Offshore Wind Farm wallpaper, Wind related energy gearing up in Michigan

Offshore Wind Farm wallpaper. Off the coast of Northern Europe.

Wind turbine firm to create 100 jobs in Eaton Rapids

A Rochester company expects to create 100 clean energy jobs in the next 1 1/2 years in Eaton Rapids. URV USA LLC was awarded a $3.5 million grant and $500,000 loan from federal stimulus funds to create a foundry that would produce castings for wind turbine components.
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Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Friday announced nine recipients of the loans and grants, which are part of the federal Clean Energy Advanced Manufacturing program.
To supply wind energy firm

“This Recovery Act investment links Michigan’s strong manufacturing roots to alternative energy technology that will help us compete in the global economy while creating jobs right here in Eaton Rapids,” U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, said in a statement.

Also from Michigan – 3 wind farms to open in Michigan

The new projects — in Lenawee County and Michigan’s Thumb — are expected to increase the state’s wind power capacity by 61% to 374 megawatts. That would generate electricity for more than 84,000 households.

6 groups file first suit to halt wind farm – Allege ‘terrible toll’ on protected birds, whales

A legal challenge to the federal approval of Cape Cod’s proposed offshore wind farm was filed yesterday, the first of an expected flurry of lawsuits attempting to stop the construction of the 130-turbine project in Nantucket Sound.

Six groups, from California to Cape Cod, filed the suit in federal district court in Washington, arguing that the controversial project will “exact a terrible toll’’ on federally protected migratory birds and possibly whales. The 30-page lawsuit says federal officials failed to collect data on the project’s impact on bird migration and whales and refused to adopt protective measures for the rare roseate tern and piping plover.

“If there is a tinge of green on projects like mass transit or alternative energy, [people often] have a knee-jerk reaction it is all positive and this is simply not true,’’ said Kyla Bennett, a biologist and lawyer who is New England director of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, one of the plaintiffs.

The developers of the project, Cape Wind Associates, said the lawsuits were expected and groundless.

“If Cape Wind was bad for birds, we wouldn’t have the support of Mass Audubon and if it was bad for whales, we wouldn’t have the support of Oceana and Greenpeace,’’ said Mark Rodgers, Cape Wind’s spokesman.

Not that it matters, but I don’t have a strong opinion about the Cape Cod project one way or the other. Wind power is suitable for some areas and not others. Both sides seem headed for their day in court so we’ll see in this case once the evidence is in.

Nine in 10 Americans eat too much salt: CDC

Nine out of 10 Americans eat too much salt with most of them getting more than twice the recommended amount, according to a survey by U.S. government researchers.

A History of Major Oil Spills. You’ll need Flash to view the story.

Storm could be latest problem in spill cleanup. It is not a given the storm will reach the Gulf . From this story and others it also seem that BP’s plan is to finish a new well which is supposed to take some of the pressure off the leaking one. Once that is done they will once again try to use fill mud to stop the leak and then fill it with cement to form a permanent seal.

Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoes bill to open oil spill records

BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. Bobby Jindal rejected a bill Friday that would have required him to make public and to preserve all his office’s documents involving the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.