CFACT student chapters are thriving on college campuses from coast to coast. Our bright young collegians are speaking out on issues of energy, environment, and individual liberty at public and government forums alike — and making their voices heard.
Photo Credit: Greg Johnson | Cowboy State Daily, used with permission
Maggie Immen, one of our Driessen Fellows at the University of Wyoming, recently presented hard-hitting facts on how wind turbines are a threat to birds before her state’s Public Service Commission. She did it dressed as an eagle.
The media loved it! She got a full write-up in the Cowboy State Daily showcasing her stunt.
At stake in Wyoming is a proposed 30 percent hike in electricity prices being sought by the utility called Rocky Mountain Power (RMP). The rate increase, according to RMP, is necessary to pay for the escalating costs attributed to new wind power being deployed throughout the state. Wyoming, rich in fossil fuels, used to get 97% of its power from coal and gas, but that has dropped to 70% in recent years. It was this rate hike to fund more wind power that Maggie was protesting. We now await the Commission’s final decision.
Meanwhile, on the East Coast, CFACT students in Maryland and Virginia weighed in with public testimony opposing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) stamp of approval for two proposed wind farms 10 miles offshore of Ocean City, Maryland. Jamahl Evans, a CFACT Driessen Fellow from Old Dominion, took the lead in offering testimony. He stated during the online hearing, “Despite substantial subsidies, inflation has driven up the cost of building these steel wind towers to such a degree that companies have abandoned projects mid-build. To bail out these failing companies would require major electricity rate increases. This places an undue burden on the average and lower-income families in America, who are already struggling with rising costs of living.”
Of course, our student interns weren’t the only ones at CFACT taking aim at Big Wind over the past couple of weeks. I, too, had the honor of offering my testimony to BOEM against a ridiculous offshore wind proposal in Oregon. That proposal called for employing flimsy “floating wind” turbine technology to provide a pitiful amount of unreliable electricity generation to that state. You can read the full story about this and also find my comments HERE at cfact.org.
Biden Administration officials are beginning to discover that tremendous numbers of citizens are now emboldened to stand up in opposition to their irresponsible push for renewable energy expansion.
Best of all, the numbers keep growing, and they’re from diverse political affiliations.
For our part, CFACT is dedicated to providing the policy expertise and grassroots creativity needed to help the public not just push back but, one by one, score important energy victories that count.