By Terry Weiner, Desert Protective Council

November 23, 2012 (San Diego)—There is a real danger that Production Tax Credits (PTCs) for industrial wind projects will be extended. They are due to expire at year’s end, but Congress may vote soon on a proposal to extend those credits. Extension of PTCs could be surreptitiously attached as a rider to the upcoming congressional budget bill. 

If you want to protect our mountains, deserts, scenic and rural areas, wildlife and Native American cultural sites, please join me immediately in asking your members of Congress not to renew tax credits for these large-scale projects remote from places where the energy will be used.

There are much cleaner, less destructive, more efficient ways to meet our nation’s energy needs!

By Miriam Raftery

November 12, 2012 (Boulevard)—At the latest Boulevard Planning Group meeting, community members including Native Americans shared heart-wrenching stories of how the nation's quest for renewable energy is upending their lives, dividing their communities,imperiling their health, and threatening their futures.

As in Ocotillo, where a wind project has anguished tribal members and residents with destruction of cultural and environmental resources, the community of Boulevard now faces an onslaught of massive "green" energy projects on public, tribal and private lands. 

8 of 11 awards recognize ECM's in-depth coverage of energy issues in our region

By Miriam Raftery

October 23, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – Continuing our proud tradition, East County Magazine was once again among the top recipients of honors at tonight’s San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards.  All entries were in the Daily Newspapers and Websites category, going up against the major print newspapers and online news sites in our region.

The majority of the honors recognized ECM's in-depth coverage of the impacts of major energy projects, including industrial wind turbines, on local rural, mountain and desert communities. ECM editor Miriam Raftery won nine awards, including a first place award in general news for Silence of the Lambs: U.S. Government authorizes killing of endangered bighorns in path of wind project.   Raftery and ECM intern Mia Myklebust shared an additional first place award in the public service/consumer advocacy category for Jacumba: A town surrounded. That story focused on the impacts of major energy projects on a small rural community.

Scroll down to see our full list of winners and read the winning entries.

By Miriam Raftery

October 1, 2012 (Ocotillo) – “This project is completely wrong and it’s unethical,” said Anita Nicklen, one of dozens protesting on National Public Lands Day to draw attention to the destruction of public land in Ocotillo. “It’s our land and they’re building on public land. The desert is crying and weeping and bleeding.”

August 30, 2012 --  (San Diego’s East County) – ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflecting all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:   

• U.S. economy expands more than anticipated  (BBC)
• Isaac reduces to tropical storm, lashes Louisiana (USA Today)
• Do wind turbines cause forest fires? (Bangor Daily News)
• Army issues multi-billion dollar solicitation for large scale renewable and alternative energy production for federal installations (Foley) 

• Republicans highlight Romney nomination, but poll shows low popularity (ABC News) 
• Romney: I’d cut PBS, Obamacare, arts subsidies (CBS News)
• McCain: America “can’t afford” another Obama WH (CBS News) 
• President Obama answers questions on Reddit-AMA; read his full answers (CBS News) 
• publicans hate Obama’s defense cuts. The trouble is, they voted for them (Washington Post wonk bl
• Vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan on abortion: Rape is just another “method of conception”(RawStory)
  
• Paul Ryan’s speech in 3 words (FoxNews.com) 

• Al Qaeda followers call for death of Seal who wrote Osama bin Ladin capture book (Washington Post) 
• Venezuela investigates alleged massacre in Amazon village (Reuters) 
• Romney: Nuclear Iran “unacceptable” (CBS) 

 Story by Miriam Raftery; photos by Jim Pelley and Parke Ewing

"I feel like we are living in a third world country." -- Jim Pelley, Ocotillo resident and ECM photographer

August 23, 2012 (Ocotillo) – Workers have begun constructing the first of 112 industrial wind turbines near the small town of Ocotillo on federal Bureau of Land Management property adjacent to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. 

But as towering turbines eclipse mountains and desert skies, dust released from scraping desert soils bare and excavating massive turbine foundations have residents complaining that their community has been turned into a “dust bowl” while government officials turn a blind eye to conditions that pose hazards to their health.

