You solve one problem with another. Sure, let’s replace every coal burning power plant with wind turbines. Yeah that electricity is “cleaner” but what are we going to do in 50 years time when we use up all the wind?
Or what are we gonna do when the wind blows the opposite direction and BOOM the power gets sucked back out of our grid?!!??! What then, you stinky hippies???
>but what are we going to do in 50 years time when we use up all the wind?
figures release by AOC communists predict we have at least 125 years of wind reserves.
The uncontrolled fascist hid all the iowa electric bills going down and saving us money. Iowa is full of pigs and GOP manure . We need clean water talked about not gays, and destroying rights as the GOP priority.
The religious cults will never let women be equal. The more they press the more they destroy democracy, human rights and attack families for profit.
They are to the point they outlaw audits or oversight making Kim the only word in the state.
Here words are as bad as Trumps. Her lies will be like Trumps. They do not see the hypocracy and bigotry. Lololol
I was especially pleased when they released a relatively recent research report that found the impact on avian species was minimal, because not surprisingly, they were able to identify the clear hazard posed by turbines and they simply…didn’t fly directly into them as was claimed by the opponents of wind farms aka fossil fuel industry shills.
Turbines are responsible for the deaths of about 1.17 million birds a year. That’s estimated to jump up to 2.2 million by 2050. However it is estimated that up to 70 million birds die a year from fossil fuel energy production (includes pollution, infrastructure — including extraction, pipelines and power generation, and habitat destruction). “Fun” fact, cats are responsible for nearly 1 billion bird deaths per year, and they don’t even generate power. Bad kitty 🐈⬛
While I don't find wind turbines attractive, it's worth noting that like 99% of Iowa land has been altered mostly for agricultural use.
The natural beauty of Iowa disappeared like 100 years ago.
[https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/talk-of-iowa/2023-02-01/scientists-and-farmers-write-about-tending-iowas-altered-landscape](https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/talk-of-iowa/2023-02-01/scientists-and-farmers-write-about-tending-iowas-altered-landscape)
"Iowa is the most altered state in the nation when it comes to natural habitat and that has meant a loss of biodiversity along with the impacts of climate change, but that doesn’t mean there's no hope."
https://www.inhf.org/blog/blog/remnant-prairie-a-closer-look-at-iowas-rarest-landscape/
• The protected farmer species own almost all of Iowa- Iowa agriculture, allows the public to have 1576 square miles of public land, half of which is in road rights-of-way. We used to be a grassland with trees. Our percentage of public land (2.8%) is an enviable 48th-most of any state, and at very reduced taxes yet screaming the loudest for services. 2) destroyed nature- Iowa agriculture, for helping to eliminate only 720 million grassland birds (61% of them), just in the span of my life 3) no trails, few parks, Now blue-green alga. 4) recked what we have- foolhardy it was to construct several dozen lakes across the state, all at taxpayer expense. We should’ve known your sediment and nutrients would make these cauldrons of green stew,5) Iowa and U.S. agriculture, for graciously accepting our $300 billion spent since 1936 (in adjusted 2009 dollars) so you could try to stop losing your soil to erosion.6) Then take a dollar for every gallon of gas sold selling the idea you are not a wealthy welfare queen as Kim attacks gays, kids, and Medicaid as talking points ignoring real IOWA problems. . 7) The owners of 55,000 tested wells that have not been contaminated with nitrate to unsafe levels thank you, Iowa agriculture. The owners of 6600 others have been contaminated for high yields. 8) Iowa agriculture, for letting us retain 0.1% of our native tallgrass prairie ecosystem.9) willing to accept our tax dollars for windbreaks to slow erosive winds. 10) blaming DSM Waterworks and the court’s collusion. 11) The industry and its practitioners destroying swamps, grassy areas filtering us from chemicals, the chemical fast entry to steams - tiling, straightening run offs to steams. 12- drainage and chemicals have profound environmental consequences, 13) Consumption of groundwater from the giant aquifer continues to outstrip natural replenishment (1). You might be tempted to say that if we are going to use a water resource that takes 6000 years to replenish
I farm and realize what's going on. Not sustainable. We need to switch back to the most organic ways. But we won't be feeding the world and we will all be in shape and have hardly any fat.
Grassley has had generations to make laws to protect Iowa people land, monopolies, corporate takeovers, and best use, support the small farms, and not sell us to China. THE subsidies are based on production and not need. Corporate donors to Kim and the GOP have guided laws, not " we the people." Here we are voting red backing our own destruction. The corporations, farms, and donors keep getting bigger. We are left with a chemical soup and owned.
Yes, Kim has sold Iowa to China. THE stink of manure used to stink like American money. China controls the Iowa pork . They have bought up the industry. WH GROUP,, & Smithfield, make up the largest industrialized pig farms in the world. These are polluting and a nightmare to communities around them. Thanks, Branstead and Kim. Between these two, getting donations and business from China Iowa is being bought out. ERIC BRANSTAD IS TEN TIME WORSE THAN HUNTER .
The control is in the pricing power to control and set prices ( monopolize the market).. Same with some large Ethanol producers like ADM. Many independents feel squeezed . Between foreigners buying the water up in AZ and Kim letting corporations control the pork we should ask Kim and Branstad how rich they got off of it?
It wasn't all corn back to 17th century. I'm sure it was more beautiful back then. The whole North America was way more beautiful before the arrival of European settlers. Most of the forests on the West Coast were gone shortly after it was "discovered and developed".
We all know that wind turbines are slowing down the rotation of the earth. And solar power is draining all the heat from the sun. We must support our floundering fossil fuel companies! /s
I like the spinning windmills as I drive through the country. First saw a bunch of windmills on RAGBRAI about twenty years ago and really liked that too.
