Feds OK Wyoming Idea To Use Old Wind Turbines To Fill In Coal Mines

Cowboy State Daily Reports: Wyoming’s innovative plan to allow coal mines to accept wind turbine blades as fill material has cleared the Biden administration, almost four years after the state approved it.

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I love Cowboy State Daily! I wish every state had a news service like them. You can tell the writers love what they do! Sharon and I love Wyoming, we hope to go back this year for another Great Commission trip! Glory!

This is such an awesome idea! Great thinking!

Just one more thing….when Sharon and I went back to Windom, Minnesota this month for the funeral of my great friend Dr. Mike Fisher, we were sad to see all the red lights up in the sky from the wind turbines. From Sioux Falls, SD to Windom, ugh!. To us, it spoils the landscape. We always loved looking up into the sky for the stars of wonder. With all the red lights in the sky, it kind of looked like the Martians had landed in southwestern Minnesota! HA!

Cowboy State Daily Reports

Renée Jean

An innovative plan to use old wind turbine blades as filler for coal mine reclamation has gotten a thumbs up from the Biden administration after an almost four-year wait.

Wyoming filed its innovative idea for disposing of retired blades and wind towers with the federal government in 2021, following the state Legislature’s 2020 approval of a bill developed by the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee and carried by Sen. Eric Barlow.

“This bill was effective July 1, 2020, for the statute that would allow for it,” Wyoming Energy Authority Director of Fossil Fuel Development Kyle Wendtland told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “Then March 2, 2021, we submitted the formal amendment to the Office of Surface Mining as a program amendment.” More Here

1 COMMENT

  1. Even New Mexico has dealt with this at the Mountainair Landfill, which accepted many of these and years later, they were still sitting on the ground. The U.S. is using renewable energy options without first assuring sound disposal options for the generated waste streams. These blades are huge and difficult to transport. They are not manageable at landfills considering the amount of airspace they take up, difficulty in compacting them, and the lack of recycling options. Of course, this situation reminds me of large Tesla batteries, which are hazardous when disposed, and even solar panels are not easily disposed or recycled and contain hazardous materials. Someday all of our old mines will be filled with blades, when 20 years ago, the plan was to fill them with old off-the-road equipment tires, as such were (and still are) almost impossible to dispose given their size, weight and the lack of cost effective transportation. As a former state environmental regulator and enforcement officer, I’m very conflicted about all of this.

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