Reposted with permission; original published August 14, 2012 at http://www.mojavedesertblog.com/2012/08/desert-lands-policy-wind-industr...

By Shaun Gonzales

August 20, 2012 (Mojave Desert)--If you have been listening to the past few stakeholder conferences for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) -- an inter-agency effort to protect desert ecosystems while identifying areas suitable for renewable energy in California's deserts -- then you know that representatives from the California Wind Energy Association (CalWEA) sound disappointed as their plans to industrialize much of California's desert wildlands meet resistance.   Some of the DRECP's proposed development focus areas would only accommodate 2-17% of the nearly 2 million acres to which the wind industry initially requested access. The wind industry expressed frustration during the meetings, wondering aloud why they cannot bulldoze desert, carve hundreds of miles of new roads, and set up massive wind turbines standing over 400 feet tall across public lands.

By Miriam Raftery

By Miriam Raftery

July 19, 2012 (San Diego) – Tomorrow at 9 a.m.,  San Diego County's Planning Commission will decide whether to approve a wind ordinance that would enable construction of numerous wind energy projects in our region's mountains, rural and desert communities.

Why, then, did San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency just issue a public health position statement that amounts to a whitewash of serious health problems linked to wind turbines around the world?

East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery will be a guest on WindWise Radio.  The network, which specializes in wind energy issues, broadcasts nationally via live-stream over the Internet.

The show starts at 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, with Raftery slated at 4:40. She will talk about new developments with the Ocotillo Express and Tule Wind projects locally. 

Preston Arrowweed, an elder in the Quechan tribe which has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the project, will also be a guest on the program.

Listen live at http://www.windwiseradio.org and please call in with your questions and comments at (213)943-3683! Tis is a great chance to air your concerns on wind issues nationally.

By Sierra Robinson

June 1, 2012 (San Diego's East County)--It has been proven that ground-based wind turbines can result in issues such as environmental damage, noise and visual blight. But Altaeros Energies has brought an intriguing alternative to the table.

Altaeros has announced a breakthrough in high altitude wind power. In April, the company reports that it tested a successful prototype of a flying wind turbine, able to lift a standard Skystream turbine 1000 feet into the air--and produce far more power with the blades aloft.

• Obama spending binge never happened (Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch)
• GOP Senators push for Medicare cuts (The Hill)
• Wall Street rebounds, but investors dump Facebook (Reuters)
• As NATO summit wraps, Romney and Obama trade attacks (USA Today)
• This terrifying amendment legalizes use of propaganda on the U.S. public (Business Insider)
• Republican-led House votes to allow military action against Iran (RawStory)
• CEOs who delivered the most and least bang for the buck (Wall Street Journal)
• Facebook users file class action over online tracking (RawStory)
• Romney, Obama in dead heat, new poll finds (Washington Post)
• Troops face same risk of brain-wasting disease as football players (KPBS)

• U.S. Senate approves bill to toughen Iran sanctions (BBC)
• Italy earthquake: Monti prepares for state of emergency (BBC)
• Suicide bomber kills 90 in Yemen (Reuters)
• Despite end to Afghan war in 2014, U.S. to shoulder burden of funding (Fox News)
• A look at ‘wind turbines of the deep’ (BBC)

By Mia Myklebust and Miriam Raftery

May 10, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – With an increasing number of industrial-scale wind turbines around the world,  numerous reports are surfacing to suggest that noise, infrasound and stray voltage (dirty energy) may be harmful to livestock and wildlife. 

April 22, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – For years, the tobacco industry claimed that cigarettes don’t cause cancer—long after compelling medical evidence proved otherwise.  A similar scenario is now happening with the wind industry, which has put forth various “experts” funded by the wind industry to claim that no evidence exists of negative health impacts caused by wind turbines.

Those are dubious claims that ignore mounting medical and anecdotal evidence around the world indicating that living near wind turbines can harm human health. View a video made by residents living near wind turbines in Wisconsin, discussing health problems they are experiencing which are consistent with symptoms found at many other wind sites around the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71DxuicwCXw&feature=player_embedded