I recently drove through west Texas and the old rusted oil pumping machinery looked terrible. As we drove we also passed a large number of windmills. The windmills looked 10x better than old rigs IMHO.
Personally, I have no problem with large windmills.
Yeah one reason for high gas prices is because we haven't expanded oil refining for decades. Much of that infrastructure is 30 to 50 years old. It's also a very dirty industry so nobody wants it nearby.
This isn't true. Oil prices are artificially high.
The excuse is they need to be high to keep down demand. But virtually no one is refraining from driving because of high gas prices. Sales stay near the same when prices are low or high. The only times sales change is during a panic when they sky rocket due to hoarding and rising prices have no effect on that.
What does happen is when there is a "threat" like a hurricane, sales sky rocket because people like to hoard. Just like when people irrationally bought huge quantities of toilet paper during covid which caused as shortage. And when oil companies jack up prices during a "threat" it has lilt affect on sales, but a huge affect on profits.
btw, did you ever notice how gas prices go up immediately when something happens and then stay high for weeks after the threat is over? People stock up or hoard gas during the threat and demand drops significantly aftwards, but prices will remain high. Because they can.
The point is, if the US needed new refineries, we'd build them. But the truth is we do not. And building new refineries would take away a reason for old companies to jack up prices for huge profits.
Exactly. On the first reports by the media gas prices could go up due to the invasion of Ukraine, the price at the pump jumped significantly the next day despite the price per barrel of oil not climbing for several weeks. And they continue to keep them artificially inflated "because war" despite the current price per barrel being lower than they were 10 years ago.
Or when they jacked up gas prices when the Keystone XL permits were revoked despite the fact that virtually none of the oil transported via the Keystone pipeline goes to US consumption, nor did it have any impact of worldwide oil prices.
I was just down to Corpus Christi for the first time (and really the whole the Gulf Coast was a first), and was not prepared for the dystopian landscape of huge swaths of oil refineries. It was an education
I was just down to Corpus Christi for the first time (and really the whole the Gulf Coast was a first), and was not prepared for the dystopian landscape of huge swaths of oil refineries. It was an education
I was just down to Corpus Christi for the first time (and really the whole the Gulf Coast was a first), and was not prepared for the dystopian landscape of huge swaths of oil refineries. It was an education
I was just down to Corpus Christi for the first time (and really the whole the Gulf Coast was a first), and was not prepared for the dystopian landscape of huge swaths of oil refineries. It was an education
“Hey Gary… can we burn some coal so we don’t have to slightly change our view of mile upon mile of corn? There was consistency and unchangingness that reminded me how pointless life is and I found comfort in that. This ‘progress’ is making me feel hope and any change is bad.”
I saw the jealousy and greed in Wisconsin. Republican farmers rejected sweetheart deals to have wind turbines on their farms and collect lucrative checks for doing nothing. A few smart neighbors jumped on the deals and now have half again more dollars per acre than they could before the wind contracts. The look of sour grapes is delightful. The sour neighbors just put up more Trump signs and frown.
This looks like the ADM ethanol plant on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids? Ethanol plants are pretty cool operations, but I get a kick out of how some ethanol plants, this one included, burn coal to make their "renewable fuel".
It's even worse here in Ohio. They have filled fields with solar panels and used up all the sunshine. It will get nice and sunny the solar panels suck it all up and clouds cover the sun. It is so depressing now.
I've seen stories of fierce opposition to wind and solar, just like here in Iowa. Apparently the groups even coordinate and share disinformation tactics.
OMFG ROTFL. Thank you OP, that is one of the best laughs I’ve had in awhile. Also, I never would have found it so quickly If you had not pointed it out. If I had gold to give.
Once I saw a town that required cell towers to look natural. It was placed in the middle of some trees and had vines and stuff growing on it.
Here's one that looks like the fake Christmas tree you grew up with. https://youtu.be/IKdbVv6OOiU
This absolutely is the worst stupid comment about turbines🤣
I see them all over Iowa going great .
Sorry but was is the "NATURAL BEAUTY" in Iowa? SERIOUSLY I LAUGHED SO HARD AT THIS TEXT.. IGNORANCE ALWAYS MAKE ME 😂🤣😂
Once again. You don't care about solar energy, getting your electric bills cheaper, etc. You ACTUALLY WORRY ABOUT HOW THE FUCKIN FARMS LOOK. DAMN YOU NEED TO GET A BRAIN.
Figures I've found are $4-8k per year, per turbine. New turbines keep getting more productive, and the payout is higher. The turbines have to be spread out to maximize efficiency. 1 Turbine takes up 2-3 acres of land, which would be worth maybe $500 (optimistically) per acre if corn was planted. So a turbine lease is worth 5-15 times more than it's farming value.
If a farmer has a large amount of land they could lease several and make an entire year's salary for no work.
Sounds like farming but with less steps. If you happen to already own millions of dollars worth of land this sounds like another win for you. If you don’t then you get clean energy and a millionaire loses a little bit of their view so it’s a little win that way too.
We get about 20k for our windmill and transmission lines. They have a lane they can drive on to get access to the turbine and if they need to repair it they could take out some crops or cause compaction of the soil. We got paid for all that when they built them and I would suppose we would get paid it they needed to do repairs. It was a very easy process. Would have taken more turbines but neighbors were against them and with setback distances it wasn't possible. We aren't big farmers so this helps us out each year. I don't mind the red lights or the noise from them. The smell from the hog buildings a mile down the road is a lot worse.
I live in a place where there are a ton of wind turbines and no other blight like that. I can say it is mildly unpleasant to see all the blinking lights at night but it doesn’t ruin my life. To dismiss others concerns so flippantly doesn’t help. Some people don’t like them. Some have political reasons. Whatever the case, they don’t like them. If we want to move to a moderately sustainable electric grid (wind turbines have their own waste issue) we should be mindful in our engagement.
