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Wind Energy
Works! First Anniversary
NATIONAL WIND ENERGY
COALITION CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY, FORESEES CONTINUED
GROWTH IN MEMBERS, ACTIVITIES
WASHINGTON, DC, July 17, 2006---The
national Wind Energy Works! coalition celebrates its first
anniversary this month. Launched to highlight the breadth and
strength of support for wind energy across the country, the
coalition brings together the American Wind Energy Association
and a wide array of groups that support wind energy development
for its many benefits. The coalition has grown from 23 members
at the time it was launched to almost 70 members today, and
includes national, regional and local agricultural, economic
development, environmental, and faith-based groups. For a full
listing of members see
http://www.windenergyworks.org/coalition_members.html
"Energy is on the front pages of our nation's
papers again," said American Corn Growers Foundation CEO and
Wind Energy Works! Steering Committee Member Dan McGuire. "Every
megawatt of electricity that is generated by wind energy helps
hold down the price of natural gas, which benefits rural
economies like those of Iowa and other corn producing states.
Wind energy works for our economy, our environment, and our
energy security."
" Wind energy has proven its economic value to consumers in
Colorado and other states--its cost stability, along with
economic and environmental benefits, make it a win-win
technology," added InterWest Energy Alliance Director and Wind
Energy Works! Steering Committee Member Craig Cox. "Wind Energy
Works! performs increasingly valuable work in bringing diverse
stakeholders together from around the country."
Polls show strong public support for wind power.
Almost nine out of ten Americans (87%) support expanded wind
farms, according to a 2005 poll by Yale University. A poll by
Public Opinion Strategies, released in June at a national
conference calling for 25% of the nation 's energy to come from renewable energy sources by 2025, shows
that 98% see shifting to domestically-produced, renewable energy
sources as important for the country.
http://www.agenergy.info/index.aspx?ascxid=pagedetail&pid=17674.
Wind Energy Works! members voice this support
and many actively speak up for wind. A few highlights follow.
- Renewable Energy Long
Island (RELI) launched a public education campaign.
Massapequa native Alec Baldwin joined Long Island Power
Authority (LIPA) Chairman Richard Kessel and RELI
executive director Gordian Raacke to launch a public
service campaign to highlight the benefits of LIPA's
proposed offshore wind power park. Alec Baldwin's Public
Service Announcement is at:
http://www.renewableenergylongisland.org/media.cfm
- Interfaith Power and
Light wrote an Op-ed that ran in the Maine Press
Herald (http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/viewpoints/mvoice/050909energy.shtml#)
responding to an article dismissing renewable energy as
a solution for our energy crisis. Interfaith Power and
Lights Jonathan Chappell called for action, not
paralysis, and pointed to wind power as one of the
technologies that are not only well within our reach,
but are here today.
- Center for Resource
Solutions issued a new report finding that California
can meet 33% of electricity supply with wind and other
renewable energy sources by 2020 with little or no
increase in electric rates. Consumers might even see
savings on their energy bills in the future. The report
is available to the public on the Center for Resource
Solutions website at:
http://www.crs2.net/pub/Achieving_33_Percent_RPS_Report.pdf
and on the California Public Utilities Commission
website at: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/.
- National Resources
Defense Council teamed with Participant Productions, one
of the producers of the movie Syriana, and the Sierra
Club to create an innovative public campaign called Oil
Change, offering audiences smarter energy solutions that
will lower energy bills and cut our dependence on oil.
www.participate.net/oilchange.
- Eight Wind Energy
Works! members sent comments to the U.S. Department of
Energy, in conjunction with a transmission study, asking
that the study identify wind-rich regions that offer
economic development along the transmission corridor and
economical energy from wind power development.
- Two members -
Environment Texas and The Wind Coalition responded to an
op-ed in the Corpus Christi Caller Times making
false claims about wind powers subsidies, its
contribution to local communities and its role as a
viable energy source.
- The Clean Energy
Partnership in Maryland is fighting back against
Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBYs), promoting a letter-writing
campaign favoring a proposed Virginia wind farm.
http://www.cleanenergypartnership.org/news/article_detail.cfm?id=159
- New wind video: The
Alliance for Clean Energy New York released a
seventeen-minute video featuring first-hand accounts
from people living near wind farms and experts in the
field energy and the environment. You can watch the
video online at
http://www.aceny.org/.
- Op-ed, Burlington
Free Press: Patty Richards, director of Resource
Planning at the Burlington Electric Department, talks
about why wind is a good fit in the utilitys portfolio.
- The West Texas Wind
Energy Consortium and The Wind Coalition held a press
conference with state leaders promoting west Texas
transmission to support wind power growth. New
transmission lines supporting wind power growth could
allow up to $1 billion of economic development benefits
for Texas. The state of Texas is closely evaluating the
best locations for wind power expansion in an approach
to determine where to build new transmission lines.
http://www.windcoalition.org/news_page.php?id=35.
- Union of Concerned
Scientists (UCS) Clean Energy Program Director and Wind
Energy Works! Steering Committee Member Alan Nogee
placed an Op-ed on "Wind Works, Coal Pollutes" in the
Pittsfield, Mass. Bershire Eagle. Nogee calls
attention to the pollution and the destructive impacts
that even the most advanced clean coal plants currently
proposed would generate, and points out that wind energy
is the least expensive zero-emission electricity
generating option available today.
- American Corn Growers
Foundation CEO Dan McGuire placed an Op-ed in the
High Plains Journal and other papers calling on the
Western Governors Association to implement its 30,000
-MW clean energy goal and pointing out that wind power
is one of the technologies most capable of meeting the
goal in a rapid and cost-effective manner.
The coalition will continue to grow over the
next year, according to AWEA and Wind Energy Works! coordinator
Susan Williams Sloan. The interest in wind energy as a
significant solution to our energy needs is bringing more people
to the coalition. Wind Energy Works! increases the dialogue
among the wind industry, advocates, and those who want to bring
wind power to their communities.
A new Web site will be launched this summer to
support the coalitions activities, providing discussion forums
online so that coalition members can share ideas and information
across the country. More joint events and educational activities
are envisioned to build on members efforts. For more about the
coalition, see
www.windenergyworks.org .
About Wind
Energy Works!
Wind Energy Works! is a
new national alliance that will support wind energy development
across the country. The coalition will engage the public debate
over wind energy development with facts about its many benefits
and counteract the growing spread of misinformation by wind
energy opponents. Although initiated by the wind energy
industry, its broad-based membership includes organizations and
individuals representing many walks of life.
About the American Wind Energy
Association
AWEA, formed
in 1974, is the national trade association of the U.S. wind
energy industry. The association’s membership includes turbine
manufacturers, wind project developers, utilities, academicians,
and interested individuals. More information on wind energy is
available on the AWEA web site: www.awea.org |