This Senator is owned by the oil industry

[Ithaca 37]

Here's a classic case of a politician who's been bought and paid for:

DENVER - A town named Lamar has a bone to pick with a senator named Lamar.


Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander wrote a bill denying tax credits to some wind turbines and described wind power as contributing "puny amounts" of energy — angering the Colorado home of 108 wind turbines.

The folks on the high Colorado plains have now invited Lamar, the senator, to Lamar, the town.

"We don't have the Grand Canyon," Lamar Mayor Elwood Gillis said, conceding the beauty of the Great Plains is sometimes overlooked. "But in a sense, the wind farm down south of Lamar has become our Grand Canyon."

Alexander's spokeswoman, Alexia Poe, said the senator hadn't received Gillis' letter, dated Monday. She said Alexander's proposal is intended to keep local governments informed of proposed wind energy projects

"The senator is a strong, if not leading, advocate for state and local government," Poe said. "I would think Lamar is a great example of what the senator is trying to do."

Alexander has said large, industrial wind turbines could be a scenic blight. He's complained about the blades' noise and the tax breaks going to an energy source that "produces puny amounts of high-cost unreliable power."

In his letter to Alexander, Gillis said the seemingly incessant wind on the plains has been called many things, "but `puny' is not one of them."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050617/ap_on_re_us/lamar_to_lamar

 

[MarvB]

Interesting timing on this post Ith...I just bought plane tickets to Denver and will be in Lamar on August 4-8 for my nephews wedding. Since the outfit I work for is in the middle of negotiating a wind contract up on the Columbia, I had panned to visit the Lamar units while I was there.

Small world

 

[ringer]

It seems that Ted Kennedy and John Kerry were just fighting wind turbines because they would mess up their views so I wonder if old Lamar has any scenic property close to some propellers. I think this one is more about rich people who want their way than the oil industry.

 

[MattK]

Ringer- actually Lamar (the senator) is against all wind turbines. He has no basis for his information and is definitely in the back pocket of the oil industry. He thinks that there is no value in wind generated electricity. I believe they are looking at a couple of places in Montana for wind power. Ted and John, from what I understand want to protect the scenic value of the area they live. They are more in the back pocket of rich homeowners. I tend to think they are ugly but in certain areas are no more ugly than a smoke stack or grain silo...JMO.