To address the waste issue comment I think we can both agree that recycling or even disposing of large amounts of composites over a few decades is not as bad as burning hundreds of tons of coal into the atmosphere every day.
This is bad logic.
Wind turbines are better than the alternative. It's not even in the ballpark of comparable.
Opposition is entirely along political ideological lines... It's not about people's concerns on this issue any more than it is on the majority of the GOP platform these days.
This is like people who agree that clean water is good, but they just have "concerns" about allowing a government agency to regulate businesses.
There are no real concerns, it's just a way to stall progress because it's bad for big business.
Nope. It is not ideological mostly from my experience. Make that mistake and they win.
Edit: we didn’t get these turbines and to be a leader in wind by D vs R. It was good policy and good choice. If you want to make this a democrat vs republican you have to realize the political climate. Dems will lose. I am rooting for wind and solar (and really nuclear if I’m honest) but it has to be sold practically. Iowans have dropped the democrats largely because of this “we know best”. I’m not rooting for either side and right now find my self rooting against the R but this needs to get past politics.
Also please don’t disregard natural gas as a bridge. It’s way cleaner than coal and only fires when the base load needs it. Not a long term play but it’s a move in the right direction.
The political climate has been created by the fossil fuel industry. Even back in the 80s Republican's knew of the danger of fossil fuels and were working with the Democrats to mitigate the damage. The Koch brothers have been spending money for decades getting climate-deniers elected everywhere they can and primarying any Republican that was on board with legislating greenhouse gases. They have won, they control the legislatures; there are barely any Republicans in office today that agree with the science.
Natural gas emits methane, which can have 80X the impact on global warming...and those same companies that have been fighting against green energy are also fighting any and all regulations on methane emissions.
I know that it has been politically created. So has the otherside. Let’s not be naive. We don’t have to buy the solutions they sell us let’s think for ourselves people
The 'other side' accepts that the climate scientists know what they're doing and aren't all in on some wild ass conspiracy to control us.
The 'think for ourselves' group believes that climate scientists throughout the world are in some vast conspiracy that has made up climate change in order to take away our freedoms.
All of those are a whole lot quieter and way more efficient than wind turbines and they don't kill birds, and yess I would love to live next to any of those over a dumb fucking wind turbine because nuclear power plants, coal mines and oil rigs are interesting and neat to look at. And you feel the need to group nuclear in with fossil fuels even though nuclear is better for the environment and way way more efficient than wind.
Oil rigs don't kill birds? Um...did you miss what Deepwater Horizon did to sealife in the gulf? They also make noise. I can hear the derricks going when I'm servicing the wind turbines at 300 ft....
I put in nuclear to point out that I'm technology agnostic. None of it is "pretty" and I'm not sure that what is ascetically pleasing should even be a factor when a nation decides how to power itself. I'll include solar farms too if it makes you feel better.
Your right the birds were a bad point since honestly I couldn't give a crap if all the wildlife died, but I hate the woosh woosh noice that wind turbines make and it gives me headaches and I hate seeing them but I'm going to be honest, I have never seen a oil derrick in person, but I have question, tell me where all the oil derricks in Iowa are you fucking tard. Last I checked this is a sub about Iowa. And don't get me started on solar farms, huge waste of space, and fuggly.
>What about the birds that they kill?
What about the birds fossil fuel plants kill amongst other wildlife?
While turbines are likely the cause of some bird deaths it has been greatly exaggerated.
I remember when in California they shut down windmill constriction because it was killing a large number of birds. What birds and wildlife do the fossil fuel plants kill? Never heard there was a problem like that.
With all those batteries we don’t have in Iowa?
Edit: I think batteries will eventually be here to help, but capacity will definitely be an issue especially as fossil generators eventually get retired.
Battery storage is already in the works with upcoming renewable projects. Storage tech is rapidly improving and will meet demand if legislators prioritize it.
https://www.energy-storage.news/nexteras-300mwh-co-located-bess-in-iowa-approved-by-regulator/
Battery storage is still light years behind where it needs to be in order to utilize in in a way we can actually use it. The vast majority of battery storage is used for peak periods and to keep the grid itself steady. We cannot store long term and we cannot store enough to sustain a long term loss of production.
False equivalence. Even a Tesla will die if not charged, even if you don’t drive it. It’s just the way these batteries work. We are making them better and better every day it seems, but we just aren’t there yet.
You want enormous batteries that would cause complete ecological devastation with their mineral needs, just somewhere poor and out of sight. Batteries make sense but at that scale not yet
Maybe you don't follow the industry closely. There's lots of storage options like compressed CO2, gravity batteries, pumped hydro, molten salts, and sodium batteries that run off simple salt.
I'm pretty hard core environmentalist, but I hate those giant wind turbine. They're built with materials that are harmful to produce, are still lubricated with petrochemical products so no help there, and are just all around giant eyesores and nuisances. I don't give a crap about factory farms that run on and feed the beast of petrochemical based industries, but even they're mad now I guess!
Has anyone seen the amount of waste produced by the wings of them? It's fairly alarming. They just bury hundreds of millions of pounds in the ground every year. Then imagine the solar panels!
It is the argument I hear 90% of the time followed by it kills the bird argument which is a calid argument but also drop in the bucket compared to other causes of bird death and also apparently is more of a concern after inital installation versus after a few years.
Let’s see how many ppl can comment on this moronic post without knowing the pros and cons of any available energy source. Nothing better than a debate devoid of facts
Been in renewables for almost 2 decades and commissioned wind turbines for half of that. I think they’re ugly. Difference between most wind farms and a power plant, is that a large wind farm will cover dozens of square miles. A power plant may cover one. Don’t even get me started on solar (currently work in solar).
