Quote :

"Some folks call them an art form. Others say they're an eyesore. But whatever you call them, windmills are generating controversy in Carteret County. More specifically, a multi-million dollar plan to put up a wind mill farm has emotions swirling in the Down East community of Bettie. But the winds of change could be blowing there, too -- and Dianna and Nelson Paul want to capitalize on that. “It's a huge industry,” Nelson Paul said of windmill farming. “It's perfect for Down East.” The Pauls grew up in Carteret County and now live in Raleigh. But they still own a family farm in Bettie. And if they get their way, three windmills will soon be sprouting up there. Each would be about 300 feet tall and feed power to Progress Energy. The Pauls say the windmills would make Carteret County a statewide leader in green technology, but their plan has their neighbors seeing red. “They're fine in the desert in Texas or Arizona or California, or off-shore,” said Hilda Davis. “But certainly not in the Bettie community.” Davis is leading the charge against the windmills. She lives next door to where the Pauls hope to plant the turbines -- and says they're unsafe and unsightly. She also worries the windmills would drive down her property values. The Pauls say that's not the case. In fact, they say they have evidence that the windmills would jolt property values to even higher levels. They also say there's no need to be concerned about safety -- and when it comes to the way the windmills look -- beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Currently, Carteret County doesn’t have any regulations in place that govern windmills, but the county's commissioners are eyeing a rule change that could block them. A public hearing on the issue is scheduled for March. The Pauls say they're close to getting permission from the state utilities commission and several other agencies to put them up. The last hurdle could be a rule change in Carteret County. The Pauls expect it will cost about $6 million to get the windmills off the ground."

http://www.wnct.com/midatlantic/nct/news/local_news.apx.-content-articles-NCT-2008-02-06-0028.html

Family on the news, paging jnpaul.

I remember around Christmas, us talking about this and Nelson said that the locals were worried about safety and some kid getting his head chopped off. Nelson mentioned something about the turbines producing on the MegaWatt scale, and that they could withstand hurricanes when disengaged.

2/7/2008 10:29:05 AM

Pollution is uglier. They have these in Atlantic City, I think they look awesome.

2/7/2008 10:42:12 AM

That's true but there is not that much pollution down east.

2/7/2008 10:43:29 AM

hog farms?

2/7/2008 10:45:21 AM

^^What the hell does that mean? Wait for pollution, then start thinking about cleaner energy?

2/7/2008 10:46:51 AM

Quote :

"What the hell does that mean? Wait for pollution, then start thinking about cleaner energy?"

No, of course not. I'm all for being green if I can, but to use that as an argument in Atlantic City will convince the locals faster than a bunch of down east Carteret County residents. It's beautiful down there and they think of it as an eye sore. I just think that telling people that reducing pollution and saving money will help you sway them.

2/7/2008 10:59:46 AM

there's tons of pollution down there

in the form of hog lagoons

2/7/2008 11:04:11 AM

Oh, I was just mentioning that I've seen similar windmills before and they happened to be in Atlantic City. I thought they looked cool. I wasn't trying to use it as a selling point for these folks. I just think it's funny how people find any reason to stop good ideas from happening.

2/7/2008 11:11:36 AM

Quote :

"there's tons of pollution down there in the form of hog lagoons"

Not so much(if any) in Carteret County.

[Edited on February 7, 2008 at 11:15 AM. Reason : Google map over Carteret County and type hog farms, nothing comes up. Around Greenville though...]

2/7/2008 11:13:11 AM

I don't know much about Carteret County

but I do know about "down east"
and that shit was fucked up with hog-shit ponds

2/7/2008 11:14:14 AM

There are more hog farms between "Down East" and Raleigh than at either one.

2/7/2008 11:16:35 AM

Regardless, why does there have to be mass quantities of pollution to have clean energy? (in some people's minds)

2/7/2008 11:19:02 AM

There is a windmill in my grandpas back yard, in the neighborhood behind crabtree mall.

