Wind Turbines

State officials are holding a public meeting Monday in Annapolis on the possibility of placing wind turbines off Maryland's Atlantic coast. The state Department of Natural Resources and Maryland Energy Administration will discuss their efforts to map and learn more about the ocean areas under consideration for leasing to wind energy companies. As part of the state's policy to promote renewable energy, officials last year invited wind developers to express their interest in placing large turbines a dozen or more miles off the state's 31-mile coastline.

A wind power project proposed on the lower Eastern Shore that's struggling to overcome objections from the Navy has a new, airborne worry - bald eagles. Federal wildlife biologists say the population of the once-rare national bird has grown so much that there are about 400 bald eagles along the mid-Atlantic coast, including 30 nests within 10 miles of the project in Somerset County, and three in the immediate vicinity. Declaring the area "extremely attractive" to the birds, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has warned the developer of the Great Bay wind project that it "appears to present significant risk to eagles" and urged it to scale back its plans.

Like them or not, wind turbines are coming to Maryland. If the wind turbines are in your backyard, or in your line of sight, you probably oppose them. If they are not, it is probably easier to regard them as a clean way to produce energy. This week, as the first of 28 wind towers was being erected on Backbone Mountain in Garrett County, environmental groups were contending the turbines would likely harm federally protected Indiana and Virginia big-eared bats. Their challenge mirrors an action in West Virginia where a federal judge temporarily halted construction of a wind farm, finding it would harm Indiana bats.

After three years of trying, Gov. Martin O'Malley has won approval of legislation that aims to spur construction of towering wind turbines off Maryland's Atlantic coast. Now comes the hard part. Daunting regulatory, political and financial hurdles remain before a wind-driven power plant could be built in the water 10 to 20 miles from Ocean City . Even if all goes right, construction could be four to seven years away, industry and government experts say - long after O'Malley has left the State House.

A Howard County councilman wants to ease zoning approval for small residential and commercial wind turbines by expanding the variety of land use zones that allow them. There are currently two wind turbines in the county. One sits outside a recently opened Ellicott City apartment house for limited income renters that was built for the county's Housing Commission. A second is on a farm in western county, according to Joshua Feldmark, director of the Office of Environmental Sustainability in the Ulman administration.

As the Baltimore County Council prepares to consider new regulations for wind turbines in residential neighborhoods, at least one member is strongly opposed to the idea. The Planning Board voted unanimously recently to recommend allowing one wind turbine no taller than 60 feet per one-acre property. The recommendation - which came in response to a council request for new regulations - would set rules for residential areas only. The Planning Board said it did not intend to limit the prospects for wind energy in industrial and commercial zones.

Eight companies, including one with Maryland ties, have indicated their interest in developing wind energy projects off the state's coast, federal officials disclosed Friday. State and industry officials hailed what they called a "robust" response to the federal government's call for developers to indicate whether they want to try generating electricity from wind turbines placed in the Atlantic 12 miles or more from Ocean City. The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement had invited potential wind developers in November to express their interest in leasing sites in a 207 nautical-square-mile area off the state's 31-mile coastline.

More than 200 people turned out last night to debate the merits of allowing wind turbines in state forests. The vast majority of those who signed up to speak at a public hearing in Annapolis opposed using public lands for private energy projects. Pennsylvania-based U.S. Wind Force has proposed erecting about 100 turbines in the Savage River and Potomac state forests in Garrett County. The high-tech windmills -- 400 feet high -- would be built atop mountain ridges visible from Deep Creek Lake and Western Maryland's other tourist attractions.

As the Baltimore County Council prepares to consider new regulations for wind turbines in residential neighborhoods, at least one member is strongly opposed to the idea. The Planning Board voted unanimously recently to recommend allowing one wind turbine no taller than 60 feet per one-acre property. The recommendation - which came in response to a council request for new regulations - would set rules for residential areas only. The Planning Board said it did not intend to limit the prospects for wind energy in industrial and commercial zones.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources will hold public hearings next month on whether the state should allow developers to build wind turbines in state forests, a proposal being advanced by a Pennsylvania company. U.S. Wind Force is asking the state for leases in Potomac State Forest and Savage River State Forest in Western Maryland so it can clear about 400 mountaintop acres and raise about 100 wind turbines. The machines would be about 40 stories tall and would be visible from some of the region's most popular recreation areas, including Deep Creek Lake and the Savage River Reservoir.

Editor: I know this story may be hard to believe, but the Governor wants to construct 40 wind turbines that are 80 stories high (think: Baltimore's tallest building) and 20 miles out in the ocean. This has never been done before. The cost of this green pork scheme is currently calculated to be $2 billion. I believe that estimate is very shallow compared to the eventual real costs. Of course, the usual ATM machines, meaning the people of Maryland, will be mandated to pay for these monstrosities through another new surcharge. The surcharge will be about $2 per month for consumers and unlimited for the business community. I will purchase a free crab cake for every rate payer in the state, if this project costs $2 billion or less.

With hope of having better luck this year, Gov. Martin O'Malley went before the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday to pitch his plan for boosting offshore wind energy projects off Maryland's coast. Appearing more than 20 mintues late, the governor urged the panel to act on his bill, which he said would help fight climate change, stimulate clean energy and make Maryland the hub of a new renewable industry. "This legislation is important to our energy future, to our jobs future and therefore important to our children's future," he said.

What if you could be greener and save money at the same time? Well, you can.  By switching your home's power to “green” electricity, you can reduce your household's contribution to climate change by 24 percent while also shrinking your utility bills. So what?  Though electricity changed the world for the positive, its big downside is that most U.S. power plants are powered by coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel that spews carbon dioxide (CO¿), sulfur dioxide and mercury into the air. Power plants are the #1 source of man-made CO2 emissions in the U.S., accounting for 41 percent.

I'm concerned about Gov. Martin O'Malley's continuing push for wind energy off of Maryland's coast ("O'Malley to push for wind yet again," Jan. 13). I'm not opposed to wind energy as such, but I am in favor of spending taxpayer's dollars efficiently. Offshore wind turbines represent a tremendous engineering and long-term maintenance project. Has anyone in state government considered solar power instead of wind? Solar is so much simpler; it has no moving parts and thus little requirement for maintenance.

I applaud Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller's courageous stand for the planet and for the creation of good construction jobs as shown by his willingness to change the composition of the Senate Finance Committee if necessary in order to get the issue of building offshore wind farms before the full Senate ("Offshore wind gets boost in Annapolis. " Dec. 11). Many Marylanders in coastal areas are vulnerable to rising sea levels and intense storms. Recent plant closings in Baltimore have hurt Maryland workers.

Legislation to encourage development of wind turbines off Ocean City got a boost Tuesday, as the Associated Press reported that Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said he wants to see the twice-defeated bill get a full debate in his chamber this year. Miller told the AP's Brian Witte that he would consider changing the makeup of the Senate Finance Committee if a majority of its members continue to oppose subsidies for developing offshore wind projects. Offshore wind is a priority of Gov. Martin O'Malley and of many environmentalists in Maryland, and administration officials have said they're planning to pursue it again in the next General Assembly session that starts in January..

Gov. Martin O'Malley has urged President Obama to look to Maryland as a model for how government can fight climate change, while also appealing for federal help in his own quest to get wind turbines built off Ocean City. In a letter released Thursday by the governor's office , O'Malley welcomed Obama's recent call for renewed efforts to deal with climate change in the destructive wake of the storm Sandy, which ravaged New York City and the New Jersey shore just before the election.