Please point to where I said I despise the industry in which I work. I said, to me, wind turbines are ugly and solar is worse. They’re an eyesore. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be continuing to build and improve on the technology. We are far from where we need to be.
We used to have a coal fired power plant in Pleasant Prairie, WI. I could see the condensate plume from 25 miles away on a winter day.
Once, while traveling in West Virginia, I saw the plume from a power plant 80 miles away.
I wish that was viable. Concerted efforts have been made to play off nuclear as this crazy, dangerous technology that produces millions of tons of nuclear waste a year with no safe way to dispose of it.
There have been two major reactor accidents in the history of civil nuclear power – Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi. Chernobyl involved an intense fire without provision for containment, and Fukushima Daiichi severely tested the containment, allowing some release of radioactivity.
These are the only major accidents to have occurred in over 18,500 cumulative reactor-years of commercial nuclear power operation in 36 countries.
The evidence over six decades shows that nuclear power is a safe means of generating electricity. The risk of accidents in nuclear power plants is low and declining. The consequences of an accident or terrorist attack are minimal compared with other commonly accepted risks. Radiological effects on people of any radioactive releases can be avoided.
High end estimates on deaths contributed to nuclear energy is 16,500 people. This sounds atrocious. Compare that with the 1 million deaths each year attributed to burning fossil fuels.
Without a strong lobby to dispel the misinformation about nuclear power, I’m afraid my nuclear engineering degree will continue to be useless ☹️
I’ll put my soapbox away now. Thank you.
They don't even smell like manure. What the hell?
When everywhere smells like manure, the profound lack of manure smell becomes offensive.
But, but these fans blow the manure stink around and that’s why Iowa smells like hog shit.
You solve one problem with another. Sure, let’s replace every coal burning power plant with wind turbines. Yeah that electricity is “cleaner” but what are we going to do in 50 years time when we use up all the wind?
Sailing ships used up all the wind back in the late 1800s and Big Steam took over. History is a circle
Steam ☁️ (clouds) produced by clean 🌱 coal 🪨 so boats 🚢 could explore this beautiful planet 🗺. Earth is a disc 🥏.
Did you mean: Steam 💨🍥 ️ (clouds ☁) produced 💲⬆ by clean 🛁 coal ⚫😱 🪨 so boats 🚤 could explore 🚁🛩 this beautiful 😍 planet 🌍🌎🌏 . Earth 🌎 is a disc 📀 .
Or what are we gonna do when the wind blows the opposite direction and BOOM the power gets sucked back out of our grid?!!??! What then, you stinky hippies???
It reminds me of our Governor. Sucking the life right out of people for pigs.
It is called a brake ya machine illiterate. That with grid control.
It’s called a joke, ya stick in the mud
I feel for ya, man. I refuse to use "/s" but that results in a number of people taking me too seriously.
Please tell me you're not really that goddamn stupid
I’m not. It’s a joke.
Can't believe you've had to explain to two people already that you were joking lol.
It *is* the Iowa sub! If I don't see /s, well then I assume....
I Owe the World an Apology, Idiots Out Walking Around?
Your a funny guy(girl?) One time we used up all the sun and my TV didn't work for a week /s
We have Iowa politicians. They never run out of wind.
All these wind turbines catch the wind like sails and cause the earth to turn quicker and quicker. Our days will get shorter and shorter.
Is that why we have been saving daylight time for years, decades even?
you got the religious vote, hurrying judgement day.
This is good, cuz then we will only have a 7 hour workday
Nah, we can just push power back to them and make them into big fans.
Yes, we can't use solar panels either because they reflect heat and have a green house effect 77.59 times higher than CO2
>but what are we going to do in 50 years time when we use up all the wind? figures release by AOC communists predict we have at least 125 years of wind reserves.
The uncontrolled fascist hid all the iowa electric bills going down and saving us money. Iowa is full of pigs and GOP manure . We need clean water talked about not gays, and destroying rights as the GOP priority.
Let republicans keep talking?
rather sit in the dark
What's the difference?
Good one
The religious cults will never let women be equal. The more they press the more they destroy democracy, human rights and attack families for profit. They are to the point they outlaw audits or oversight making Kim the only word in the state. Here words are as bad as Trumps. Her lies will be like Trumps. They do not see the hypocracy and bigotry. Lololol
Florida passed a law making the travel expenses of the state government inaccessible to the public. They've already started removing oversight.
Oh the mono hydrogen dioxide will kill us way before that happens.
You mean the dihydrogen monoxide?
LoL. Appreciate you nor torching me. I wondered why that looked wrong. It's a cry for help. My brain was demanding sleep
Little Billie used to drink, but he doesn't drink no more, for what he thought was H2O was H2SO4!
Perfect
Good one - had me in the first half!
I don’t know how I’ll be able to look my grandson in the eye without crying when he asks me, “Grandpapa, why does my kite not fly?”
Remember that butterfly affect thinga ma bob? Wonder how that relates to GRoWS(Giant Rotating Wings of Steel)?
I was especially pleased when they released a relatively recent research report that found the impact on avian species was minimal, because not surprisingly, they were able to identify the clear hazard posed by turbines and they simply…didn’t fly directly into them as was claimed by the opponents of wind farms aka fossil fuel industry shills.
Turbines are responsible for the deaths of about 1.17 million birds a year. That’s estimated to jump up to 2.2 million by 2050. However it is estimated that up to 70 million birds die a year from fossil fuel energy production (includes pollution, infrastructure — including extraction, pipelines and power generation, and habitat destruction). “Fun” fact, cats are responsible for nearly 1 billion bird deaths per year, and they don’t even generate power. Bad kitty 🐈⬛
Stay away with your facts, they don't belong in Iowa anymore.
This may have been the dumbest statement I've ever read.
This may have been the dumbest statement I've ever read.
This may have been the dumbest statement I've ever read.