True Story

2/7/2008 11:55:22 AM

Quote :

"locals were worried about safety and some kid getting his head chopped off"

2/7/2008 11:59:15 AM

americans are stupid

europe has these all over the place, and i personally think they're very graceful looking out in the countryside...anywhere near cities is about as safe as anything else these days, and they're no uglier than any high-rise building

either way, utilizing windmills is pretty much a winning situation for everyone unless you have a problem with the aesthetics

2/7/2008 12:01:15 PM

met a guy one time that is an engineer for GE, he works on the turbines.. setting them up and maintenance and such.........climbs to the top of them all the time - he is like 60 something

anyway, they cost a buttload to do feasability studies and wind studies and everything that goes along with establishing a wind farm, but the windmills pay for themselves many times over shortly after that.


he couldnt say enough good things about windfarms

2/7/2008 1:39:26 PM

bttt

2/7/2008 4:23:22 PM

Quote :

"expect it will cost about $6 million to get the windmills off the ground"

that is cheap as shit

2/7/2008 4:35:15 PM

^ yeah, really...and (without checking, because i'm lazy), i wan to say that they have a life of something like 25 years

2/7/2008 4:36:47 PM

^Factor in hurricanes and that number probably goes down.

2/7/2008 7:27:29 PM

maybe those windmills will keep them cool in the summer?

WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!

2/7/2008 7:39:57 PM

They tried to put a wind farm in the small town I'm from in Western NY and the village folks complained until the idea was dropped. It was going to reduce energy costs by a significant amount and it was on top of the hill miles away from town but apparently they kill birds? Anyways, nobody wanted anything to do with them. Ignorance imo.

2/7/2008 8:09:55 PM

Quote :

"Ignorance imo. "

ding ding ding

2/7/2008 8:30:19 PM

Quote :

"there's tons of pollution down there in the form of hog lagoons "

first off, there aren't many hog farms in Carteret County. Second, there are plans for manure fired power plants that run on hog and chicken waste to be installed in neighboring counties. Disgusting as it may sound, it's going to be considered renewable energy.

Quote :

"anyway, they cost a buttload to do feasability studies and wind studies and everything that goes along with establishing a wind farm, but the windmills pay for themselves many times over shortly after that. "

the only reason windmills pay for themselves is because the federal government throws money at the people who install them. Without the federal incentives, windmills lose money.

[Edited on February 7, 2008 at 10:11 PM. Reason : and there is no way that you can put in a farm for $6 million. land and permitting alone is more.]

2/7/2008 10:06:38 PM

The biggest issue with wind mills down east in NC is the fact that our coast is a MAJOR migratory flyway for geese and other waterfowl. This is the same reason that the US Navy was blocked from putting in an OLF down there in Washington County. One single goose could take down a multi-million dollar plane. And the wind mills have the capacity to really do some damage to populations of migratory bird species and other bird species as well.

[Edited on February 7, 2008 at 10:40 PM. Reason : ]

2/7/2008 10:36:02 PM

these types of windmills don't turn very fast. They shouldn't pose as much of a threat to them as the smaller 1-2kW generators the Federal Parks Service already has installed up and down the coast at their campgrounds.

2/7/2008 10:41:29 PM

yeah this is kind of exciting allan....there are so many regulatory hurdles to jump but my dad is pretty good at dealing with that kind of stuff....


we'll see what happens i'll keep you guys updated

2/7/2008 10:42:01 PM

Oh ok, I didn't see any specifics of the kind of windmills they were talking about using. But that has been a major issue out west was the killing of everything from songbirds to hawks to vultures. Not just killing, but the possibility of absolute population descimation.

2/7/2008 10:43:52 PM

how many and what size are you getting for $6mil

2/7/2008 10:44:34 PM

the original wind turbines they put out in California 30 years ago used smaller blades that spun at much higher speeds. They also suffered from stupid environmentalists that loves to take statistics at select sites and skew the hell out of them for their benefit.

2/7/2008 10:50:19 PM

I'm a wildlife major, I know about ignoring skewed results. I have a professor that is SO anal about that type of stuff.

[Edited on February 7, 2008 at 10:54 PM. Reason : ]

2/7/2008 10:54:12 PM

Quote :

"I didn't see any specifics of the kind of windmills they were talking about using"

Quote :

"how many and what size are you getting for $6mil"

I even bolded it in the article.

Quote :

"...three windmills will soon be sprouting up there. Each would be about 300 feet tall..."

So the blades would be somewhere on the order of 100-200 feet or so in diamater?

2/7/2008 11:05:08 PM

ok, i missed the number of turbines. "what size" referred to megawatt rating of the units, not height

2/7/2008 11:07:28 PM

I don't recall. Sorry.

2/7/2008 11:34:47 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/1048755.html

4/25/2008 12:35:26 AM

Sweet.

4/25/2008 1:37:28 AM