Jerkass of the Week Award: Senator Lamar Alexander- a true dunce of the highest order
Tennessee Senator (you guessed it, a Republican) Lamar Alexander is a moron. He thinks wind farms “destroy the landscape“.
To a lot of people, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would actually be against renewable energy. It’s a little bit like being against puppies. Yet these opponents exist, and I’m sorry to say some are warming seats in the United States Senate.
Take Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, for example. Sen. Alexander hails from a part of the country that is home to “six of the nation’s 10 largest carbon-dioxide-emitting coal-fired power plants,” according to Tennessean.com. You might think that Alexander is somehow beholden to the coal industry because of this, or that his Martha’s Vineyard property and the debate over the Cape Wind project might influence him, or that the campaign contributions that flow his way from the most carbon-dioxide producing utility in the country are the source of his clean energy antipathy. Not so, says the Senator. He doesn’t like wind power, he claims, for aesthetic reasons. “I think they absolutely destroy the landscape.”
Let’s look at some photos and see how his opinion stands up. First, we’ll start with coal. Here is a picture of a mountain top removal:
There used to be a mountain there, but coal miners have torn the WHOLE THING down to get at the coal. One could make the argument that removing an entire mountain and leaving behind a big scar of a hole could be considered “destroying the landscape.” (Photo credit: OVEC) But with coal our journey doesn’t end here- once it’s ripped out of the ground you’ve got to transport it by train and then burn it up. Here’s a photo of a coal
fueled power plant.
Not very pretty.
Which brings us to a wind farm. Here’s a photo of an industrial wind farm.
You can see a road and a small platform for each turbine. There’s a lot of green grass and trees and I don’t see anything that could be considered a destroyed landscape (by any rational person, Lamar is clearly not). There’s no smoke choking up the air and you don’t have to rip up whole mountains to get at the wind. I took an extensive tour of a wind farm in Wyoming a few years ago and can attest to how peaceful and quiet they are. Only someone who is crazy or in the pocket of the coal industry (or both) could possibly try to run with the argument that wind “destroys the landscape”.
Lamar Alexander, you sir, are a delusional jerkass.
To learn more about Mountaintop Removal mining and the great work being done to fight this stupidly moronic mining practice, head to the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.
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Shea, Shea, Shea, such total disregard for the reptilicans that control our nation. I must admit, I am starting to admire you. Don’t forget people, Reptilican is a term only applied to republicans that are of the neo-con persuasion. There is till hope for the others, I hope?
[...] Jerkass of the Week Award: Senator Lamar Alexander- a true dunce of the highest order posted by shea 1 hour 2 minutes ago view profile Tennessee Senator (you guessed it, a Republican) Lamar Alexander is a moron. He thinks wind farms ?destroy the landscape?. Let?s look at some photos and see how his opinion stands up. First, we?ll start with coal. Here is a picture of a mountain top removal… comment | tags: politics republicans wind coal all | Add this link to… Add to: del.icio.us | my favorites / bookmarks | [...]
Obviously you do not agree that people, even Senators, have the right to disagree over what form of renewable energy is acceptable to them.
Many people object to industrial wind farms for valid reasons. Not the least of which is environmental and wildlife damage for little return.
To me, it is jackass thinking to condemn an alternate point of view.
Sorry Dona, but you are a True Dunce of the Highest Order as well. I’m glad you found my Hugg post.
See, Dona is a member of a loosely organized sad little band of anti-wind nutjobs who rally around a banner of fear, misinformation, and deceit. They have their sad little blogs, no subscriber newsletters, and have built a little affinity group (3 people, 15+ accounts) over at Hugg. They pounce on anything to do with wind and chime in about how wind power kills massive amounts of birds, creates more pollution, and destroys landscapes.
Hmmm… sound like anyone else we know? Maybe a certain Senator from Tennessee.
Dona, your defense of Lamar’s “right” to have such a moronically stupid “opinion” puts you in the same category as him… a delusional jerkass. You and your merry band of nutjobs.
I agree with the right to opinions, but to think that strip mining for
coal is better for the environment or wildlife is just a bit strange.
Strip mining removes trees which help to prevent erosion of the soil AND a place for wildlife to live. Not to mention the amount of CO2 that is added
to the air when coal is burned. Having seen both up close, I would prefer
to have wind farms instead of strip mines. I think the important thing is
to place these wind farms out of major migratory flight patterns as much
as possible to reduce the effect on birds. No solution is perfect, but the
wind farms seem to provide an alternative to coal with a much reduce
effect on global warming.
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