Suspended

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Posted on March 25th, 2011 9:01 pm

The Penguins are heading to the playoffs yet again, but they are pretty banged up this year. If you’ve followed any news at all this past week, you know that Matt Cooke was suspended for the remainder of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs. In Pittsburgh, we like teams that win, and the Penguins certainly do their fair share, but with the current roster it’s not going to be easy to hoist “Lord Stanley” again in 2011.

What’s not on the front page of the newspaper is the hard lesson that many communities all across the country are learning - no energy source is guilt free. A community group in Wisconsin recently rallied to suspend a big wind project going to be developed by The Ledge Wind Energy Center. The reason - it would block their sun and create unwanted noise. Now, the company says it can’t move forward because of uncertainty with the regulatory climate in Wisconsin. Sounds like a wimpy, cop-out to us here at the Common Sense Blog. Maybe to toughen them up a little, we should require them to open a coal mine or power plant before they start another wind project.

Just south of Pennsylvania, in the State of Maryland, State Senator Thomas Middleton suggested that Governor Martin O'Malley should turn his complicated wind project into a study. The cost of the project might exceed $1 billion dollars, all borne by the rate payers. I guess in government that cost is a rounding error, but in middle class budgets, any increase in energy cost comes right out of the bottom line. Good thing they are reviewing this bad project and considering its suspension.

Electricity is crucial to everyday life. It keeps the lights on – and it’s a source to make the modern world productive. The message is starting to resonate, but we need to keep the pedal to the floor.

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