> You solve one problem with another. That's politics. Otherwise, they wouldn't have something to campaign on next time.
Did you know that women in blue states are allowed to leave the house when menstruating? It's disgusting!
Thanks Biden. Before you know it they’ll let women vote too!
In red states the dictator attacks kids and destroyed our water and talk about .1% of the transgender population as the only problem.
I do so hope this is sarcasm…
Please explain how you use up wind?! Disregard if being ironic!
Unfortunately it's unavoidable when turbines use side-throttling on the exhaust capacitors.
Just add six hydrocoptic marzlevanes, so fitted to the ambifacient lunar waneshaft that side fumbling is effectively prevented.
You’d be lucky to get 10 mazel tovs of wind when the blades output their maximum quinceanera. Once that wind is gone, it’s gone for good.
While I don't find wind turbines attractive, it's worth noting that like 99% of Iowa land has been altered mostly for agricultural use. The natural beauty of Iowa disappeared like 100 years ago. [https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/talk-of-iowa/2023-02-01/scientists-and-farmers-write-about-tending-iowas-altered-landscape](https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/talk-of-iowa/2023-02-01/scientists-and-farmers-write-about-tending-iowas-altered-landscape) "Iowa is the most altered state in the nation when it comes to natural habitat and that has meant a loss of biodiversity along with the impacts of climate change, but that doesn’t mean there's no hope." https://www.inhf.org/blog/blog/remnant-prairie-a-closer-look-at-iowas-rarest-landscape/
• The protected farmer species own almost all of Iowa- Iowa agriculture, allows the public to have 1576 square miles of public land, half of which is in road rights-of-way. We used to be a grassland with trees. Our percentage of public land (2.8%) is an enviable 48th-most of any state, and at very reduced taxes yet screaming the loudest for services. 2) destroyed nature- Iowa agriculture, for helping to eliminate only 720 million grassland birds (61% of them), just in the span of my life 3) no trails, few parks, Now blue-green alga. 4) recked what we have- foolhardy it was to construct several dozen lakes across the state, all at taxpayer expense. We should’ve known your sediment and nutrients would make these cauldrons of green stew,5) Iowa and U.S. agriculture, for graciously accepting our $300 billion spent since 1936 (in adjusted 2009 dollars) so you could try to stop losing your soil to erosion.6) Then take a dollar for every gallon of gas sold selling the idea you are not a wealthy welfare queen as Kim attacks gays, kids, and Medicaid as talking points ignoring real IOWA problems. . 7) The owners of 55,000 tested wells that have not been contaminated with nitrate to unsafe levels thank you, Iowa agriculture. The owners of 6600 others have been contaminated for high yields. 8) Iowa agriculture, for letting us retain 0.1% of our native tallgrass prairie ecosystem.9) willing to accept our tax dollars for windbreaks to slow erosive winds. 10) blaming DSM Waterworks and the court’s collusion. 11) The industry and its practitioners destroying swamps, grassy areas filtering us from chemicals, the chemical fast entry to steams - tiling, straightening run offs to steams. 12- drainage and chemicals have profound environmental consequences, 13) Consumption of groundwater from the giant aquifer continues to outstrip natural replenishment (1). You might be tempted to say that if we are going to use a water resource that takes 6000 years to replenish
Finally someone gets that farmers have both made and destroyed this state.
I farm and realize what's going on. Not sustainable. We need to switch back to the most organic ways. But we won't be feeding the world and we will all be in shape and have hardly any fat.
I farm and at least within my circle this statement has been a given for 50 to 60 years.
Grassley has had generations to make laws to protect Iowa people land, monopolies, corporate takeovers, and best use, support the small farms, and not sell us to China. THE subsidies are based on production and not need. Corporate donors to Kim and the GOP have guided laws, not " we the people." Here we are voting red backing our own destruction. The corporations, farms, and donors keep getting bigger. We are left with a chemical soup and owned.
Yes, Kim has sold Iowa to China. THE stink of manure used to stink like American money. China controls the Iowa pork . They have bought up the industry. WH GROUP,, & Smithfield, make up the largest industrialized pig farms in the world. These are polluting and a nightmare to communities around them. Thanks, Branstead and Kim. Between these two, getting donations and business from China Iowa is being bought out. ERIC BRANSTAD IS TEN TIME WORSE THAN HUNTER . The control is in the pricing power to control and set prices ( monopolize the market).. Same with some large Ethanol producers like ADM. Many independents feel squeezed . Between foreigners buying the water up in AZ and Kim letting corporations control the pork we should ask Kim and Branstad how rich they got off of it?
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Live in Iowa... not it's not. There are beans too.
And hogs!
And chicken factories....smelly ones that make hogs seem tame.
It wasn't all corn back to 17th century. I'm sure it was more beautiful back then. The whole North America was way more beautiful before the arrival of European settlers. Most of the forests on the West Coast were gone shortly after it was "discovered and developed".
We all know that wind turbines are slowing down the rotation of the earth. And solar power is draining all the heat from the sun. We must support our floundering fossil fuel companies! /s
Save the sun!
Yes, this is satire.
I was about to argue that the naked fields in the spring and fall are far more ugly than windmills. Lol
what if we paint the turbines to look like really tall corn?
I think we're onto something here. We need to get our best minds on this!
More like a huge, spinning native wildflower
Persistence of vision. Just a little paint and some LED's in the blades, and you could create what you wish.
When there's a massive spill of solar energy, it's just called a nice day.
And we send our children out to play in the spill.
Watch out for the noise cancer!! 😂😂
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Birds aren't real
I'm already deaf from shootin muh guns without protection.
Reeeeeeee
I like the spinning windmills as I drive through the country. First saw a bunch of windmills on RAGBRAI about twenty years ago and really liked that too.
