State's first wind farm planned in St. Mary Parish

[RickLafayette]

FRANKLIN, La. (AP) - St. Mary Parish could be the site of the state's first commercial wind farm of energy-producing turbines under a plan by a Metairie company.
The Advocate reports Southern States Renewable Energy is proposing a $40 million project that, under the current plan, would bring eight 498-foot-tall wind turbines to an isolated patch of coastal land near the Port of West St. Mary.
Frank Fink, economic development director for St. Mary Parish, said the project offers the parish an opportunity to branch out from the conventional oil-and-gas projects.
Louisiana is generally not considered a prime area for wind-energy projects.
But the coast is an exception, and Bill Gallardo, with Southern State Renewable Energy, says the site in St. Mary Parish offers some of the best potential in the state.

[RickLafayette]

There go our ducks and geese. The only legal way to kill (and exterminate again) our whooping cranes.

[Reggoh]

I've always wondered why we don't have wind energy near our coasts with all the wind we get off the gulf...

I'm not sure how or why wind turbines would affect the duck, geese, and whooping crane populations... /shrug

I spent about 1 1/2 years living in Wyoming... We never had a problem with ducks and geese there... They have a lot of wind turbines in Wyoming and Colorado and their hunting was pretty decent.

8 Turbines is not very much... up north they are spread out in huge groups of 50 or 100 or more

[Fishmaster19]

Originally Posted by Reggoh

I've always wondered why we don't have wind energy near our coasts with all the wind we get off the gulf...

I'm not sure how or why wind turbines would affect the duck, geese, and whooping crane populations... /shrug

I spent about 1 1/2 years living in Wyoming... We never had a problem with ducks and geese there... They have a lot of wind turbines in Wyoming and Colorado and their hunting was pretty decent.

8 Turbines is not very much... up north they are spread out in huge groups of 50 or 100 or more

at 498 feet tall that would put it at around the height that the birds are flying. Combine this with blades that spin at around 100-150 mph and you have lots of dead birds.

[Fishmaster19]

FYI... http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_fast_d..._turbines_spin

[Top Dawg]

I hope it kills all them stupid whooping cranes!

[BIGV]

Hard to believe EIGHT wind turbine would be a problem for ducks or geese. Every duck or goose I saw has always avoided anything not natural. Now the chicken hawks and such birds that like to actually perch up high will try and land on them and may get clipped.

[Raymond]

Just as big of a Boondoggle as Ethanol, Electric cars & Solar. WF's will never be efficient enough to exist without Goobment subsidies. Google wind farms and eagles to find out how many birds get killed evey year, might surprise ya. I smell a rat in this one, find out where or who is the contractor involved and that should give you your answer as to who's going to make the chedda.

[Duck Butter]

Ducks, geese, whoopers, sparrows, seagulls, warblers, hawks, etc can avoid them during the day, but its at night when they get chopped up. Many species migrate at night and they usually don't have any obstacles to avoid. Cell towers kill the hell out of birds as well, even with the lights on them. Especially along the coast, the trans-Gulf migrants just made a hell of a flight across a large body of water only to get chopped up by a big fan

whats ironic is that there are so many oil platforms in view of where they are wanting to put these things

[Swlatiger]

Originally Posted by BIGV

Hard to believe EIGHT wind turbine would be a problem for ducks or geese. Every duck or goose I saw has always avoided anything not natural. Now the chicken hawks and such birds that like to actually perch up high will try and land on them and may get clipped.

I find it hard to believe that 8 turbines will produce enough electricity to light anything.

[noodle creek]

Wind farms are a joke. Not very efficient. As far as ducks and geese, i think they are smart enough to avoid the windmills. Half the time they aren't spinning anyway

[noodle creek]

Drive from here to north dakota, right up the heart of the flyway. Pretty sure the hundreds of windfarms between here and there haven't been a problem for migratory waterfowl

[Reggoh]

Did a little research on these things... Turns out they have a maximum wind speed for survivability... top wind speed for most is around 160mph... probably why there aren't many on the gulf coast... HURRICANES!!

[weedeater]

Originally Posted by Reggoh

Did a little research on these things... Turns out they have a maximum wind speed for survivability... top wind speed for most is around 160mph... probably why there aren't many on the gulf coast... HURRICANES!!

thats what I was thinking... sounds like a better insurance scam then chance to make energy.

[Reggoh]

Found a cool article on bird deaths and wind turbines... you can read the whole thing here:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/env...kill-birds.htm

Here are a few quotes from the article:

The vast majority of research shows that wind turbines kill relatively few birds, at least compared with other man-made structures. The statistics are shocking if you consider just how many people are crying out against wind power for the birds' sake.

Collisions with wind turbines account for about one-tenth of a percent of all "unnatural" bird deaths in the United States each year.

The Altamont Pass wind farm kills far more birds than any other farm in the United States. The total at that single wind farm with 4,000 turbines is 4,700 fatalities; the total for all wind farms in the United States, with more than 25,000 turbines in operation at any given time, is 10,000 to 40,000 per year.

Up to 1 billion birds die each year by flying into windows.

[swamp snorkler]

There's a company with a bid out for 108 wind mill platforms to be installed in the Gulf.

ETA;

Up to 1 billion birds die each year by flying into windows.

I'm going to have to call BS on this.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

There's a company with a bid out for 108 wind mill platforms to be installed in the Gulf.

Local Lafayette Tree Hugger Harold Scheoffler (Cadillac) has (if he is still alive) been a proponent of Fart (WIND) energy for years. Problem is, none of these companies can raise enough money to get into the bidness because it's a looser on wall st. Boone Pickens has said that he lost his a$$ on wind energy and he used much of his own money.

[Reggoh]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

I'm going to have to call BS on this.

I thought that number seemed pretty high too... apparently there are about 100 Billion birds at any one time on Planet Earth... so 1% doesn't seem that high...

Here is another article saying the number of window collisions is around 1 Billion per year: http://www.birdsandbuildings.org/faqs.html

[Clampy]

If they are putting in wind farms and they didn't do it in Cameron they must be morons.

[CajunGTO]

What amazes me is the fact that IF all this green technology worked, then businesses would have sprung up years ago to capitalize on the technology and not have to worry about the government helping. Dig deep and follow the money trail and you will see who benefits, its not you!