Tony Abbott’s wind energy witch-hunt elicits one single ice-age dooms-dayer

The Coalition government’s latest witch-hunt against wind energy has not produced a lot of fertile fodder for the anti-renewables brigade. In fact, after a month it has elicited a single contribution – from a pro-nuclear dooms-dayer who says nuclear energy will be helpful to keep us warm in the impending ice age.

No, seriously. Nuclear supporters and climate deniers often – but not always – go hand in hand. But Alan Scott, the only one of 20 million Australians so far motivated enough to contribute to the 9th Senate inquiry into wind farms – the Select Committee on wind turbines – takes it to a new level.

Wind energy, Scott says, “can never deliver reliable power and can’t even deliver significant unreliable power without massive installations across every landscape, a situation which will never happen,” he says, forgetting that wind energy accounts for nearly 40 per cent of South Australia’s annual demand.

Why would it never happen? Because, Scott says, “before this point could be reached the few who are blighted with the presence of these monstrosities today will become the many, and they will rise up and bring down the towers.” He must be talking about Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey and his comment about “offensive” wind farms.

Scott says we should be burning more coal and gas, and generating more electricity from hydro. “I omit nuclear power from the above list only because I could be accused of having a very minor vested interest, but mark my words, it will become part of the mix as we inevitably slip into the next glacial period.”

Where is this “glacial period” going to come from?

From a UN plot, of course.

“There needs to be a recognition that there never was any science behind the demonisation of carbon dioxide. It has been a scam from day one, dreamed up as a means of gaining unfettered revenues for the United Nations,” Scott writes, echoing a whole bunch of stuff he could have read in extreme right wing blogs or in The Australian newspaper, from Tony Abbott’s main business advisor, Maurice Newman.

“The time has come for Australian politicians from all warring camps to speak the truth to their electors, rather than mouthing the party lines handed down to them by their United Nations masters,” Scott continues.  “The assumption that the great unwashed are stupid and can’t be told the truth is a false assumption.

“We Australians intuitively know that our politicians of all ilk are selling us down the river as slaves to the New World Order. The first true leader who steps forward and admits that the public has been hoodwinked will sweep all opposition before him (or perhaps her).”

Thankfully, Scott does recognise wind energy does have its uses, even if he has got it completely wrong about life cycle emissions.

“In whole of life terms these wind farms are a net negative from a power generation an emissions perspective. Perhaps there only positive is that in whole of life terms they generate more CO2 than coal fired power and thus may help in a minuscule way to feed to feed tomorrow’s population in a cooling world.”

But, before we label Scott as an isolated extremist, it’s worth considering what the Senate committee itself would make of it. The committee was established by cross-benchers, with the emphatic and unanimous support of Tony Abbott’s Coalition government.

Indeed, committee chairman John Madigan – like many of the other committee members – might have written Scott’s submission himself. Madigan has argued that “CO2 is not a pollutant” and that “wind farms will not deliver the power required to drive us forward either in the short or long term”.

Deputy chair Bob Day says rising CO2 levels is driving increased grain crops, and accuses wind farm operators of being “rent seekers”. In this speech he said of Direct Action: “$2.5bn of taxpayers money spent on reducing carbon dioxide to stop so-called global warming while Arctic and Antarctic sea ice is growing. Growing, not shrinking. It’s bizarre.”

A third member is Senator David Leyonhjelm, who is advised by Max Rheese, who has described climate change as a hoax, says wind power won’t save the plant, and ‘Australia’s great competitive advantage is low-cost power from low-cost coal.”

Another Committee member, Coalition Senator Chris Back, says wind turbines have adverse health impacts from as far as 10kms away. “Ewes and cows become very agitated and will leave their offspring in fits of panic if they are in the vicinity of operating turbines,” he said in a speech in 2012.

