Time to mentally prepare for quarter-mile-tall wind turbines

I attended a meeting about offshore wind outside Rehoboth Beach last week that was hosted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. I know, I know, exciting. The agency recently issued a call for information for about 13 million acres of ocean water that stretches from southern New Jersey to the southern tip of North Carolina.

Basically, the federal government is looking to expand its offshore wind footprint and wants to hear from members of the public why they feel certain federal waters, for whatever reason, shouldn’t be leased.

While interesting, for the most part, the information presented at the meeting was what I expected to see and hear – it’s very early in the process, and almost all of the call area will be removed once the process is done. 

The one poster that truly caught my attention was related to the size of the turbines that could be used when these areas are under development five or more years from now. According to that poster, BOEM is anticipating turbines that could be 1,170 feet tall when one blade is at its highest point. That’s nearly a quarter of a mile tall and nearly three times taller than the 400-foot-tall turbine at the University of Delaware campus in Lewes.

Generally speaking, I think offshore wind should be one portion of an overall renewable energy portfolio. However, seeing that turbines might be a quarter of a mile tall, it does have me thinking, at what point, no matter how much energy a single turbine produces, are they going to be so tall that even the most ardent supporters of offshore wind are going to have real concerns about the impacts on the viewshed?

Not all campaign signs are for candidates

What do dogs, a married couple from Kent County and the Wu-Tang Clan have in common? Campaign signs supporting them all have cropped up around here.

With a month to go until the general election, candidates have been working overtime to put signs up. I’ve noticed three different kinds that aren’t real signs.

I’ve actually written about the Geist/Johnson campaign sign before. The couple got married in the summer of 2022, and their sign lasted for nearly two years on Route 1 before it was destroyed by a lawnmower earlier this year. A new one has been installed and updated.

I don’t know how long the Wu-Tang Forever sign on Kings Highway has been up, but it’s been there since before the primaries.

More recently, I’ve seen two signs in Milton supporting dogs, which is two more signs than I have supporting me running for any kind of public office.

Joke of the Week

For the past few years, the calendar at my desk has been produced by the Delaware Department of Agriculture as part of its Delaware Grown program. I’ve picked them up at the State Fair. According to that calendar, National School Lunch Week begins Monday, Oct. 14. Here’s a joke about school lunches. No lunch ladies were harmed. As always, send jokes to cflood@capegazette.com.

Q: What stops a lunchroom food fight?

A: A peas treaty.