However, I am also concerned about the potential effects of some of the renewable energy provisions on those very same mountains. Just a few entries below ilovemountains.org in my personal blog roll is another web site from an organization that loves the beauty of the mountains and fights against industrial energy development that has proven to be devastating to very nature of the habitats they provide. If you have never seen what a large scale wind farm can do to an idyllic area, please visit wind-watch.org and read or watch the heart wrenching tales told there.

I know that people who fight coal often believe that collecting wind and solar energy is a suitable replacement, but neither of those can provide reliable power and both of them require the industrialization of vast swaths of open land to support human power needs and desires. If you love mountains, please learn more.

Rod Adams
Publisher, Atomic Insights
Host and producer, The Atomic Show Podcast

PS – yes, I do have a bias. Having operated small nuclear power plants I believe that they have a real place in providing reliable power with a tiny environmental footprint.