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Not in Our Backyard NOT IN OUR BACKYARD Rural America is fighting back against large-scale renewable energy projects ROBERT BRYCE • AUTHOR A REPORT FOR CENTER OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT Robert Bryce has been writing about energy, power, innovation, and politics for three decades. He’s the host of the Power Hungry Podcast and the author of six books including his latest, A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations. Bryce is a visiting fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. He is also an executive producer and co-writer of a new feature-length documentary: Juice: How Electricity Explains the World. The film has received rave reviews and is now available on streaming platforms including iTunes, Amazon Prime, and many others. Bryce lives in Austin, Tex., with his wife, Lorin, who is a photographer, art teacher and master potter. Center of the American Experiment’s mission is to build a culture of prosperity for Minnesota and the nation. Our daily pursuit is a free and thriving Minnesota whose cultural and intellectual center of gravity is grounded in free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, and other time-tested American virtues. As a 501(c)(3) educational organization, contributions to American Experiment are tax deductible. Bulk orders of this publication are available by contacting Peter Zeller at [email protected] or 612-338-3605. 8421 Wayzata Boulevard Suite 110 Golden Valley, MN 55426 APRIL 2021 Not In Our Backyard Rural America is fighting back against large-scale renewable energy projects CONTENTS Executive Summary .............................................................. 1 Policy recommendations ..................................................4 Introduction .............................................................................. 5 Section I: Why are landowners objecting? ............. 7 Section II: The vacant land myth and the power density problem ....................................................15 Section III: The backlash: From Maine to Hawaii (with Minnesota and Iowa in between) .................. 19 Section IV: How rural communities are fighting back ......................................................................... 24 Section V: High-voltage transmission: You can’t get there from here .............................................. 26 Section VI: Follow the money .................................... 29 Conclusion .............................................................................. 34 Endnotes ..................................................................................35 Executive Summary enewable energy is politically popular. will be required to meet domestic energy needs. As Polling data show that about 70 percent of longtime consulting electric engineer Lee Cordner R Americans want more wind energy and 80 summed it up, “Where are you going to put it? How percent want more solar.1 Regulators at the local, are you going to connect it? And how are you going state, and federal levels have responded to this to pay for it?” This paper addresses those issues. popularity by passing a myriad of goals, mandates, With regard to how all of those renewables will and subsidies to encourage the development and be paid for, it is clear that mandates and subsidies consumption of wind and solar energy. The Sierra are driving their deployment. A key finding of this Club claims that “over 170 cities, more than ten report is that between 2010 and 2029, federal tax counties, and eight states across the U.S. have goals incentives for the wind and solar sectors will total to power their communities with $140.3 billion. 100% clean, renewable energy.”2 Federal officials have intro- In addition to their political In addition to the duced a spate of energy plans that popularity, a spate of academic conflicts over new could require dramatic increases in studies released over the past few renewable energy use and untold years have claimed that the U.S. wind and solar billions more in federal spending. can run most or, all, of its economy projects, attempting Among the most famous is the solely on renewables. No oil, coal, to convert the Green New Deal. Introduced in natural gas, or nuclear required. domestic electric grid 2019, the plan aims to “mobilize Although renewables are popular every aspect of American soci- among voters and professors at will require roughly ety to 100% clean and renewable elite universities, they also have doubling the amount energy by 2030.”4 In July 2020, several problems, including their of high-voltage the Biden-Sanders Unity Task intermittency, need for high-voltage transmission capacity Force announced a plan that com- transmission lines, and resource in the United States. mits Democrats to eliminate “car- intensity. Several analyses, includ- bon pollution from power plants ing one done in 2019 by the Natural by 2035.” It continues, “Within five History Museum in London, have years, we will install 500 million documented the enormous amounts of metals and solar panels, including eight million solar roofs rare-earth elements that will have to be mined in and community solar energy systems, and 60,000 order to manufacture the vast amounts of solar made-in-America wind turbines.”5 panels and wind turbines needed for such a large President Joe Biden’s “Energy Efficiency and effort.3 Clean Energy Standard” calls for the deployment of But the most important — and the most obvi- “millions of solar panels — including utility-scale, ous — challenge in converting to a renewables-only rooftop and community solar systems — and tens economy is commandeering the enormous amounts of thousands of wind turbines.”6 of land needed to accommodate the staggering In December 2020, academics at the Andlinger amounts of solar and wind generation capacity that Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton CENTER OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT • 1 AmericanExperiment.org FIGURE 1 Rejections or Restrictions of U.S. Wind Projects, 2015-2021 From Maine and Vermont to California and Hawaii, local governments are restricting or rejecting the expansion of wind energy. 70 60 65 66 60 50 40 40 30 29 31 20 10 7 0 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 SOURCE: MEDIA REPORTS University released a study that says the U.S. can to add hundreds of gigawatts to the grid over the “reach net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by next four years. It’s a huge amount. And there’s so 2050 using existing technology and at costs aligned little time.”10 with historical spending on energy.” The 300-page Regardless of which academic, political or eco- report includes several scenarios, all of which nomic scenario is considered, it’s clear any attempt require huge increases in wind and solar energy, as to convert the entire domestic electric grid — not to well as a massive expansion of high-voltage trans- mention the entire economy — to run solely on re- mission capacity.7 One scenario necessitates cover- newables will require covering vast territories with ing about 228,000 square miles with renewables. oceans of solar panels and forests of giant wind That’s an area roughly equal to the size of the state turbines. Further, that effort will have to occur at of California and Washington combined.8 the same time that rural politicians and landowners Despite the obvious difficulty in acquiring such across the U.S. are fighting against the encroach- vast swaths of land, the Princeton study got signifi- ment of large-scale renewable energy projects. cant media attention, including a favorable piece in These land-use conflicts are the binding con- the New York Times, which called it “at once opti- straint on wind and solar energy expansion and mistic and sobering,” adding that the report’s con- they are slowing or stopping these developments clusions seem “technically feasible and affordable.”9 all over the country. Since 2015, according to Top officials in the Biden administration are also published media stories, about 300 government forecasting huge increases in renewables. In March, entities have moved to reject or restrict wind ener- Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said, “We have gy projects (See Figure 1). 2 • NOT IN OUR BACKYARD AmericanExperiment.org Among the recent examples of the backlash enough high-voltage transmission lines to circle the against wind energy: On April 7, the planning board Earth about 10 times.13 in the town of Foster, R.I., voted 5-1 to ban wind tur- This report provides a review of the many stud- bines. The board took action after hearing from res- ies that found the noise from wind energy projects idents of the nearby town of Portsmouth who had can cause health issues. It includes the summary of turbines built near their homes. According to an a 2009 study done by the Minnesota Department April 14 article by Jaquelyn Moorehead, a reporter of Health, which documented the health com- for The Valley Breeze newspaper, the Portsmouth plaints lodged against wind projects and recom- residents warned the board “about their experienc- mended further analysis of the turbine-noise issue. es, complaining about constant noise disturbances, This analysis also marks the launch of the vibrations, and loss in home values from turbines in National Renewable Energy Rejection Database. It their neighborhood.” provides the names of towns and government en- The ban in Foster reflects the broader backlash tities that have rejected or restricted wind projects against Big Wind. Objections to large-scale re- since 2015. The database will be regularly updated newable energy
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