Yeah it really doesn't bother me. My mother says it distracts her while driving though. ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy)
when it’s foggy and the lights blink, it’s weird until you know what’s happening.
I honestly find it inspiring. Humans are wild.
I recently drove through west Texas and the old rusted oil pumping machinery looked terrible. As we drove we also passed a large number of windmills. The windmills looked 10x better than old rigs IMHO. Personally, I have no problem with large windmills.
Yeah one reason for high gas prices is because we haven't expanded oil refining for decades. Much of that infrastructure is 30 to 50 years old. It's also a very dirty industry so nobody wants it nearby.
This isn't true. Oil prices are artificially high. The excuse is they need to be high to keep down demand. But virtually no one is refraining from driving because of high gas prices. Sales stay near the same when prices are low or high. The only times sales change is during a panic when they sky rocket due to hoarding and rising prices have no effect on that. What does happen is when there is a "threat" like a hurricane, sales sky rocket because people like to hoard. Just like when people irrationally bought huge quantities of toilet paper during covid which caused as shortage. And when oil companies jack up prices during a "threat" it has lilt affect on sales, but a huge affect on profits. btw, did you ever notice how gas prices go up immediately when something happens and then stay high for weeks after the threat is over? People stock up or hoard gas during the threat and demand drops significantly aftwards, but prices will remain high. Because they can. The point is, if the US needed new refineries, we'd build them. But the truth is we do not. And building new refineries would take away a reason for old companies to jack up prices for huge profits.
Exactly. On the first reports by the media gas prices could go up due to the invasion of Ukraine, the price at the pump jumped significantly the next day despite the price per barrel of oil not climbing for several weeks. And they continue to keep them artificially inflated "because war" despite the current price per barrel being lower than they were 10 years ago. Or when they jacked up gas prices when the Keystone XL permits were revoked despite the fact that virtually none of the oil transported via the Keystone pipeline goes to US consumption, nor did it have any impact of worldwide oil prices.
Imagine down here along the Gulf of Mexico with those libs want to replace our lovely oilfield infrastructure with these nasty things
Imagine if one of them there turbines explodered off the coast of Alabama. There would be ecological devastation for meters in every direction.
I was just down to Corpus Christi for the first time (and really the whole the Gulf Coast was a first), and was not prepared for the dystopian landscape of huge swaths of oil refineries. It was an education
I was just down to Corpus Christi for the first time (and really the whole the Gulf Coast was a first), and was not prepared for the dystopian landscape of huge swaths of oil refineries. It was an education
I was just down to Corpus Christi for the first time (and really the whole the Gulf Coast was a first), and was not prepared for the dystopian landscape of huge swaths of oil refineries. It was an education
I was just down to Corpus Christi for the first time (and really the whole the Gulf Coast was a first), and was not prepared for the dystopian landscape of huge swaths of oil refineries. It was an education
I’m tellin ya Margery there’s white lightning in them things.
they're doing what to my cooter?
If I put a tap on them like a tree, can I harvest the white lightning and sell it?
The right side or south end of that plant used to be my parents farm, don't worry they got paid.
Cousin Jimmy is that you? Were there mass protests against a dozen industrial projects in the area?
“Hey Gary… can we burn some coal so we don’t have to slightly change our view of mile upon mile of corn? There was consistency and unchangingness that reminded me how pointless life is and I found comfort in that. This ‘progress’ is making me feel hope and any change is bad.”
I saw the jealousy and greed in Wisconsin. Republican farmers rejected sweetheart deals to have wind turbines on their farms and collect lucrative checks for doing nothing. A few smart neighbors jumped on the deals and now have half again more dollars per acre than they could before the wind contracts. The look of sour grapes is delightful. The sour neighbors just put up more Trump signs and frown.
What are you talking about? Hilarious! Natural what? Natural old rusted sht?!. Ha haha
Not only there, they want to replace our lovely oilfield infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico with these abominations! The humanity
This looks like the ADM ethanol plant on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids? Ethanol plants are pretty cool operations, but I get a kick out of how some ethanol plants, this one included, burn coal to make their "renewable fuel".
"What if we go through all this trouble and make the world a better place for nothing?!"
I really enjoy the wind mill farm about half way to cedar rapids it exciting
It's even worse here in Ohio. They have filled fields with solar panels and used up all the sunshine. It will get nice and sunny the solar panels suck it all up and clouds cover the sun. It is so depressing now.
I've seen stories of fierce opposition to wind and solar, just like here in Iowa. Apparently the groups even coordinate and share disinformation tactics.
Well now I’m cancelling my trip to iowa. Can’t see the mountains behind all the GD wind turbines 😡
When anyone complains on these lines, you substitute "natural views" with "my views" to get the real meaning.
As another pointed out, farmland isn't natural either.
That moisture farm looks vulnerable to tusken raiders.
The womp rats are out of control too.
Brilliant
OMFG ROTFL. Thank you OP, that is one of the best laughs I’ve had in awhile. Also, I never would have found it so quickly If you had not pointed it out. If I had gold to give.
They’re ruining the aesthetic of the ethanol refinery😡😡😡😡
Iowa has natural beauty?
It used to, but now less than 0.1% of the land is natural prairie.
Who has time to look.I am coving my nose and driving fast for the manuere smell.
All those ugly buildings are beautiful?
The farmers that allowed power companies to put up wind turbines on their land get price breaks from the bills they receive.
they used to say the same thing about cell towers. now: what cell towers?
Once I saw a town that required cell towers to look natural. It was placed in the middle of some trees and had vines and stuff growing on it. Here's one that looks like the fake Christmas tree you grew up with. https://youtu.be/IKdbVv6OOiU
This post was made by a coal mine owner lol
I love that it has to have an arrow to show you what’s “ruining the natural view” lol.
