5/7/02 - Chapter Chair comments on Wilderness Matters articles - Jim Tierney

WIND POWER DIALOGUE CONTINUES

Harley Lee, in his article in the May-June 2002 issue of Wilderness Matters, makes the point that fuel cells merely transform hydrogen into electricity. He is right. The debate currently raging is where and how to get the hydrogen to fuel the fuel cells. Yes Harley, wind turbines are an option and if they were fifty miles off the coast, where two major wind farms are being planned, I could support that option.

Fuel cells are now a financially viable option for heating and cooling stationary structures. They are not yet but will be viable as an option for fueling our SUV's. The debate that rages over where and how we should get the hydrogen is a red herring. 

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. No one ever said it would be easy to shake it loose from other elements it is attached to. No one ever said it was going to be easy to get crude up from three miles under the floor of the ocean. The future, however, will see hydrogen as a fuel as ubiquitous as gasoline now is. Even if we, in this culture, succeed in obscuring its value as a fuel source, some third world country is bound to, one day, say, "Wait a minute, we don't have to be dependent on the developed world for the fuel to live the life style they continue to wave in our faces. We can use hydrogen instead of oil".

The problem with using Reddington Ridge to transform wind into electricity is that it helps to obscure other more sensible options like fuel cells. It also unnecessarily defiles a natural beauty. The challenge for our culture is how to manage the transition from fossil fuels to fuel cells. The Appalachian Mountain Club is in the home stretch of what has been, for it, a major transition. It has been a difficult time and I've seen some good people leave the club in the process but it is minuscule in comparison to the transitions awaiting society if we take our stewardship role seriously. There are a zillion reasons to stop burning fossil fuels. How to transition the people currently employed in the fossil fuel industry is clearly the greatest of the challenges. I'd like to think the US Senate is working on that challenge but, unfortunately, they are not a proactive organizational unit.

Harley also bemoans the fact that conservation has not worked in spite of his doing his part. He's right again. Clearly, the vast majority of the people have demonstrated that they/we refuse to take the burden of sensible energy production on our shoulders. Doing so enables the status quo just as the spouse of an alcoholic can inadvertently enable the very behavior that threatens their relationship. 

On another front but also in the same issue of Wilderness Matters, I urge people to dialogue on the position taken by Gabrielle Kissinger on the proposed trails in the Bigelow Preserve. That issue has not yet been well thought through by the Executive Committee of the Chapter and we welcome your thoughts on the matter.

Jim Tierney,
Maine Chapter Chair