Why Green Power?

1. The Environmental Benefits include minimal, if any, byproducts of CO2 and other pollutants such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and lead in comparison to those produced in the creation of energy through fossil fuels.
2. Stimulating Our Hobbled Economy. In 1997, importing fossil fuels sent $65 billion dollars outside of our country. Renewable energy resources are developed at home. Furthering their development will keep billions of dollars here, creating more jobs for Americans.
3. Our Children's Future depends on the technological advancements of these energy sources. Two things we know for certain are that oil won't last forever and the sun will.
4. Our National Security is strengthened as our dependency for foreign oil is decreased. By moving toward renewable energies, we naturally shift toward freedom from unstable ground.

*reprinted from Campaign Earth

News

Planners reject 210-foot windmill

by Mark Prado, Marin Independent Journal

  A proposal for a 246-foot-high wind turbine in West Marin to produce power for an olive ranch was felled by the county Planning Commission yesterday.

  "The scale of this thing is just absurd," Planning Commissioner Don Dickenson said. "It would be like a 20-story building sitting on top of a ridge in West Marin."

  The turbine would have reached so high into the sky, it would have required a red pulsating light to warn aircraft of its existence.

  The McEvoy Olive Ranch had proposed the turbine energy system to produce electricity to power the entire 550-acre property, located in the rolling hills between Nicasio and Petaluma. The ranch is owned by Nan Tucker McEvoy, 85, the former chairwoman of the San Francisco Chronicle Publishing Company.

  The project was a conundrum for environmentally friendly Marin. IJ photo/ Erin Lubin

  The plan was pitched as a way to promote renewable energy, a concept that plays like mom and apple pie in the county. But ultimately the hulking size of the turbine, the potential noise and visual impacts to neighbors, and the delicate nature of West Marin aesthetics proved to be its undoing.

  The project received initial use permit and design review approval from the county's deputy zoning administrator, but that decision was appealed by neighbor Sumner Schlesigner.

  "Basically, they told us we will have to get used to the noise," Schlesigner said at the hearing yesterday. "When it turns at night we will hear it in the bedroom. We are a quarter of a mile away. It's a horrendous structure to have in our back yard."

  But Tom Williard, whose Inverness-based Sustainergy Systems is overseeing the project, said the system would help the environment and call it an "elegant business solution" to address power needs at the ranch.

  The plan had environmental backers, such as Gordon Bennett of the Marin group of the Sierra Club.

  "I support the windmill," he said, adding he didn't see a problem with birds being killed by the turbines as occurred in other areas. "This is not an Altamont (Pass) type of situation."

  But Marin Conservation League president Jana Haehl said her organization did not support the plan, and said the county needs to come up with an amendment to its general plan to address wind turbines.

  "It's best not to do these ad hoc, there needs to be a larger policy," she said.

  Planning commissioners agreed there needs to be a larger look at the whole issue for wind energy in the county.

  Ultimately the McEvoy plan was voted down 6-1, with commissioner Wade Holland casting the sole vote in the affirmative for the project, calling it a "credible plan."

  "Protecting aesthetics is No. 1, but protecting the planet and using renewable energy is even higher," he said.

For more information, you may also call 415.497.6242 or send email to: david@sustainergysystems.com