• Ban Can Blow Clean Energy Out Of Shasta County

To follow up on our April 12th and May 7th emails, on May 12th, the county Planning Commission adopted a resolution with draft ordinance language recommending the Board of Supervisors prohibit large wind energy systems (wind farms) in Shasta County. Wind farms are a source of cheap, clean, renewable energy and fight climate change. In our area, we experience climate change as more severe droughts, heat waves, and wildfires. A blanket prohibition of future wind farm projects without considering their site specific benefits and drawbacks is not reasonable.

Wind power benefits

Consideration of any proposed wind power project should take into account that wind power provides many benefits:


  • Substantially reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) discharge.

  • Reduced air pollution.

  • Reduced water use and water pollution.

  • An improved economy.

  • Energy independence

  • Increase energy and national security.

  • Substantially reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) discharge.

    Wind farms generate much less CO2 (a powerful warming gas) than fossil fuel generated power (oil, gas, and coal). In fact wind farms produce only 2-3% of the CO2 of a similarly sized natural gas power plant.

  • Reduced air pollution

    According to the Environmental Protection Agency, power produced by natural gas plants, those most likely to be replaced by wind farms in California, creates many unhealthy gasses such as nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, methane, volatile organic compounds, and others. Estimates are that wind farms cause about 70 times fewer deaths over their lifetime than natural gas power, primarily because of reduced air pollution. Power produced from coal is even deadlier. New research indicates that deaths from fossil fuel power may be greater than previously thought. It's inarguable that wind farms save lives compared to fossil fuel power.

  • Redused water use and water pollution.

    During their operation, wind farms use essentially no water. Fossil fuel power, on the other hand, requires water to refine crude oil and produce steam for turbine operation. A staggering 41% of the water used in the United States, or 133 billion gallons per day (that flow rate would fill Lake Shasta 33 times in a year), is used to produce fossil fuel power.
    Exploration for natural gas and other fossil fuels may contaminate both surface water and groundwater.

  • An improved economy

    Wind farm construction and operation create jobs and also increase county tax revenue. Renewable energy project developers often provide financial incentives for local agencies. Click here for an economic benefits case study of a Colorado wind farm project.

  • Energy independence.

    Fossil fuels are both a limited and a limiting resource. There is only enough natural gas in the US to last about 90 years. We have much more coal than natural gas, but well before either natural gas or coal are depleted we must turn to clean energy sources to ensure a livable climate. Renewable energy such as wind is an ideal alternative. Wind is inexhaustible and clean.

  • Increase energy and national security.

    According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, renewable energy promotes energy security by protecting against “weather events, cyber attacks, and global market disturbances.”

Potential Wind Power Impacts

Wind power projects have environmental consequences, like all infrastructure. But those consequences must be addressed in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act. A CEQA Environmental Impact Report (EIR) requires project proponents to investigate 15 different categories of potential environmental impacts for any development. The project must then be reviewed by planning staff with public input, and then approved or disapproved by both the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors, again with public input. 


  • Conclusion

    The consequences of a new project cannot be projected until we know its details. This is the critical issue with the proposed wind farm prohibition. All wind projects will be unique in their benefits and impacts. The county should not eliminate potential projects prior to their proposal, without any project information about the scope of mitigations. Even if a new proposed project presented negative issues, possible additional or new mitigations could reduce the impact of those issues. Because wind power is not a mature industry, additional methods of addressing wind power environmental impacts may be developed in the future.

  • NEXT STEP

    The Board of Supervisors will vote whether to adopt the proposed prohibition in the near future. They have not yet scheduled a hearing for this issue, but NSCA will keep you informed. Please email the Board of Supervisors (clerkoftheboard@co.shasta.ca.us) or call them (530-225-5557) to let them know you oppose a blanket county-wide wind farm prohibition, and each individual project deserves to be considered on its site specific merits. Also, you should be aware that comments at the board meeting are always a powerful option, if you feel comfortable doing that.