The Truth About Developer Claims:
Job Creation: A Spanish economist concluded last year that for every job created in green energy, 2.2 jobs are lost elsewhere and the price per job is very high. More importantly, although developers claim hundreds of construction jobs are created by these developments, those jobs do not go to local citizens. Instead, history has demonstrated in Dekalb, IL and other locations that the construction workers hired to erect the turbines often come from hundreds of miles away. Moreover, according to Stanley Pruss, former Director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth, many of the turbines within Michigan’s only operating wind park were constructed by illegal aliens.
Tax Revenue: Wind developers have attempted to sell this project to the citizens by promising millions in new tax revenue. Considering the fact that the wind developers will receive millions in tax credits from the so-called federal “Stimulus” bill, it appears that the developers are doing nothing more than giving the citizens back a portion of the taxes they have already paid.
Furthermore, the tax revenue promised by the wind developers is in serious jeopardy as a result of Michigan Senate Bill 34, which seeks to repeal the personal property provisions of Michigan’s General Tax Act. If enacted, Senate Bill 34 would eliminate the main source of tax revenue generated by industrial wind turbines. Notably, Ohio has already enacted laws excluding wind turbines and other “green energy” materials from personal and real property taxes.
Wind Energy Inefficiency: Dr. Gordon Fulks, PhD., has concluded “[w]indmills are perhaps the worst boondoggle of them all because they require much more high quality energy to manufacture, install, maintain, and back up than [they] will ever produce.” John Rowe, CEO of Exelon, who is developing wind projects in Michigan has stated, “[i]nexpensive natural gas produces cheaper, cleaner electricity than any or all of the alternatives that I know.”