Wind Power for Old Oil Rigs
Solar Access.com

Talk about a transformation, a unique arrangement off the coast of Louisiana could soon allow wind turbines to be placed on derelict off-shore oil rigs.

Backers of a plan to generate electricity using wind turbines mounted on off-shore Louisiana oil rigs are developing a 10 MW pilot project, called Grand Vent, with three rigs off the state's southwest coast.

Herman Schellstede of Wind Energy Systems Technology said the company hopes to have one of three turbines in place by the end of the year. Federal regulations require oil companies to remove inactive offshore platforms within one year after they cease production, and removal costs can go as high as US $40 million.

Using a dormant platform for wind energy can prevent costly decommissioning and give the rig new life. Public Service Commission officials are working on a wind energy study with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.

Using an existing oil platform for a wind turbine also cuts out the high costs associated with construction of off-shore wind turbine footings by using an existing structure that can no longer satisfy its intended purpose.

“Grand Vent will show whether the combination of consistent offshore wind, modern wind-turbine technology and unused oil platforms can produce clean and inexpensive power for Louisiana,” Public Service Commissioner Frank Campbell said. “I am greatly encouraged by what we have learned so far. Louisiana is a leader in offshore energy production, and generating energy from wind may continue and extend that tradition well into the future.”

Sierra Club report attacks Bush administration wildlands policies

Padre Island National Seashore, threatened by BNP Petroleum’s “aggressive drilling campaign” is one of 25 places highlighted in the Sierra Club report, Wildlands at Risk. The report is a sampling of wild places across the country, many of them popular vacation spots, representing the kinds of threats America’s wildlands face from Bush administration policies, according to a Sierra Club press release.

“The stories in this report show the scope and magnitude of the Bush administration’s assault on America’s wild heritage,” said Rusty Middleton of the Sierra Club in Texas. “The administration’s policies are reversing decades of progress on public lands protection and could destroy forever some of our most cherished hiking, hunting, fishing and camping spots.”

Just last week, the Bush administration proposed revoking protections for America’s last remaining wild forests, replacing the Roadless Area Conservation Rule with a system that forces governors to petition the Forest Service to not construct roads in or otherwise develop inventoried wild roadless forest areas.

According to the Sierra club, this decision could compromise the last pieces of roadless forest in Sam Houston National Forest. The administration also indicated that it intends to permanently exempt the national forests in Alaska from the wild forest protections. The Sierra Club states that the administration has also moved forward with tens of thousands of new oil and gas leases, many of them in once protected and environmentally sensitive places, as part of a departure from the traditional “multiple use” principle that formerly guided public land management.