AN EXCERPT: The Interior Department is leasing vast acreages of public land for the development of wind and solar projects. These aren’t mom & pop proposals to build rooftop panels; instead, they are being planned and constructed on a scale that should stagger the sensibilities of anyone with an environmental conscience. They represent the wholesale destruction of vast areas of the West…The driving force–an economic one–behind wind development is the Wind Production Tax Credit . It was due to expire at the end of 2012. But a last minute deal to extend the tax credit kept it alive. A letter supporting the Wind Production Tax Credit certainly helped. It was signed by The Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Wilderness Society, Defenders of Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society. And so, while there is still serious debate that these “green” developments can even begin to make a dent in our insatiable hunger for energy, the subsequent environmental damage to public lands cannot be understated. And yet suddenly, environmentalists don’t seem to notice…or care.
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