Searchlight Wind Project, Nevada - UpdatesDuke Calls Wind a "Niche" Resource
July 19, 2010 - Utility regulators and executives should view renewables as "niche" sources of electricity rather than as a reliable solution to the nation's future energy needs, a Duke Energy Corporation executive told participants at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners meeting in Sacramento, California.
"Wind and solar resources provide a valuable niche role, but they are not the solution," Jim Turner, group executive of Duke Energy and president and COO of its U.S. franchised electric and gas business, said July 19. "I think we need to honestly acknowledge that as we think about the investments that we're going to be making" in the coming decades to repower America, he said, adding, "You've got to have your nuclear plants and your coal plants and your gas plants on the front lines."
Regulators and utilities need to strive to honor the balance between affordable, reliable and clean electricity generation, Turner said, commenting, "It doesn't matter how clean it is if it's not affordable or reliable."
From SNL News (subscription only), see www.windaction.org.
Latest Wind Turbine Map
July 14, 2010 - Searchlight, Nevada - The positions of some turbines have changed, and now each is assigned a number.
^Detail of map showing the town of Searchlight on the left, wind turbines on the right. Whole map >>here- 10.58 MB PDF.
Wind Turbines Kill Eagles
From East County Magazine - By Jim Wiegand, wildlife biologist.
April 17, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- The controversy surrounding wind farms in America has been brewing for over 25 years. The debate centers around the use of the deadly propeller style wind turbines and the large death toll to what are supposedly protected species. One of these species, the federally protected golden eagle, has been at the forefront of this debate from the beginning.
This is for good reason, because at Altamont Pass California, 50-75 golden eagles have been killed each year in the blades of the prop wind turbine. This killing has been taking place for over 25 years. Dr. Shawn Smallwood the foremost expert of bird mortality at the Altamont Pass wind farm estimates that 2300 golden eagles have been killed by the spinning turbine blades.
Along with the golden eagle, many thousands of other birds of prey have been slaughtered there as well from this source of green energy. As far as wind farms go, the history of Altamont pass is not an exception, it just happens to be the most scrutinized wind farm in the world. A cloak of secrecy now envelopes most other American wind farms. Despite this slaughter of raptors, corporate heads have been steamrolling ahead with wind farm expansion. Hundreds of thousands of prop wind turbines are now planned for America. One of the biggest regions for the harvest of wind energy is planned for the Western United States. Today Planning Departments all over the west are being faced with the choice of having wind power in their communities. In order to obtain the proper permits, Federal and State laws require an analysis of the environmental impacts so communities can make the right choice. My research into the wind industry has uncovered a very disturbing trend in their method of disclosing environmental impacts. What I have found is that the wind Industry in American routinely uses false or incomplete Environmental Impact Reports(EIR's) to white-wash the detrimental impacts of the prop wind turbine. Read more>>.
Can't find the data?
April 26, 2010 - On March 24th, 2010, Basin and Range Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act Request to the Las Vegas Bureau of Land Management Field Office regarding the biological resources reports concerning studies conducted by Duke Energy's contractor biologists. We wanted to see any survey reports on rare plants, desert tortoise, avian studies as well as all biological reports. As it turns out, BLM "conducted a thorough search and could find no responsive documents". It is our understanding that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is being released in May. So if the BLM is writing an EIS, why is it that they have no data to base their biological resource information on? How about that Fast Tracking!
Revised Map, Updates
^Residents of the town of Searchlight took this photo along Grandpa's Road on March 14, 2010. The skyline to the right of the flowering Joshua trees is slated for wind turbines.
We visited the Las Vegas office of the Bureau of Land Management back in December 2009, and obtained the latest map showing the Searchlight Wind Energy Project lay-out. Duke Energy continues to reduce the number of turbines slightly, and move them further from town.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement should be due out from BLM in May or June, and then we can all see the next version of the wind turbine lay-out.
^Northwest section of December 2009 map. The town is shown here on the lower left, while to the right are dark and white dots in the hills representing individual 400-foot wind turbines, connected by new roads in blue.
^Northeast section of map. Turbines are shown north and south of the road that goes from Highway 95 to Lake Mead (east of this map).
^Southern part of map, showing turbine lay-out just east of Highway 95.
^Key to map. Note the many blue lines on the maps are proposed new roads in Mojave Desert hills where Desert tortoise and Bighorn sheep habitat presently exist.
^Enlarged detail of map to show new roads and turbine placement on hills and ridges. Large truck traffic will have to move giant turbine parts into this largely wild area.
^Southern project area that would have wind turbines along Highway 95. Looking east, with Spirit Mountain on the right horizon, an area sacred to many Colorado River Tribes.
Duke Tries to Influence Town
March 3, 2010 - A Searchlight Community Cleanup will happen Saturday March 13, 2010, sponsored by Duke Energy, according to flyers circulating about town. Duke is proposing to construct a giant wind farm virtually surrounding the town of Searchlight, against the wishes of most local residents.
