Okay so now I am truly confused, hasn’t it been the environmental activist groups that have been pushing for renewable energy? As it seems to be turning out they do want renewable energy unless you actually have to build anything to accomplish it. Perhaps I should explain.
There has been a pissing contest going on now since the beginning of 2009 between a large energy corporation (OK everyone collectively hiss) named Tessera Solar, which has made plans to pup 34,000 solar collectors, each of which is 40 ft high and 38 feet wide on a whopping 8,230 acres of the Mojave Desert in Southern California and would produce 850 megawatts of electricity for Southern California Edison.
What could possibly be the problem with this you might ask? I mean for one it’s in the middle of one of the most desolate deserts in America and not a lot of people live there. The problem is right at your feet, the Mojave fringe-toed lizard and Nelson’s bighorn sheep. Apparently these mirrors would encroach on their habitat and that is just not OK.
While environmental groups are whining for more renewable energy sources they are seeming to be quite unwilling to let any of them be built. One of the Seirra Club’s mouth pieces Terry Frewin had the following to say, “Deserts don’t need to be sacrificed so that people in L.A. can keep heating their swimming pools.” That’s a good point because everyone in L.A. has a swimming pool right? Those that do don’t need to heat them year round – have you ever been to L.A. in the summer it’s freaking hot.
So we can’t put solar collectors in the middle of a desert because of some lizards and some sheep. Why? Are they afraid that then those animals will get to much shade? From reading the Seirra Clubs website you would think that they would stand behind renewable energy and I quote from their “our program” section, on that page they clearly state: “Repowering America with green, renewable energy: Wind, solar, and other safe, clean sources of power that will energize a new American century.”
Dear blowhards if you can’t put solar mirrors in the middle of a barren desert where can you put them? They claim that they want California to use more renewable energy being as currently the state gets 51.8% of its electricity from fossil fuel sources, 18.6% from nuclear and a whopping 29.6% from renewable sources which includes 16.8% percent of that from hydroelectric which they also bitch about because they don’t like dams.
But the Sierra club isn’t the only one fighting renewable energy we also have the Natural Resources Defense Council. Ms. Johanna Wald who is an attorney and longtime eco-warrior with the NRDC said, “We have to accept our responsibility that something that we have been advocating for decades is about to happen,” She also exclaimed, “My job is to make sure that it happens in an environmentally responsible way.” Excuse me lady but it’s the middle of the desert and it’s not like they want to dump nuclear waste there. It’s mirrors for god sake maybe the sheep will want to primp.
Even one of our inept public officials Diane Feinstein (D) California is up on her high horse on this one, she in her wisdom (And I use wisdom very lightly) introduced the California Desert Protection Act of 2010 which among other things creates two new national monuments. Apparently barren wasteland is now considered a monument to these jokers but I digress.
Kim Delfino director of Defender of Wildlife’s California program had this to say about the bill, “This bill provides a good start at addressing some of the difficult issues surrounding the siting and permitting of renewable energy projects, timely processing of applications and coordination between federal agencies and states in wildlife matters,” Delfino said. “But we do have some concerns over the creation of mitigation zones on public lands to offset potentially damaging development on private lands. With the inevitable impacts from global warming on the desert, it is imperative that we protect the right areas for wildlife to live in the future.” I like her statement about the “inevitable impact of global warming on the deserts.” It’s a damn desert which means its already hot as hell and she also complains about the impact on “impoverished species” which are named above.
This is absolutely absurd. Either have renewable energy or don’t but make up your mind. These people hold protests and action committees to get this crap done and then when it is they start screaming about where. Kind of like Ted Kennedy who was a major supporter of clean energy but when they wanted to put a wind farm in the ocean he and his uppity rich neighbors pulled the “it might hurt our view” card. So as long as no one can see it or we don’t have to build anything then its okay. These are the same people that bitched about station wagons and full sized vans which led to the creation of the SUV and now they complain about that. These are the exact people I mean when I say professional victim because no matter how hard people try it is never good enough!
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