Getting Both Sides of the Story on Energy

A friend sent me this story from the Cape Gazette on a mailing from the Delaware Building and Construction Trades Council in support of NRG's coal plant proposal to 10,000 Sussex County residents about ten days ago. The story quotes the council's executive director David Walsh on the union's PR efforts in support of NRG:

He [Walsh] said the trades council supported the mailings and assisted NRG in getting them out because the council contends it is important to make sure beach residents hear both sides of the energy story.

As a union executive, it's his job to work with industry to create jobs for his members, which apparently is what Walsh was doing when he offered these comments reported in the News Journal two weeks ago:

But David Walsh, director of the Delaware Building & Trades Council, accused "academics and activists" of distorting accounts about emissions and risks associated with NRG's proposal, and said the project would assure the region good jobs during construction and operation.

Apparently the council was so concerned about distortions from academics that, as the Cape Gazette reports, it quoted one professor in its mailing:

In the brochure, Willett Kempton, University of Delaware professor, was quoted, saying “Disadvantages of offshore wind include: higher installation and maintenance costs in comparison with land sites, undeveloped regulatory regimes over water, technology not yet optimized for water locations, and immature offshore wind resource assessment methods.”
While this quote is correct, Kempton said it was taken out of context from the original study on wind done by Kempton and other University of Delaware researchers. Kempton said the study went on to show many of these problems could be resolved and that wind would be a good choice for Delaware, but the brochure does not include any of those statements.
“Having this one sentence represent my view is misleading,” Kempton said.

I've spent many hours and thousands of words on the long term economic and environmental rationale for wind power. So hat's off to this one Sussex County resident who summed it up better than I have:

Mike Rhue, a draftsman and self-proclaimed practical environmentalist, stood out in the crowd at a recent hearing as he explained in simple terms the problems with the applications and some possible solutions.
Rhue said new technology, whether it’s new coal, natural gas or wind technology, can only be researched so much on the drawing boards. He said technology must be applied and used before all the bugs get worked out.
“I can’t tell you what the price of coal is going to be in 30 years. I can’t tell you what the price of natural gas is going to be in 30 years,” said Rhue.
“But, I can tell you what the price of wind is going to be in 30 years. It’s free.”