04-03-2025
Even if the environment isn't your top priority, renewable energy is common sense
Offshore wind in Rhode Island will create thousands of good-paying union jobs in manufacturing, shipbuilding, port development, and electrical transmission — which is why it is backed by the
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US competitiveness
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China already dominates international markets in the production of solar panels and we can't afford to let the same thing happen with wind turbines. Turbine manufacturing is growing domestically, but it will collapse if
Price stability
Unpredictable fuel prices pose a major problem for businesses and residents alike. Oil and natural gas prices fluctuate widely based on geopolitical tensions. In contrast, the price of wind power is fixed by
Rising insurance rates
Insurance rates have skyrocketed nationwide due to the parade of natural disasters caused by climate change. Disaster relief for the recent California wildfires will cost an estimated $250 billion, while last year's Hurricane Helen cost $78 billion. Who pays? We do, through higher taxes and rising insurance rates. Each natural disaster also robs billions in precious tax dollars from essential programs such as education, health care, national security, and more.
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Quality of life
It's easy to dismiss wildfires and hurricanes as distant disasters, but
Wildlife
By far, the biggest threat to marine life — both large and small — is rising ocean temperatures and acidification. This goes for commercial fisheries as well. Any short-term environmental disruption caused by the construction of offshore wind pales in comparison to the oil disasters like the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska (11 million gallons) or the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (200 million gallons).
Closer to home, the Argo Merchant spilled 8 million gallons of oil when it ran aground on Nantucket Shoals in 1976, and a tanker spilled 800,000 gallons of home heating oil off Moonstone Beach in 1996, closing 250 square miles of Block Island Sound to commercial fishing.
Equity
For many of us, power production is out-of-sight/out-of-mind. That's because fossil fuel plants are located in poorer neighborhoods, where they cause respiratory disease and childhood asthma. It's no surprise that
Because the federal government is now openly hostile to
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Rhode Island currently has three offshore wind projects in various stages of development that will provide enough clean electricity to power more than 200,000 homes in the state, according to figures from the US Energy Information Survey. But these projects, and many more, are
Similarly,
So whether your top priority is jobs, national security, personal finance, equity, US competitiveness — or the environment — these initiatives will further your cause.
Providence-based writer Bill Ibelle is a member of
and the Rhode Island chapter of the
.
