M.A.P.: BDN LEAVES FALSE STATEMENT ON WIND POWER UNCHALLENGED
Bangor Daily News Prints Demonstrably
False Statement On Wind Energy Subsidies,
Leaves Statement Unchallenged
Outlet: Bangor Daily News
Date: June 13, 2012
Topic: Bull Hill Wind Turbine Arrival
Author: Abigail Curtis
Analysis: INCOMPLETE: Quotes false statement, allows statement to stand unchallenged.
Searsport – On June 12, 2012, the Bangor Daily News ran an article titled, “Turbines arrive for Bull Hill wind site; advocates say wind farms great for state’s economy”.
BDN Reporter Abigail Curtis was tasked with covering the arrival of the turbines and discussing the wind energy industry with executives from First Wind, the company developing the project on Bull Hill.
The article includes a statement from Dave Fowler of First Wind that is demonstrably false.
In the article, Fowler is credited with saying, “While wind energy has been the recipient of government incentives, it’s no more than in any other energy industry.”
Yet, a report from the Energy Information Administration, the official source of United States Government Energy Statistics, published in July 2011 shows that wind energy did in fact receive far more in subsidies and support from the government than virtually any other energy industry.
Page 15 of the EIA Report clearly shows that in fiscal year 2010, the wind industry received $4.9 BILLION in subsidy and support from the federal government, while other industries, lagged far behind. The nuclear power industry: $2.5 BILLION; coal industry: $1.35 BILLION; natural gas and petroleum liquids industry: $2.8 BILLION; biomass industry: $1.1 BILLION; hydro-electricity: $216 MILLION, and almost all other industries were dwarfed by the subsidy and support the wind industry received from the federal government.
In fact, the only energy producing industry to receive a greater level of subsidy and support was the biofuels industry, which benefits from heavily subsidized ethanol, and received $6.6 BILLION in support and subsidy.
For first printing and then failing to investigate & challenge a demonstrably false statement the Bangor Daily News receives an INCOMPLETE from the Media Accountability Project for this article.
Read or download the full report with sources here. (pdf)
