Tennessee Senator (you guessed it, a Republican) Lamar Alexander is a moron. He thinks wind farms “destroy the landscape“.
To a lot of people, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would actually be against renewable energy. It’s a little bit like being against puppies. Yet these opponents exist, and I’m sorry to say some are warming seats in the United States Senate.
Take Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, for example. Sen. Alexander hails from a part of the country that is home to “six of the nation’s 10 largest carbon-dioxide-emitting coal-fired power plants,” according to Tennessean.com. You might think that Alexander is somehow beholden to the coal industry because of this, or that his Martha’s Vineyard property and the debate over the Cape Wind project might influence him, or that the campaign contributions that flow his way from the most carbon-dioxide producing utility in the country are the source of his clean energy antipathy. Not so, says the Senator. He doesn’t like wind power, he claims, for aesthetic reasons. “I think they absolutely destroy the landscape.”
Let’s look at some photos and see how his opinion stands up. First, we’ll start with coal. Here is a picture of a mountain top removal:
There used to be a mountain there, but coal miners have torn the WHOLE THING down to get at the coal. One could make the argument that removing an entire mountain and leaving behind a big scar of a hole could be considered “destroying the landscape.” (Photo credit: OVEC) But with coal our journey doesn’t end here- once it’s ripped out of the ground you’ve got to transport it by train and then burn it up. Here’s a photo of a coal
fueled power plant.
Not very pretty.
Which brings us to a wind farm. Here’s a photo of an industrial wind farm.
You can see a road and a small platform for each turbine. There’s a lot of green grass and trees and I don’t see anything that could be considered a destroyed landscape (by any rational person, Lamar is clearly not). There’s no smoke choking up the air and you don’t have to rip up whole mountains to get at the wind. I took an extensive tour of a wind farm in Wyoming a few years ago and can attest to how peaceful and quiet they are. Only someone who is crazy or in the pocket of the coal industry (or both) could possibly try to run with the argument that wind “destroys the landscape”.
Lamar Alexander, you sir, are a delusional jerkass.
To learn more about Mountaintop Removal mining and the great work being done to fight this stupidly moronic mining practice, head to the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.
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Noelle dEstries
Noelle d'Estries, an early GO employee who took on the varied roles of Community Manager, green celebrity blogger, and more. She currently runs worstcookever.com GO entered Noelle's life in February 2007 while she was burning tires in her backyard. A phone call from the green gods at GO, burnt out the fires. Now, Noelle happily wears her GO sweatshirt while eating organic veggies and asking for paper, not plastic. A regular at the local farmer's market, Noelle shuns raking leaves and lawn maintenance, while making gourmet foods constantly. When not staring at her computer screen, she spends time with her equally attractive dog, Tessa, cat, Tim and lover Paul. She currently holds all three point records at RIT and could eat avocados and drink wine for the rest of her life.
14 Responses to Jerkass of the Week Award: Senator Lamar Alexander- a true dunce of the highest order
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Wind Farms are not a good source of energy!!! You need to do your research before you call yourself "Planet Save." It makes me think you are just some spammer working for the other end to get people to invest and believe in corporate greenwashing…do your research…I am not even going to get into this…but you made your website look like a joke to real activist and environmentalist
My recent post Oil Spill reaches Louisianna Coast- Oil Spill Photos
Shea…at least Donna gave an opinion in a mannor worthy of an educated person. Your “bashing” of someone who does not agree with you is pathetic. I will more often than not listen more readily to a polite, well thought out opinion than to an obnoxious, loud and demanding one.
The coal thing looked kind of cool…
The plant was VERY ugly…
however, the industrial wind farm IS kind of funny looking-I’m not against it, but I don’t want it by MY yard.
What if we do those Dutch mills? Now those are pretty!
P.S. I don’t like puppies OR liberals,(ok, I like puppies a little) and L. Alexander DOES suck. He is a fake republican.
God Bless and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America!!!
Hugs and kisses!
Althgough I am a liberal Democrat I have to say that Alexander is right. Unlike most people, Alexander read the Department of energy reports, and found that the wind resources for the Eastern half of the United States are poor. He noted that TVA has a windfarm in Tennessee that was suppose to generate electricity 33% of the time, but basically the opperaters might as well go on vacation for the summer, because the wind does not blow. Alexander has rightly concluded that it is a waste of money to build windmills where the wind does not blow enough to make it worth while. Is he a dunce for thinking so? Not in my book. I call that horse sense.
[...] sheaman42 discovered this in Politics •politics, environment 5 reviews since Jul 28, 2007 •planetsave.com/blog/2007/07/28/jerkass-of-the… [...]
[...] Jerkass of the Week Award: Senator Lamar Alexander- a true dunce of the highe… [...]
[...] Jerkass of the Week Award: Senator Lamar Alexander- a true dunce of the highest order (OVEC / Sout… [...]
[...] they absolutely destroy the landscape.” Read the rst of this PlanetSave article here. Leave a [...]
I agree with the right to opinions, but to think that strip mining for
coal is better for the environment or wildlife is just a bit strange.
Strip mining removes trees which help to prevent erosion of the soil AND a place for wildlife to live. Not to mention the amount of CO2 that is added
to the air when coal is burned. Having seen both up close, I would prefer
to have wind farms instead of strip mines. I think the important thing is
to place these wind farms out of major migratory flight patterns as much
as possible to reduce the effect on birds. No solution is perfect, but the
wind farms seem to provide an alternative to coal with a much reduce
effect on global warming.
Sorry Dona, but you are a True Dunce of the Highest Order as well. I’m glad you found my Hugg post.
See, Dona is a member of a loosely organized sad little band of anti-wind nutjobs who rally around a banner of fear, misinformation, and deceit. They have their sad little blogs, no subscriber newsletters, and have built a little affinity group (3 people, 15+ accounts) over at Hugg. They pounce on anything to do with wind and chime in about how wind power kills massive amounts of birds, creates more pollution, and destroys landscapes.
Hmmm… sound like anyone else we know? Maybe a certain Senator from Tennessee.
Dona, your defense of Lamar’s “right” to have such a moronically stupid “opinion” puts you in the same category as him… a delusional jerkass. You and your merry band of nutjobs.
Obviously you do not agree that people, even Senators, have the right to disagree over what form of renewable energy is acceptable to them.
Many people object to industrial wind farms for valid reasons. Not the least of which is environmental and wildlife damage for little return.
To me, it is jackass thinking to condemn an alternate point of view.
[...] Jerkass of the Week Award: Senator Lamar Alexander- a true dunce of the highest order posted by shea 1 hour 2 minutes ago view profile Tennessee Senator (you guessed it, a Republican) Lamar Alexander is a moron. He thinks wind farms ?destroy the landscape?. Let?s look at some photos and see how his opinion stands up. First, we?ll start with coal. Here is a picture of a mountain top removal… comment | tags: politics republicans wind coal all | Add this link to… Add to: del.icio.us | my favorites / bookmarks | [...]
Shea, Shea, Shea, such total disregard for the reptilicans that control our nation. I must admit, I am starting to admire you. Don’t forget people, Reptilican is a term only applied to republicans that are of the neo-con persuasion. There is till hope for the others, I hope?
[...] Jerkass of the Week Award: Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who says industrial wind farms “a… Apparently this is a better idea. (via Planetsave) [...]