Just so the wind farm in the water off Ludington gets fair representation. I am for it 100%. This could be a first mover project and that would mean lots of support businesses for the town where the first mover occurs. I would love to see Ludington be that first mover town. That would mean jobs for years to come to support building the rest of the projects around the lake. I want those jobs to go to Ludington and Mason County. With 14% unemployment we need the jobs. The second area I would like to see you push for jobs is natural gas engine refitting businesses and natural gas pump stations. Pete show us you are for Michigan employment, speak up on something that shows you are there to help us rebuild our economy, and you are actively pushing for jobs with a bill to support starting a business to recycle gas engines into natural gas engines and to open natural gas stations to replace gas engines with natural gas and pump that natural gas. That would reduce the funds for terrorism and make us independent of the Middle East, not to mention the thousands of new jobs it could create in Michigan. What was the last energy or automotive related bill you sponsored or created? What happened to our republican will to make this a better country? Not by jaw boning but by producing a bill that will push the natural gas engine business to grow here in Michigan. Take some of the business away from Liberman and Alaska and bring it home to Michigan.

The battle off of Cape Cod's Nantucket Island have gone on for 10 years... Michigan needs only to use the Wind Council and existing DOE-land & ocean studies to bring about the tremendous JOB CREATION this project would bring to our area NOW. Deepwater Wind & Cape Wind projects have the details... they need to be consulted and built!

......I am against their location. However, ask yourself(concerning jobs created)"what do we expect our state lawmakers to do about absolutely making those potential jobs available to the "locals"?? My guess is that any jobs would be imported (like everything else). And even if there were a law-maker with the gumption to attempt a hiring criteria based on citizenship, it most likely would be shot down by some free trade pact with a third-world nation. We are not stupid in Michigan. We can see what sloppy trade pacts have done.....look around it is everywhere.

Sure Pete, and have time to study the polls, plus the special interest groups too before you can decide. Typical.

Rep Scripps has already questioned the Aegir Project and I'm happy to see that Rep. Hoekstra is at least asking questions, even if he is waiting to see which way the 'wind is blowing' before taking a position on this particular project. The fact that Aegir has taken so many people by surprise and that so-called 'public' hearings are being held when many affected property owners are unable to attend, does not bode well for the community's relationship with Scandia Wind and Havgul as true partners in the process. Especially troubling is the proposed location between 3.7 and 2 miles offshore when GLOW recommends at least 6 miles offshore and NO other US wind farm is currently this close to recreational beaches and homes.

Pay attention! Our area's economy revolves around tourism. Do we really want to risk losing that because a Scandanavian Company is pushing a project that they stand to make millions from? What about the natural resources that we are so blessed with in this region??? Serious study needs to be done on the off shore wind project. If you were to remove the government subsidies that these projects thrive on would they be so enticing? Companies make millions off these projects and consumers end up subsidizing these projects one way or another. Remove all the free money from these projects and other countries find these projects fall flat. Green energy is one thing, giving our livlihood away is another. A lot of promises are made by these companies, how many are realized? And at what cost? Our natural resourses are priceless. Take a serious look and ask questions. Don't be force fed the promise of jobs and economic stimulation just because we are all so hungry for those things.

The windfarms are said to produce 10% of our energy. However usually only 1/3 rd of the turbines are actually working. For every mile out into Lake Michigan that the turbines are placed they lose the ability to transfer the energy efficiently. This makes the project not only a waste of tax payer dollars, but also hurts our fishing and tourism industry and lessens the amount of potential buyers in the areas where farms are placed. This brings me to my next point. The windfarms themselves arent the huge moneymakers but heres what is: the power transmission lines. This link will show how DTE and other companies make a huge 72% profit. I'm truely bothered how these companies and the current political agenda of has taken advantage of the people and their goodwill and stewardship of our country and state. Notice Alliant Energy is mentioned right in the article.

Wisdom comes in seeking truth and answers to difficult questions. Short term financial gains could end up with long term financial disaster. The shoreline of Lake Michigan is the one that is shown over and over again in marketing materials for the state. Why? Because its pristine beauty is unique and promotes tourism/recreation for the state of Michigan. In some communities, summer residents provide the necessary property taxes to sustain schools and community projects. This money will dry up if the project is completed. Check out oil pollution from turbines, bird kills, noise pollution and obsolecense of turbines (Green Mountain, for ex.). Why have other countries required off shore turbines be 12-15 miles off shore?

WOW HE STILL DONT KNOW WHATS GOING ON!!! HE SHOULD RESIGN NOW WHAT IS HE ON SOME STRONG MEDS. I SAW HIM TALK AT THE VFW POST IN MANISTEE YEARS AGO ABOUT SENDING TROOPS TO IRAQ,AND THOUGHT HE WAS ON THE BUSH KOOL-AID THEN TO BAD FOR MICHIGAN

Just to clarify. The proposed locations are 2-4 kilometers offshore. That translates into 1.2 and 2.5 miles offshore. In addition, it has been mistakenly reported to be 10 square miles in size. That is incorrect - the proposed Aegir wind turbine complex is 100 square miles in size. This is far larger than any offshore wind turbine "farm" built in the world to date. While it would be exciting to be on the forefront of this technology, I would hope that we slow down, look at the facts and proceed carefully. This is an experiment, there is no doubt about it. Let's get it right!

This needs to be moved much further out into the lake. I would seem that since the turbines are in fresh water, the challenges of building these in deeper water should not be as significant as you might find in the ocean. How are they going be lit up at night to prevent navigational issues?

A couple of points--This will definitely not bring much in the way of jobs to our area, and almost no permanent ones. Construction crews from overseas and out-of-state will be used, and a handful of low-paid temp jobs will come to us. This is how developers work! There is a clear pattern of this in this state. They verbally promise thousands of jobs but guarantee nothing, then get to work on local businessman and government officials passing out little pieces of candy... They did their homework, which is why they chose our area, sneaking in in the dead of winter, trying to twist local officials, knowing we desperately need the jobs. The suggestion in the above post about NG was a positive one and should be explore it, not this debacle. Add to this that wind power is already obsolete, as europeans are now learning, and that we will be responsible for clean up of oil and chemical spills during construction. Residents of Oceana and Mason counties , dont be fooled! We will only see fractions of pennies on this, and lose one of the greatest resources in the country. Lets keep the Lake as it is!!!!!!

The beauty of Lake Michigan is unsurpassed. And our tourism is based on this beauty. Pentwater has 90% of its current downtown focused on tourism. Are we going to trade the beauty of our sunsets for the possibility of 500 jobs (likely to go to trained workers rather than our own workers) ?? Skandia makes money building the turbines. They don't care about the aftermath. They don't care how much wind is generated. How many local jobs are created. They make billions of dollars building turbines and then leave -with our pristine shoreline changed forever. Michigan is better and stronger than this. Please see beyond this proposal. It is not in our interest. It generates billions for an offshore company. And it leaves us spoiled forever.