September 22, 2012
Contact: Nathan Landers, 707-477-3745
Sierra Club Statement on the Opening
of Shepherds Flat Wind Farm, Largest Wind Farm in the U.S.
New wind farm provides
enough power for 235,000 homes, shows strength and viability of U.S. renewable
energy industry as an alternative to fossil fuels
ARLINGTON, OR – Today, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal
Campaign welcomed the formal opening of the new 845-megawatt Shepherds Flat
Wind Farm near Arlington, Oregon, as a further evidence of the U.S.’s growing
ability to develop renewable energy and move away from fossil fuels.
“This pioneering new wind farm shows the viability of
renewable energy as a source of power,” said Bruce Nilles, Senior Director of
the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “With investments in wind energy across
the country now returning dividends in the form of new jobs, new energy, and
cleaner air, projects like the Shepherds Flat wind farm show it is possible to
transition from dirty fossil fuels like coal to cleaner sources of energy.”
Work on the Shepherds Flat project began in 2009. More than
400 construction jobs were created to site the wind turbines and build roads
and electrical infrastructure. The Shepherds Flat project will continue to
provide 45 full-time jobs for Oregon’s Gilliam and Morrow Counties, in addition
to agricultural jobs which will continue on the farmland at the project site.
“With today’s opening, Oregon continues its leadership in
renewable energy and now boasts one of the largest wind farms in the world, generating
enough power for 235,000 homes,”
said Dave Hamilton, Director for
Clean Energy of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. “These turbines
were built by an American manufacturer and installed by American workers in
full compliance with state and federal environmental regulations. To see them
generating power is to know our country has the determination and the know-how
to be an energy leader and move away from dirty coal. Because Shepherds
Flat is sited on previously disturbed and actively used farmland and near
existing transmission lines, the project will have lower impacts on local
wildlife than wind energy developments sited in more environmentally sensitive
areas such as deserts and pristine wildlands.”
Nationwide, wind energy capacity has doubled since 2008 and
now generates more than 50,000 megawatts, or enough to power 13 million homes.
“Federal and state policies have helped create a wind boom
in the U.S., and families and businesses are reaping the rewards in the form of
cleaner air, new jobs, and less carbon pollution that disrupts our climate,”
said Barbara Boyle, Senior Campaign Representative for the Beyond Coal Campaign.
“By meeting energy demand that would
otherwise have required power plants to burn dirty fossil fuels like coal, new
renewable energy projects across the country are preventing thousands of tons
of mercury, arsenic, and carbon pollution from being emitted into the air and
damaging human health and the environment.”
According to estimates from the developers, power generated
at the Shepherds Flat wind farm will avoid about 1.5 million tons of carbon
dioxide from being emitted per year, roughly equivalent to the emissions
from 260,000 passenger vehicles.
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