Shocking
PETA condemns Laramie over pioneering energy source
By Aaron LeClair
Boomerang Staff Writer
Laramie will soon become a leader in the alternative energy industry as the site of the world’s first power plant using electric eels.
The Gem City has been picked as the site for the world’s first electric eel power plant, which is being developed one mile north of town off Roger Canyon Road by Dynamic Electro-Fish of Mississauga, Ontario.
Dynamic Electro-Fish is a subsidiary of the Hung Wa Holding Company, which will supply the eels for the power plant from China, North American branch spokesman Crad Kilodney said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
“It’s like a fish hatchery in China so they can bring them in large numbers,” he said. “They’re the only company in the world that has an unlimited supply of these eels.”
The concept of the plant is simple: Several thousand electric eels will be kept in large tanks, where their discharges will be used to charge batteries.
“There’s going to be three different tanks,” Kilodney said. “The eels are going to be moved from a feeding tank to a non-feeding tank and then there’s going to be a feeding tank.”
When the batteries are fully charged, the current will be inverted to alternating current (AC) electricity and fed into the local power grid.
An electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) is capable of producing powerful electric shocks that it uses for hunting and self-defense. With thousands of eels working together, the plant is expected to generate one megawatt, which is enough power to serve 300 homes.
Carbon Power & Light Inc. will purchase the power, according to the press release.
Dynamic Electro-Fish believes this new technology will be an important contributor of alternative power in the United States and around the world.
The project will generate power without greenhouse gases, hazardous waste, unsightly structures above ground and noise pollution, Kilodney said.
“It’s consistent with the political program of the (Obama) administration to find new sources of clean energy,” he said. “That’s, really, the appeal of this kind of project. There’s no nuclear waste, there’s no combustion (and) there’s no unsightly windmills.”
If Dynamic Electro-Fish obtains the proper construction and siting permits, the company can begin construction as early as the spring of 2010.
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Wyoming Lt. Gov. Nixie Nox announced her support of the Dynamic Electro-Fish project in a conference call with reports on Wednesday. She said it could create high-paying jobs for Wyoming residents, some of whom are unemployed due to the economic recession.
“I think it’s great that Wyoming can attract a project that could create high-paying jobs,” she said.
In addition to construction jobs, the project will create jobs for engineers to maintain the facility and wildlife biologists to monitor the eels during operation, Nox said.
It also will create internships for college students as well as research opportunities for University of Wyoming faculty, she said.
While creating jobs and internships are two benefits of the project, another is the fact that electric eels are a cleaner source of energy than coal or petroleum.
And because this is the first project of its kind in the world, Nox said the electric eel power plant would put Wyoming on the map as a world leader for alternative energy.
“Wyoming is known for its minerals and coal,” she said. “But with this project, the state will take its place among the world leaders in alternative energy production.”
While the Lt. Gov.’s office supports the project, animal rights groups and celebrity activists are crying foul at using eels to produce electricity.
Conrad Cornelius O’Donnell O’Dell, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said the Dynamic Electro-Fish project could result in the mistreatment and harm of hundreds — perhaps thousands — of eels.
“These eels will be taken away from their families in China and will be forced to work long hours producing electricity for no pay in a foreign country,” O’Donnell O’Dell said. “Must I remind you that the mistreatment of animals can come back to haunt humankind? Have you ever watched ‘Conquest of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Battle for the Planet of the Apes?’ Eels are intelligent creatures, and I don’t want to be around when — after years of abuse and alienation — these angry critters develop sentience and opposable thumbs.”
Aside from PETA, obscure animal rights activist and New Age musician Raven Gerwulf made clear his objection to the project.
The singer-songwriter from Los Angeles said in a press release that he would be in Laramie on May 1 for a protest that will start at the corner of Grand Avenue and Third Street and end in Prexy’s Pasture on the UW campus.
Speaking in the third person, Gerwulf wanted to thank himself for cutting short his meditation retreat in the southern California desert to attend the protest.
“I’d like to thank Gerwulf for being so generous and supportive of eels,” he said. “A true humanitarian, Gerwulf is a friend to all people and animals.”
For more information about the project, contact Dynamic Electro-Fish at (416) 924-5670.
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