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Opinions
Corruption is defined as moral decay, and that is precisely what we are witnessing here. The fear that Denmark could lose jobs and the near religious obsession with wind power has made politicians deaf and blind to objections to wind as a source of energy, and led them to take part in the industry's fraud. The environmental and human impacts of what they are doing appear to have no effect on them.
November 15, 2012 by Peter Rørdam in Copenhagen Post
Public officials, the author aruges, are obsessed with wind
It's a widely held conception that Denmark is one of the world's least corrupt countries. The message is always warmly received, but this isn't the same as saying that Denmark is free of corruption.
I'm not qualified to speak about corruption in general, but there is one area in which I do have an in-depth knowledge: wind power - which is an industry that has managed to thoroughly corrupt the political system.
The law approving construction of a test centre of large land-based wind turbines near the Jutland town of Østerild was forced through parliament despite warnings about the effects it would have on the natural environment in the area and its impact on residents. The bill was able to make its way through parliament thanks to a complete manipulation of the facts - both by keeping some information under wraps, and by directly misinforming people.
But it wasn't parliament that was misled. Members of parliament that voted for the law were fully aware of the truth, yet they turned a blind eye so the law could be passed. It was, in fact, voters who were tricked into thinking that they had been told the whole truth.
The only thing that matters for wind turbine makers is money. You can wonder why law makers would play along with their game, but as soon as they threatened to move jobs abroad they did as they were told.
Laying out all the details of this situation would require more space than is available here, but for those that read Danish, Peter Skeel Hjort's book ‘Besat af wind' (Obsessed by the wind) provides a harrowing look into of the industry and the political system.
Collaboration between the industry and lawmakers didn't stop with the approval of the test centre. Since then, there has been a flood of complaints from people who were unfortunate enough to find themselves living next to large land-based wind turbines elsewhere. The effects, which are well documented, can cause illness and render properties uninhabitable. Their complaints, however, are normally rejected by the authorities, who maintain that living close to wind turbines is not associated with any detrimental effects.
On October 9, Berlingske newspaper published an article by three Aalborg University scientists, who proved that the official noise calculations are wrong, and that the manipulated figures tone down the problems associated with living near a wind turbine. The authorities have done nothing to show that they have scientific evidence to base their claims on. Their only reaction has been to say that the Aalborg University study is wrong, because it does not jibe with the wind power industry's own findings. We heard this most recently from the environment minister, Ida Auken, who is either being led around by the nose of the people whose interests she's looking out for, or - as was the case with her predecessor - she is taking part in the misinformation.
It's worth noting that the compensation homeowners living near wind turbines are given to make up for lost property value is based on the falsified noise calculations - which means that people are, in fact, being cheated out of the full amount they are actually owed.
Corruption is defined as moral decay, and that is precisely what we are witnessing here. The fear that Denmark could lose jobs and the near religious obsession with wind power has made politicians deaf and blind to objections to wind as a source of energy, and led them to take part in the industry's fraud. The environmental and human impacts of what they are doing appear to have no effect on them.
It only adds to the embarrassment is that instead of hiring people, the wind industry is eliminating jobs in Denmark. Meanwhile, little has happened at the Østerild test centre. Parliament rushed to approve the establishment of Østerild, because the industry told them it was vital that they could have seven large wind turbines standing in a row. Østerild was chosen because it had the physical characteristics the industry needed. Today, one turbine stands, and it remains to be seen how many more will be built.
There are a lot of people who have plenty to be ashamed of, but we shouldn't expect that to change much. Moral scruples aren't what we most associate with Danish politicians.
The author is a retired High Court judge.
I'm not qualified to speak about corruption in general, but there is one area in which I do have an in-depth knowledge: wind power - which is an industry that has managed to thoroughly corrupt the political system.
The law approving construction of a test centre of large land-based wind turbines near the Jutland town of Østerild was forced through parliament despite warnings about the effects it would have on the natural environment in the area and its impact on residents. The bill was able to make its way through parliament thanks to a complete manipulation of the facts - both by keeping some information under wraps, and by directly misinforming people.