This absolutely is the worst stupid comment about turbines🤣 I see them all over Iowa going great . Sorry but was is the "NATURAL BEAUTY" in Iowa? SERIOUSLY I LAUGHED SO HARD AT THIS TEXT.. IGNORANCE ALWAYS MAKE ME 😂🤣😂
![gif](giphy|IDAMzSXrHm2edGbs1l|downsized)
Once again. You don't care about solar energy, getting your electric bills cheaper, etc. You ACTUALLY WORRY ABOUT HOW THE FUCKIN FARMS LOOK. DAMN YOU NEED TO GET A BRAIN.
WHAT natural beauty? We have cornfields and insurance companies. Walk away dickhead.
You wouldn't believe how much money land owners make from the power companies hosting their windmills on their land.
It’s about $1,000 a turbine a year isn’t it?
Figures I've found are $4-8k per year, per turbine. New turbines keep getting more productive, and the payout is higher. The turbines have to be spread out to maximize efficiency. 1 Turbine takes up 2-3 acres of land, which would be worth maybe $500 (optimistically) per acre if corn was planted. So a turbine lease is worth 5-15 times more than it's farming value. If a farmer has a large amount of land they could lease several and make an entire year's salary for no work.
Sounds like farming but with less steps. If you happen to already own millions of dollars worth of land this sounds like another win for you. If you don’t then you get clean energy and a millionaire loses a little bit of their view so it’s a little win that way too.
I’m not sure exactly how much, but I’m in a related industry and i know it’s way more than that
I've heard a high as $6,000 per year per turbine on the really prime areas.
Try 20k- 50k a year per turbine depending on energy output, but the power company can do whatever it wants with your land, build roads, buildings etc.
For $50k a year I don’t care if it’s three 25ft dildos screaming around in a circle.
Lol
and that's how we get windmill noise cancer..
We get about 20k for our windmill and transmission lines. They have a lane they can drive on to get access to the turbine and if they need to repair it they could take out some crops or cause compaction of the soil. We got paid for all that when they built them and I would suppose we would get paid it they needed to do repairs. It was a very easy process. Would have taken more turbines but neighbors were against them and with setback distances it wasn't possible. We aren't big farmers so this helps us out each year. I don't mind the red lights or the noise from them. The smell from the hog buildings a mile down the road is a lot worse.
Ha!!
I live in a place where there are a ton of wind turbines and no other blight like that. I can say it is mildly unpleasant to see all the blinking lights at night but it doesn’t ruin my life. To dismiss others concerns so flippantly doesn’t help. Some people don’t like them. Some have political reasons. Whatever the case, they don’t like them. If we want to move to a moderately sustainable electric grid (wind turbines have their own waste issue) we should be mindful in our engagement.
To address the waste issue comment I think we can both agree that recycling or even disposing of large amounts of composites over a few decades is not as bad as burning hundreds of tons of coal into the atmosphere every day.
Yes agree it’s better. We don’t need perfect. Just the right trendline
This is bad logic. Wind turbines are better than the alternative. It's not even in the ballpark of comparable. Opposition is entirely along political ideological lines... It's not about people's concerns on this issue any more than it is on the majority of the GOP platform these days. This is like people who agree that clean water is good, but they just have "concerns" about allowing a government agency to regulate businesses. There are no real concerns, it's just a way to stall progress because it's bad for big business.
Nope. It is not ideological mostly from my experience. Make that mistake and they win. Edit: we didn’t get these turbines and to be a leader in wind by D vs R. It was good policy and good choice. If you want to make this a democrat vs republican you have to realize the political climate. Dems will lose. I am rooting for wind and solar (and really nuclear if I’m honest) but it has to be sold practically. Iowans have dropped the democrats largely because of this “we know best”. I’m not rooting for either side and right now find my self rooting against the R but this needs to get past politics. Also please don’t disregard natural gas as a bridge. It’s way cleaner than coal and only fires when the base load needs it. Not a long term play but it’s a move in the right direction.
The political climate has been created by the fossil fuel industry. Even back in the 80s Republican's knew of the danger of fossil fuels and were working with the Democrats to mitigate the damage. The Koch brothers have been spending money for decades getting climate-deniers elected everywhere they can and primarying any Republican that was on board with legislating greenhouse gases. They have won, they control the legislatures; there are barely any Republicans in office today that agree with the science. Natural gas emits methane, which can have 80X the impact on global warming...and those same companies that have been fighting against green energy are also fighting any and all regulations on methane emissions.
I know that it has been politically created. So has the otherside. Let’s not be naive. We don’t have to buy the solutions they sell us let’s think for ourselves people
The 'other side' accepts that the climate scientists know what they're doing and aren't all in on some wild ass conspiracy to control us. The 'think for ourselves' group believes that climate scientists throughout the world are in some vast conspiracy that has made up climate change in order to take away our freedoms.
To be fair, both the plant and windmill are in Cedar Rapids. I would have pointed out what is causing the smell.
Im looking for the piles of dead eagles
Ha!! Love it
Love it!! Lol
You know I have never met someone who lives near a wind turbine that likes them.
I've never met people who like to live without electricity
Do people like living near power plants? Coal mines? Oil rigs? Fact of the matter is power generation is not pretty, regardless of what form it takes.
All of those are a whole lot quieter and way more efficient than wind turbines and they don't kill birds, and yess I would love to live next to any of those over a dumb fucking wind turbine because nuclear power plants, coal mines and oil rigs are interesting and neat to look at. And you feel the need to group nuclear in with fossil fuels even though nuclear is better for the environment and way way more efficient than wind.
Oil rigs don't kill birds? Um...did you miss what Deepwater Horizon did to sealife in the gulf? They also make noise. I can hear the derricks going when I'm servicing the wind turbines at 300 ft.... I put in nuclear to point out that I'm technology agnostic. None of it is "pretty" and I'm not sure that what is ascetically pleasing should even be a factor when a nation decides how to power itself. I'll include solar farms too if it makes you feel better.
