That’s what I was hoping and why I wanted to get the word out about the Knox County case.

DDB

If that were ever the case, I don’t think there would be either, but they don’t produce commercially competitive power. And it’s a little worse than just being subsidized. In the Pacific Northwest in 2011, BPA was forced to put wind power on the grid even though there was already a glut, in which case someone else had to be paid to take the surplus. If the power was not put on the grid, wind farmers couldn’t get tax credits, and that’s the only thing that makes their business model work:

The supply of wind power has dramatically expanded during the past decade, spurred by federal tax incentives and state requirements to buy renewable electricity.

Bonneville, which operates the regional transmission lines and sells hydro power from federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers, has been at the forefront of bringing wind power into the system

For Bonneville, the toughest challenges have come in the spring and early summer when snow melts increase river flows and blustery winds boost wind production. Also, to protect migrating salmon, more water is run through the turbines rather than over the dams.

Earlier this year, those factors contributed to a big glut of power in regional markets. It then crafted an “environmental dispatch” policy that could be used to curtail the wind-power production to help manage the system…

Bonneville officials, wind-power producers and others have been involved in negotiations to reach a settlement, and Bonneville Administrator Steve Wright hoped that FERC would hold off on a ruling until that happened.

“We are surprised and very disappointed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would choose at this moment to render a decision when it is aware that we have been urged by many members of the Northwest Congressional delegation to settle this issue, and when settlement discussions are proceeding in good faith,” he said.

The federal ruling found that Bonneville policy “significantly diminishes” open access to power transmission. Under the ruling, Bonneville officials have 90 days to come up with new rules that do not discriminate against wind producers. Bonneville also could ask FERC to reconsider the decision, according to a Bonneville spokesman.

Wind generators lose their government tax credits when they shut down because those benefits are pegged to electricity production.

The FERC decision appears to put pressure on Bonneville to take wind power even when additional supply will glut the power markets.

In extreme cases, the markets shift into “negative pricing,” when BPA must pay power users to accept the electricity.

The BPA had argued that it shouldn’t have to pay negative prices to help out wind-power producers.

The glut of power is seasonal; the peaks of wind and hydro generation in the Pacific Northwest occur at about the same time every year, and for the same reason. The wind energy is simply not needed in the area where it can be generated, and the tax incentives don’t allow the power to be stored by pumping water back into reservoirs, and there isn’t a cheaper method of storage at scale.

A lot of people get that wind is erratic and when you don’t have enough wind power you have to backstop it with something else. What fewer people realize is that wind over-production requires something on the grid that can be shut down.

The easiest things to shut down and restart are hydro and natural gas generation. So wind power displaces hydro from the grid when it’s running, and is backstopped by natural gas when it’s not, for a net increase in carbon dioxide emissions.

All because of the incentive structure for wind power…

“The Project:
The Fountain Wind Project, a proposed wind energy facility, is located 1 mile west of the existing Hatchet Ridge Wind Project and 6 miles west of Burney, in eastern Shasta County.

“Shasta County’s Opposition:
Shasta County supervisors [in unanimous votes] have repeatedly rejected the project, citing concerns about wildfire risk, potential impacts to the Pit River Tribe’s sacred lands, and concerns about the project’s potential to impede aerial firefighting efforts.

“Local Ordinance:
Shasta County has a local ordinance that bans large-scale wind farms, which the county has used as a basis for its opposition to the project.

“California Energy Commission (CEC):
The California Energy Commission (CEC) is now considering the project, potentially overruling Shasta County’s decision under Assembly Bill 205 (AB 205) which allows the state to consider approving projects that the County has rejected.

“Legal Action:
Shasta County, along with the Pit River Tribe, filed a lawsuit against the CEC to challenge the CEC’s consideration of the project, but the lawsuit was paused in October.”

True, it may at one time have been “negligence” but I think it’s been converted—seamlessly?—to a racket; to actual criminality…such that the more innocuous phenomenon of “waste”, bad enough as it is, has in its latest incarnation been used, intentionally, to COVER UP—there’s that “methodology” again!—the far more serious (and now ubiquitous) felony.

(Just another Democratic Party—RESISTANCE, TRANSFORMATIONAL—tactic that’s gone viral…)

True, one might object that both parties are guilty of such corrupt practices; but the Democrats seem to have turned it into an art form—or rather a raison d’etre…

In footnote 6, the judge wrote, “there’s no mechanism under Nebraska or federal law that prevents Knox County from banning commercial wind farms, so long as there is a conceivably or hypothetically rational reason to do so.”

I write this post to inform the wider public of this statement of the law. I know some states have banned wind farms, but I don’t think many counties have. I think it would be very difficult to pass a wind and solar farm ban in Nebraska, but many counties would do so. My sense is that counties didn’t think they had such authority. Many counties enacted moratoriums and different regulations have been passed, but there are no outright bans in Nebraska counties.

Judge Gerrard is only the second person to serve on both the Nebraska Supreme Court and the federal district court. When he was on the Nebraska Supreme Court, he wrote many opinions about land use and zoning. And I read them all. He’s really an expert in this area. The Knox County case deals mostly with federal constitutional law and there are interesting statements about due process, equal protection, the Contracts Clause, the Takings Clause and special legislation. Other lawyers around the nation might find this opinion to be useful in opposing Big Wind and Big Solar.

The best example for the other lawyers, and counties, is that a well-prepared advocate can go up against the Big Money Firms and win when his case is legally as well as economically correct.

“Over the years, I learned how inefficient solar and wind energy are and how it raises prices for consumers. People like the fantasy of “free” power. I think most people are poorly informed about the economics of Green energy.”

It’s only “free” if you totally ignore all the negative aspects, and the MSM has been very helpful in keeping those out of the public’s view.

“I, David D. Begley, personally stopped the federal government from spending $390 million that it doesn’t have and would have to borrow and add to our $37 trillion debt. I’m no Elon Musk, but I did what I could. You are all welcome. Glad to help.”

If more people had been able, and willing, to do the same thing, we wouldn’t need Musk and DOGE now.

See Neo’s post on the Epitome of Government Waste.

Cornhead’s blog would be an excellent addition to our hostess’s blogroll.
Neo? Neo…?