Jonathan Nicholas apparently doesn’t watch Jon Stewart

If you were to ask me to name a form of energy it’s almost impossible to challenge as A Good Thing, wind power would be right up there. Waves, just below. Biofuels are hard to question or even discuss, because they sound so great – growing our way out of dependence on foreign oil, and allowing consumers to continue driving their biofueled megavehicles as much as they like. But wind? Clean, plentiful, powerful – and understood by anyone who’s ever visited the Gorge or the Oregon coast on a blustery day. Obviously a good idea.

So Jonathan Nicholas’ article in today’s Opinion section of the Oregonian is interesting if only to see how hard he has to work to make a case against wind power. Titled “Winds of Change”, it was the subheading that caught my attention: “Oregon’s charge for clean, green electricity may be neither quite so clean nor quite so green as it first seemed.” Tell me more, as Jon Stewart says while cradling his head in his hands and smiling sweetly.

OK, he starts with a valid concern: visual intrusion into the Columbia River Gorge. In “Mosier just west of The Dalles, right on the edge of the federally protected Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Here, on Seven Mile Hill, a Massachusetts company wants to plant 40 towers, each 389 feet tall.” Oregonians value scenic resources and protected views – check the history of battles over billboards and cell towers if you doubt. We also have a long record of upholding property rights, and of NOT valuing non-designated views – see South Waterfront. The question of how close is too close to the National Scenic Area of the Gorge is one to debate, with the decision made carefully.

The bulk of the article elicited the reaction of “yeah, OK, so?” from me. Jonathan Nicholas completely loses me in his penultimate paragraph, however. He writes:

“The country’s first offshore project — and it’s a massive one — is proposed for the Eastern seaboard, in Nantucket Sound south of Cape Cod. Greenpeace and others worried about global warming are thrilled. Some local residents, including John Kerry and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are less than charmed by the idea of 130 turbines, each taller than the Statue of Liberty, bursting into their ocean view.”

Now that is hilarious. Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart recently aired a report by Jason Jones on the Nantucket turbines, including a computer simulation provided by opponents of the turbine installation. The project would be five miles offshore, barely visible. Specks on the horizon, rather than “bursting into their ocean view”. That’s nice prose for a feature column, less than accurate if The Daily Show is to be believed. And I do believe it. The video is a little over 5 minutes. Ali and I found it highly entertaining and informative.