LTE: Renewable energy addresses urgent issue

I do not personally care whether one landowner or another either agrees to lease land to wind energy companies for wind generators or not.  But to say “wind energy has to be one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated on the human race” has to be one of the biggest examples of “fake news” ever perpetrated on Iowans.  

Renewable energy is here to stay—it has to be.  We cannot go on polluting the atmosphere with carbon emissions indefinitely without suffering the consequences of our actions.  Polluted air and polluted water need to be addressed and not tomorrow, now.  Wind turbines have an expected life of 20 to 25 years and then there will be a cost involved in disposing of the generating equipment, but this is minute in comparison to the amount of carbon required to generate the same amount of electricity each wind turbine produces over its life span.

It seems to be the height of hypocrisy when the attack on renewable energy comes in the form of an attack on the subsidies the government offers that encourage individuals and corporations to “do the right thing” by building structures to take advantage of what is essentially a free resource – the wind.  The same applies to the sun.  Subsidies?  Big oil has received subsidies for many years longer than those received by the renewable energy sector of our economy, all the while being very profitable.  If wind energy needs “to stand on their own,” that same thought should apply to big oil and, by the way, to farmers.  Direct payments and subsidies for crop insurance should also cease – after all, these have been part of the farm program for more than 30 years – shouldn’t the farm economy also “stand on its own”?