In April, an explosion on a drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana let loose a flow of crude that has now become the largest offshore oil spill in our nation's history.
We cannot at this point even begin to comprehend the final economic and environmental consequences; we can only sense the severity. But we do know that we must do everything in our power to prevent similar disasters in the future.
State Rep. John Hornaman, of Millcreek Township, D-3rd Dist., introduced House Bill 2342, which would permit Pennsylvania to lease land beneath Lake Erie for wind farms. A previous law permitted up to 25 acres to be leased, but Hornaman said that acreage was too restrictive for practical development of a Lake Erie wind farm.
The state House on Wednesday unanimously approved legislation for harnessing wind energy using offshore wind turbines in Lake Erie.
As a proponent of wind energy, I was delighted to see a piece on WJET-TV about wind energy off the shores of Erie. My delight quickly changed to disappointment as I heard Jake Rouch, the vice president of economic development for the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, state that he wanted to form a partnership with Pittsburgh and Ohio to develop wind farms on the lake.
China's first offshore wind farm should be generating power within a month, while more than 800 windmills can be found spinning off the coast of Denmark.
But for all the talk of renewable energy, there's not a single offshore wind farm in all of North America.
State Rep. John Hornaman, of Millcreek Township, D-3rd Dist. thinks that could change soon and possibly in our backyard.
Hornaman, with the support of Erie County's other state House members, has introduced a bill that would allow Pennsylvania to lease land beneath Lake Erie for the development of wind farms.
John had the first alternative energy bill in 2007 passed and signed into law during the first 6 months of his first term. Since then he has been a leader on the way to Pennsylvania’s energy independence. “ This is the only road we can take now”, said Hornaman, “ because the other road, the ‘do-nothing’ road, takes us to continued reliance on fossil fuels, lost economic opportunity, and increasing demand on utilities which results in the building of more plants utilizing old technology.”
In May of 2008, the Governor had a scheduled visit to Erie to meet with local officials, and to appear as a guest at a fundraiser for Hornaman. This was a golden opportunity to have the Governor and John Kanzius meet, but Hornaman could not get that message across to the Governor’s schedulers, who insisted that there was no time on the Governors’ agenda --every minute was accounted for.