54 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans”

  1. I wonder how long the Cape Scott, Vcr Island wind farm will survive. It is currently under construction. mid island mike

  2. Mexico is putting up wind power turbines at a breakneck pace and the expansion is pitting energy companies against the Indians who live in one of the windiest spots in the world.

    The largely indigenous residents of the Isthmus complain that the wind farms take control of their land, affect fish and livestock with their vibrations, chop up birds and pit residents against each other for the damage or royalty payments. They also claim they see few of the profits from such projects.

    It has been mainly Spanish firms like Iberdrola, Union Fenosa and Gamesa, and U.S. firms like Sempra Energy, that have built the huge wind towers that now crowd the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, leaving the local population feeling invaded. Only 4 of Mexico’s 17 wind farms are located outside the isthmus.
    It raises the question of whether bigger is always better.
    “We are asking these multinationals to please get out of these places,” said Irma Ordonez, an activist from the Zapotec Indian town of Ixtepec, Oaxaca. “They want to steal our land, and not pay us what they should.”
    “When they come in they promise and promise things, that they’re going to give us jobs, to our farmers and our towns, but they don’t give us anything,” said Ordonez, who traveled to Mexico City in October to protest outside the offices of a Mitsubishi Corp.

    Rodrigo Penalosa, an activist who supports the town of Ixtepec’s proposed 100-megwatt community wind farm, noted that “the community has already approved it. The problem is that the (government) Federal Electricity Commission won’t allow the community project to get access to the network…. but it does allow the multinationals access.”
    Sergio Oceransky, whose Yansa Group is trying to help kick-start the community wind project, said the commission is asking for financial guarantees of millions of dollars “that no community in Mexico could meet.”
    “These are requirements that are basically designed to ensure that only projects presented by multinationals can compete,”
    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10/31/in-mexico-wind-power-pits-indians-against-multinationals/

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