But it wasn't parliament that was misled. Members of parliament that voted for the law were fully aware of the truth, yet they turned a blind eye so the law could be passed. It was, in fact, voters who were tricked into thinking that they had been told the whole truth.
The only thing that matters for wind turbine makers is money. You can wonder why law makers would play along with their game, but as soon as they threatened to move jobs abroad they did as they were told.
Laying out all the details of this situation would require more space than is available here, but for those that read Danish, Peter Skeel Hjort's book ‘Besat af wind' (Obsessed by the wind) provides a harrowing look into of the industry and the political system.
Collaboration between the industry and lawmakers didn't stop with the approval of the test centre. Since then, there has been a flood of complaints from people who were unfortunate enough to find themselves living next to large land-based wind turbines elsewhere. The effects, which are well documented, can cause illness and render properties uninhabitable. Their complaints, however, are normally rejected by the authorities, who maintain that living close to wind turbines is not associated with any detrimental effects.
On October 9, Berlingske newspaper published an article by three Aalborg University scientists, who proved that the official noise calculations are wrong, and that the manipulated figures tone down the problems associated with living near a wind turbine. The authorities have done nothing to show that they have scientific evidence to base their claims on. Their only reaction has been to say that the Aalborg University study is wrong, because it does not jibe with the wind power industry's own findings. We heard this most recently from the environment minister, Ida Auken, who is either being led around by the nose of the people whose interests she's looking out for, or - as was the case with her predecessor - she is taking part in the misinformation.
It's worth noting that the compensation homeowners living near wind turbines are given to make up for lost property value is based on the falsified noise calculations - which means that people are, in fact, being cheated out of the full amount they are actually owed.
Corruption is defined as moral decay, and that is precisely what we are witnessing here. The fear that Denmark could lose jobs and the near religious obsession with wind power has made politicians deaf and blind to objections to wind as a source of energy, and led them to take part in the industry's fraud. The environmental and human impacts of what they are doing appear to have no effect on them.
It only adds to the embarrassment is that instead of hiring people, the wind industry is eliminating jobs in Denmark. Meanwhile, little has happened at the Østerild test centre. Parliament rushed to approve the establishment of Østerild, because the industry told them it was vital that they could have seven large wind turbines standing in a row. Østerild was chosen because it had the physical characteristics the industry needed. Today, one turbine stands, and it remains to be seen how many more will be built.
There are a lot of people who have plenty to be ashamed of, but we shouldn't expect that to change much. Moral scruples aren't what we most associate with Danish politicians.
The author is a retired High Court judge.
1 comment:
Good morning bird-loving Pandora.
I read recently that BP admitted to 14 felony counts of misconduct and negligence in the U.S. Justice Department's investigation of the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
What got lost in the fanfare was BP's admission to one misdemeanor violation of the Migratory Bird Act.
From different web sources it appears that the Gulf disaster claimed at least 6,000 to 8,000 dead birds. Bird loving organizations rightfully claim the real numbers could be ten times higher, but thousands of dead and oiled birds were actually collected.
So, if we assume that they got a misdemeanor for killing up to 8,000 birds in hand for their oil spill debacle, then how would the expected bird kill for BP's 280 MW Cape Vincent project proposal compare to BP's Gulf disaster?
One of the mortality figures to come out of the Wolfe Island wind farm killing experience was 12 kills per MW per year. For BP's project 280 MW proposal this would equate to 3,360 dead birds per year.
This suggests that BP's Cape project would equal BP's Gulf kill every 2-3 years of operation.
Whereas BP gets taken to the court and is given a misdemeanor for their Gulf negligence and undoubtedly promises to not do it agai, in Cape Vincent the NYSDEC will instead give BP a permit to kill the same number of birds every couple of years and to keep doing it year after year after year.
Bummer, man.
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