Daniel Englander
When Environmentalists Attack: The Assault on Renewable Energy April 28, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Greentech has become big business for a variety of reasons: energy is a $6 trillion a year market, national security concerns pushing governments into creating sustainable domestic power supplies, and, of course, the need to develop non-polluting energy sources to stem global warming and climate change. This last reason is regarded as a factor uniting the private sector, environmentalists and NGOs, governments, and just about anyone else who’s got a stake in making sure (a) we don’t burn to a flaky crisp or (b) Sea World doesn’t morph from amusement park to never-ending Kevin Costner movie. But the state of affairs in this unholy alliance are not quite what they seem.
In April 2007, Oceanlinx, an Australian ocean power company, filed a preliminary permit with FERC to begin site assessment for a proposed 15 MW wave energy plant off the coast of Florence, OR. The company planned an initial pilot deployment, with a 100 MW scale-up potential following successful grid interconnection and performance tests. The Florence wave farm would have been one of the world’s largest, solidifying Oregon’s status as an ocean energy leader and pushing Oceanlinx higher in the upper echelon of ocean power developers. The company already has installations and planned projects in Australia, the UK, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Namibia. Alas, it was not to be.
Five months later, the Oregon Surfrider Foundation filed a motion to intervene with FERC to stop Oceanlinx from receiving its permit. The group cited “the proposed size of platforms, their location and it’s likely impact on existing recreational uses, reductions in wave height, alterations of sediment transport, as well as impacts to aesthetics, public safety, and potential environmental impacts such as electromagnetic fields” in their opposition. Oceanlinx withdrew their FERC application in early April 2008 under increasing pressure from Surfrider.
Sufrider’s opposition to the FERC application is laughable. Preliminary permits for ocean power development “do not authorize construction,” but, instead, require developers to conduct environmental, ecological, resource, and geophysical monitoring and impact assessments of the site before they are allowed to move ahead. To date, FERC has issued roughly 50 preliminary permits (five in Oregon), with another 25 pending approval (three in Oregon). Though the Oceanlinx oscillating water colum device weighs in at a mean 300 metric tons, with a 300 square foot footprint - considerably larger than the OPT Power Buoy and the Finavera AquaBuOY - the plant size for each technology would be similar if based on generation capacity. OPT and Finavera unit densities are higher per MW than those of the Oceanlinx OWC, requiring more devices for the former. Both OPT and Finavera have permits to develop in Oregon.
If anything, environmentalist opposition to renewable energy puts another feather in the caps of the global warming-deniers and the coal plant developers. I say it’s time to get everyone back on board and focus on our real priority - destroying golf courses.
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[...] Greentech Media: Syndicate wrote an interesting post today on When Environmentalists Attack: The Assault on Renewable EnergyHere’s a quick excerpt … omestic power supplies, and, of course, the need to develop non-polluting energy sources to stem global warming and climate change…. [...]
Mr. Englander,
While your article is somewhat informative, accusing anyone who protests development of their natural resources of eco-terrorism is hardly fair or productive. If you want your viewpoints to be met with respect, you might want to try a little more emotional maturity.
Jerry Caldwell
Mr. Caldwell,
I can tell by your tone you disagree with my characterization. But, to the extent my characterization was absurd, emotionally immature, whatever, it pales in comparison to protesting on environmental grounds a company seeking the proper channels to evaluate their technology’s impact on the environment. Neither Verdant’s East River installation nor Ocean Power Technologies’s New Jersey installation were FERC-permitted (though neither were grid connected). The fact remains, however, that the pursuit of due diligence ought not be met with and defeated by uninformed opposition. That is, as you say, hardly fair or productive.
best,
daniel
p.s. I’m glad you enjoyed my somewhat informative post.
Great post — and I agree with you. In case you missed it, on Friday last week, California Governor Schwarzenegger delivered a very important keynote Address at the Yale Climate Change Conference. In his speech, the Governor speaks bluntly and basically tells environmentalists to get out of the way and let important projects that can bring environmental benefits move forward. The Governor states very clearly Democrat’s and environmentalists need to do the right thing and move out of the way. See my post on this at http://www.itstheinfrastructure.com
Cheers!