John McCollister’s Windy “Religion”

Windmills Have Problems

Update: Mike McGowan is who McCollister is running against. McGowan is known for this ad.

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) buys into all the climate change hysteria over carbon and wants to de-carbonize. In the process, OPPD likes to brag about how 30 percent of the electricity is coming from wind power, but this is purchased electricity from other parts of Nebraska. (https://www.oppd.com/media/216550/quick-facts.pdf See top of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Nebraska)  This energy is coming from rural areas where people are more skeptical of the “climate change” agenda.

As State Senator, McCollister pushed private initiatives for windmills and did so successfully in 2016 ( See full legislative history at https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=28523) The result has been a boom in windmill energy production in Nebraska but there are a lot of problems with windmills which have been dismissed, even by the OPPD board.

When speaking of birds, OPPD and the Sierra Club (https://www.sierraclub.org/michigan/wind-turbines-and-birds-and-bats) are quick to point out cats kill lots of birds, but these are small birds like robins and wrens which rapidly reproduce, not bald eagles, falcons, hawks, and owls being killed by windmills. Even bats are harmed by windmills. (https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-are-bats-affected-wind-turbines).  Eagles are killed so frequently by windmills, an energy company plead guilty and paid out millions of dollars in damages. An organization continues to defend the eagles (https://www.eagles.org/take-action/wind-turbine-fatalities/ and
https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/wind-energy-company-kills-150-bald-eagles-us-pleads-guilty)

 
There is research indicating the windmills attract insects which attract birds and bats and the predatory birds which feed on them. Researchers have found changing the color of the windmill blades to purple may reduce these problems (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1320763/Why-painting-wind-turbines-purple-protect-birds-bats.html). Are Nebraska windmill operators doing this or not?  If we care about animals, we should.

McCollister is a candidate for the Metropolitan Utilities District (MUD) and he is obviously going to tout his green credentials on windmills. You can tell by his campaign literature below. 

Maybe you don’t care about birds, but would you live near a windmill? Jennifer Hicks of Voices of Nebraska mentions the sounds the windmills create (https://www.voicesofnebraska.com/silent-no-more/learn-the-facts-about-out-of-state-big-wind-farms-trying-to-take-advantage-of-nebraskans-get-informed) She cites some older videos and some changes in the windmill industry may have taken place since the videos were made. Yet, wildlife is clearly disturbed by noise windmills. Listen to this video below, and ask, who wants to be near a windmill?

 Fortunately, there are efforts to reduce the impact of noise and increase the efficiency of the windmills as mentioned in this video https://www.youris.com/energy/energytv/wind-turbines-new-device-to-reduce-noise-and-increase-efficiency.kl. How successful are these efforts, I do not know. 

The local news media (such as Omaha World-Herald) too often buys into the man-made climate change theory. They frequently fail to focus on the problems with windmills. I am not against windmills, but if we are to have them, they must be responsibly operated and provide meaningful use, not “climate change” agendas. I pointed out two substantial problems with the windmills and offered the solutions above. So how well are Nebraska windmills operating?