‘Part of the Problem’

Editor:

In her letter (Mailbox, Nov. 7) Mary Sanger identifies the Terra-Gen wind farm as “part of the solution.” Indeed, as demonstrated in the Humboldt County Planning Commission hearing Thursday night, the opposing opinions are framing themselves as a “Sophie’s Choice” dilemma: Protect our precious local habitat and culture vs. make a sacrifice and be part of the solution.

But Terra-Gen is not part of the solution. It is a subsidiary of Energy Capital Partners. Other subsidiaries include Furie Operating Alaska, Targa Resources, Triton Power Partners, U.S. Development Group Summit Midstream Partners and more. These companies all engage in fossil fuel extraction: fracking, pipelines, crude oil terminals, shale oil, gas extraction platforms in the Arctic, you name it. They are all looking for opportunities to expand and the political climate for this is favorable.

Profits from Terra-Gen’s services to Humboldt can flow right back into these other subsidiaries. They might be subsidizing the administration’s plan to open the Arctic for drilling or financing a private security firm to protect a pipeline. In this way, we will be contributing to climate breakdown. We will be part of the problem.

The objection to Terra-Gen is not simply a repudiation of the corporate ideology. It is a recognition that the net effects of the wind farm project will likely increase greenhouse gases.

Far better to humbly fly less, carpool, make trails, take care of our people, continue doggedly in our attempts to influence national policy and wrack our brains for more solutions.

Ellen Taylor, Petrolia

This article appears in Green verses green.