Searchlight Residents Simulate Their View of the Proposed Wind Farm
Duke Energy's huge turbine array would be too close to this rural town in southern Nevada, say many long-time residents. Here's their photo-montage of the proposal, looking eastward from town towards the Colorado River Valley below. Recreationists on Lake Mead would have to look up and see this array from the other side.
Joshua trees, beautiful Mojave Desert hills, and houses views would be marred by industrialization in this potential vista. Low humming and subsonic vibrations would emanate from these turbines, and at night flashing aviation-warning lights would shine on residences.
^ This simulation is on the road to Cottonwood, about 3 miles from Searchlight. From the Nugget, it should be about 3 1/4 miles. The tower height represented in the pictures is
80 meters and the blades are 49 meters, 262 feet and 161 feet respectively.
^Detail of the simulation photo, above. This area is a popular recreation site -- but our desert would be industrialized by a corporation (Duke Energy) from the eastern U.S.
^View of the town of Searchlight, Nevada, looking eastward from near the Castle Mountains at the edge of Mojave National Preserve in California. Most of the hills on the horizon would be covered with lines of tall wind turbines similar to those discussed below. The remote vistas would change in this region.
Draft EIS Schedule
October 7, 2009 -
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Searchlight Wind Project, according to a communication we had with Bureau of Land Management in Las Vegas, would be due out in June 2010. This estimated date has changed, and may change again.
An environmental impact statement (EIS) is a document required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for federal government agency actions significantly affecting the quality of the environment. A tool for decision making, an EIS describes the positive and negative environmental effects of proposed agency action, and cites alternatives. After public scoping comments are collected, a Draft EIS with a full description of the affected environment, a reasonable range of alternatives, and an analysis of the impacts of each alternative is issued. The public is then provided a second opportunity to provide comments.
The Final EIS is based on the comments to the Draft EIS and expertise collected. In this the agency announces its Proposed Action. The public is not invited to comment on this, but if they are still unhappy, or feel that the agency has missed a major issue, they may protest the EIS to the Director of the agency. The Director may either ask the agency to revise the EIS, or explain to the protester why their complaints are not addressed.
A Record of Decision (ROD) is the final action issued by the agency. This will decide if, in this case, Duke Energy will be given a right-of-way permit (ROW) to build and operate its wind project. If members of the public are still dissatisfied with the outcome they have the right to sue the agency in Federal court.
Giant Wind Turbines: A Visit to Palm Springs
October 1, 2009 -
We recently visited the Edom Hills Wind Energy Project near Palm Springs, California, where tall turbines dot the hills. They are similar in size to those that would line the ridges above Searchlight, Nevada.
These things are huge, dwarfing the numerous smaller turbines that form much of the Palm Springs wind farm closer to San Gorgonio Pass.
BP recently bought and upgraded the project, replacing 139 wind turbines which were 20 years old, with eight Clipper Liberty 2.5 megawatt (MW) turbines, increasing the power to 20 MW (source: BP).
At Searchlight, Duke Energy would use Siemens 2.3 MW or similar turbines, each with a 240-foot steel tubular tower supporting a three-blade rotor 279 feet in diameter. Each blade is 140 feet long.
These turbines operate at maximum power output when the wind blows at 33 mph. At winds over 55 mph they automatically shut down to limit stress on the machinery.
^Edom Hills wind turbines. The day we walked around the area the rotors were turning in a breeze, making a low rhythmic humming noise. A meteorological tower stands to the right.
Duke originally wanted 156 such monsters surrounding the town of Searchlight, but the numbers have dropped due to various conflicts with private lands and the local airport.
A permanently cleared area with no vegetation can be seen around the base of each turbine, as in the photo to the right. Notice the size of the small entry ladder into the base of the tower.
The rare plant Coachella Valley milkvetch (Astragalus lentiginosus var. coachellae) was impacted by the development of this wind project, according to the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.
The project was built on land leased from the County of Riverside Waste Management Department, near a landfill. The lease was signed in 2005 and runs for 34 years. An initial payment of $20,000 from the developer to the county plus a one-time payment of $1,500 for each wind turbine installed on the property was agreed upon. A monthly "minimum-rent" payment of $500 per megawatt of installed capacity and a royalty payment of 5% of the gross operating proceeds, in excess of the "minimum rent", followed (source: Riverside County Clerk - http://www.clerkoftheboard.co.riverside.ca.us/agendas/2005/2005_03_01/12.01.pdf).
<They tower over cars driving by. The camera does not truly show the height of these turbines, the nearest turbine shown here being over 1,000 feet distant from the road.
>Dirt roads cut up the hills through creosote desert to access each turbine. Some areas were fenced, other turbines were unfenced.
^Blades attached to huge nacelle containing gears to generate electricity. A person can climb into the nacelle for repairs.