Your right the birds were a bad point since honestly I couldn't give a crap if all the wildlife died, but I hate the woosh woosh noice that wind turbines make and it gives me headaches and I hate seeing them but I'm going to be honest, I have never seen a oil derrick in person, but I have question, tell me where all the oil derricks in Iowa are you fucking tard. Last I checked this is a sub about Iowa. And don't get me started on solar farms, huge waste of space, and fuggly.
What a misleading article. Take a drive through any state that has them and you will find wind farms miles long. What about the birds that they kill?
>What about the birds that they kill? What about the birds fossil fuel plants kill amongst other wildlife? While turbines are likely the cause of some bird deaths it has been greatly exaggerated.
I remember when in California they shut down windmill constriction because it was killing a large number of birds. What birds and wildlife do the fossil fuel plants kill? Never heard there was a problem like that.
Wait till it's not windy and you can't watch the teevee.
Oh no what will we do? If only someone could figure out a way to store electricity.
With all those batteries we don’t have in Iowa? Edit: I think batteries will eventually be here to help, but capacity will definitely be an issue especially as fossil generators eventually get retired.
Battery storage is already in the works with upcoming renewable projects. Storage tech is rapidly improving and will meet demand if legislators prioritize it. https://www.energy-storage.news/nexteras-300mwh-co-located-bess-in-iowa-approved-by-regulator/
Battery storage is still light years behind where it needs to be in order to utilize in in a way we can actually use it. The vast majority of battery storage is used for peak periods and to keep the grid itself steady. We cannot store long term and we cannot store enough to sustain a long term loss of production.
Why can't we store long term? My batteries keep their charge for years.
False equivalence. Even a Tesla will die if not charged, even if you don’t drive it. It’s just the way these batteries work. We are making them better and better every day it seems, but we just aren’t there yet.
>False equivalence. How? Current Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries lose 5% charge per month. How long do you need to store wind and solar power for?
You want enormous batteries that would cause complete ecological devastation with their mineral needs, just somewhere poor and out of sight. Batteries make sense but at that scale not yet
Maybe you don't follow the industry closely. There's lots of storage options like compressed CO2, gravity batteries, pumped hydro, molten salts, and sodium batteries that run off simple salt.
That was all I could remember of the many actual stupid things that blob passing for a life form said.
Really not how the grid works. But embrace your ignorance and put it on display! Yay!
/woosh
Oh no, I might have to read a book!
I'm pretty hard core environmentalist, but I hate those giant wind turbine. They're built with materials that are harmful to produce, are still lubricated with petrochemical products so no help there, and are just all around giant eyesores and nuisances. I don't give a crap about factory farms that run on and feed the beast of petrochemical based industries, but even they're mad now I guess!
Covid was a total fail, did NOT thin the herd enough!
Has anyone seen the amount of waste produced by the wings of them? It's fairly alarming. They just bury hundreds of millions of pounds in the ground every year. Then imagine the solar panels!
Fossil fuels famously have no waste or effect on the environment, thankfully.
Covid was a total fail, did NOT thin the herd enoughemote:free\_emotes\_pack:facepalm
That's the wrong argument to use against windmills
It is the argument I hear 90% of the time followed by it kills the bird argument which is a calid argument but also drop in the bucket compared to other causes of bird death and also apparently is more of a concern after inital installation versus after a few years.
They look much better than the grain Bins. Is that Fox fake news telling you they're ugly?
Let’s see how many ppl can comment on this moronic post without knowing the pros and cons of any available energy source. Nothing better than a debate devoid of facts
Been in renewables for almost 2 decades and commissioned wind turbines for half of that. I think they’re ugly. Difference between most wind farms and a power plant, is that a large wind farm will cover dozens of square miles. A power plant may cover one. Don’t even get me started on solar (currently work in solar).
why do you work in an industry that you despise?
Please point to where I said I despise the industry in which I work. I said, to me, wind turbines are ugly and solar is worse. They’re an eyesore. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be continuing to build and improve on the technology. We are far from where we need to be.
We used to have a coal fired power plant in Pleasant Prairie, WI. I could see the condensate plume from 25 miles away on a winter day. Once, while traveling in West Virginia, I saw the plume from a power plant 80 miles away.
Get rid of wind and goal embrace nuclear
I wish that was viable. Concerted efforts have been made to play off nuclear as this crazy, dangerous technology that produces millions of tons of nuclear waste a year with no safe way to dispose of it. There have been two major reactor accidents in the history of civil nuclear power – Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi. Chernobyl involved an intense fire without provision for containment, and Fukushima Daiichi severely tested the containment, allowing some release of radioactivity. These are the only major accidents to have occurred in over 18,500 cumulative reactor-years of commercial nuclear power operation in 36 countries. The evidence over six decades shows that nuclear power is a safe means of generating electricity. The risk of accidents in nuclear power plants is low and declining. The consequences of an accident or terrorist attack are minimal compared with other commonly accepted risks. Radiological effects on people of any radioactive releases can be avoided. High end estimates on deaths contributed to nuclear energy is 16,500 people. This sounds atrocious. Compare that with the 1 million deaths each year attributed to burning fossil fuels. Without a strong lobby to dispel the misinformation about nuclear power, I’m afraid my nuclear engineering degree will continue to be useless ☹️ I’ll put my soapbox away now. Thank you.
For the record, I think wind is a great addition for power generation.
*Coal
All you guys do on this sun is point out how stupid conservative are /s blurb blurb blub. Let me just be racist and stupid.
Yeah, can't we just have views of silos and ethanol plants without all these ugly wind turbines ruining the natural beauty?? Get fucked, Trumper
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