Clean-energy windmills a 'dirty business' for farmers in Mexico

[phantom power]

"This is one of the finest wind areas in the world, and they are being very ambitious about developing it," said Martin Pasqualetti, an expert on renewable energy at Arizona State University who has studied the region. "They're trying to do in five years what California took 35 years to do."

But the energy gold rush has also brought discord, as building crews slice through irrigation canals, divide pastures and cover crops with dust. Some farmers complain they were tricked into renting their land for as little as $46 an acre annually.

Opponents of Mexican President Felipe Calderón fear the generators are the first step toward privatizing Mexico's energy sector. And some residents are angry that the electricity being generated is not going to homes here in Oaxaca, one of the poorest states in Mexico, but to power Walmart stores, Cemex cement plants and a few other industrial customers in Mexico.

"It has divided neighbors against each other," said Alejo Giron, a communal farmer in La Venta. "If this place has so much possibility, where are the benefits for us?"

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2009-06-16-mexico-wind-power_N.htm

[Adelante]

1. Mexico is ideal for wind energy, as well as solar

But the communities need to be served first. No residents in the area should have to pay for electricity.

[phantom power]

2. I have predicted for a while now....

that Big Solar and Big Wind and Big Etc are going to be amoral corporations, just like Big Oil and Big Coal. For the simple reason that that's what happens when Big Money is involved. Renewables are not going to be a power-to-the-people revolution.

We'll see if I'm right or wrong. I think early signs are consistent with my prediction.