Another member Coalition Senator Mike Cannavan, wrote in The Australian that Australia already has too much renewable energy, and “Australia’s renewable energy policies could simply be titled “Robin Hood visits Bizarro World” — they steal from the poor and give to the rich.”  In another article for the Coalition’s newsletter he wrote: “Windmills have been around for centuries ….. and they are still not economically viable.”

Ah, the Abbott government at work!

Comments

12 responses to “Tony Abbott’s wind energy witch-hunt elicits one single ice-age dooms-dayer”

  1. Pedro Avatar
    Pedro

    Tony Abbott should be happy he can count on at least one definite vote.

  2. Bob_Wallace Avatar
    Bob_Wallace

    Holy tinfoil millinery, Batman!

    I didn’t know you folks had some of those nutbags down there. I thought we had them all in America#1. I thought your problem was just simpletons in the employee of the coal industry.

    1. Ken Dyer Avatar
      Ken Dyer

      Struth, Bob Wallace, not only are they nutbags, they are also windbags who actively contribute to Australia having the highest level of CO2 per capita in the Western World.
      Many among us are valiantly fighting back, not only wanting more wind farms but with rooftop solar, and counting the days to the next election.

  3. coomadoug Avatar
    coomadoug

    In 1900 there was a man in London. His name was Donald Keays. They called him Donkey. He run a campaign against cars. His main argument was that the horse dung in the city prevented the bubonic plague and predicted a million deaths should cars replace horses. His argument has more merit then this anti wind argument list.

    1. Doug Cutler Avatar
      Doug Cutler

      Actually some grain of truth there. During the European plagues, it appears people who worked in and around horses had a much lower mortality rate, the smell of horse sweat acting as a kind of flea repellant. Perhaps horse dung works similarly.

      1. coomadoug Avatar
        coomadoug

        Its a complex statistic. I can also suggest, that television causes heart disease. Active people don’t watch it.
        Wind turbines cause 80 different serious illness.You will have to do a lot of work to prove these things wrong. But I would accept the idea that it’s crappy stats. I was thinking of starting a web site called “crappy stats”. But the government already have severl.

        1. Doug Cutler Avatar
          Doug Cutler

          Just for the record, my observation was intended solely as a curious aside. I actually support renewable energy.

  4. Macabre Avatar
    Macabre

    It took me a while to see where you were going with this one but I finally got there. It is simply a reminder that the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

    I used to believe the right wing of politics were a sensible but unempathetic lot – pro-business and confident in the idea that a strong economy would provide for all. I have no idea if this was ever the case but it is certainly not the case now – the COALition has sold its soul to vested interests – betting the farm on an outdated fuel source that is less and less in demand, at the expense of renewable technologies which clearly represent the future.

  5. Cartoonmick Avatar
    Cartoonmick

    Renewables are the future, and must not be condemned to the past.

    Impeding development of renewables is the way Neanderthals pay homage to their God, the big end of town.

    A simple pollution solution is in this cartoon . . .

    https://cartoonmick.wordpress.com/editorial-political/#jp-carousel-917

    Cheers
    Mick

  6. Alan Baird Avatar
    Alan Baird

    The far-right discussion detailed above has all the familiar codswallop. It doesn’t matter how febrile the argument, the Oz will always give it a go. They forget that by giving oxygen to truly whacko ideas such as illness from wind turbines they totally trash their argument. More enthusiasm but less reason. I still think it was hilarious when they got caught out by a letter to the editor complaining about two Labor figures AND John Howard. They printed the letter MINUS JOHN HOWARD! Oops! Of course, they launched an even bigger campaign against Aunty for being guilty of… wait for it… BIAS!

  7. Marcus Hicks Avatar
    Marcus Hicks

    This moron, Scott, needs to visit King Island. Their single wind farm-at Huxley Hill-reliably provides around 50% of their total energy needs….thanks to a little thing called a Vanadium Redox Battery facility.

    http://soer.justice.tas.gov.au/2009/copy/7/index.php

  8. john Avatar
    john

    Who gives air time to these idiots?

Get up to 3 quotes from pre-vetted solar (and battery) installers.