid attack dogs. 

My position mirrors yours as one near the center.  If anything, I am a voice for moderation in all things.

As you (and my research) say, wind is an industry, and it's here to stay. Fossil fuels are finite and some of us may one day depend on it.

What troubles me most about the wind turbines, and I think that Mr. Walker was alluding to it in his last tirade, is the bird/bat kills.  That was a dealbreaker for me when I learned of it ~20 years ago.  All the other complaints are red herrings, and can be dealt with through regulation, or dismissed altogether.  

As far as subsidies go, can anyone tell me of an industry (excluding the war industry) that is subsidized at even 10% the rate of O&G?  

As for nuclear, I don't love it, but again, moderation.  

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