Storrowed
August 10, 2024 7:35 AM Subscribe
Massive wind turbine blade hits bridge, gets knocked off truck on Route 1 in Maine. Workers in orange and yellow safety vests admire the behemoth while making plans to get this over-over-over-sized load moving again.
This is why they don’t recommend traveling with blades over 6”. It’s not the laws; it’s the damn bridges.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:48 AM on August 10 [9 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:48 AM on August 10 [9 favorites]
Excellent post title.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 7:55 AM on August 10 [10 favorites]
posted by armoir from antproof case at 7:55 AM on August 10 [10 favorites]
Cutting corners on transport (again) backfires (again). I'm sure they'll blame the driver, rather than the company for skipping a proper escort for 200+ foot long load over public roads.
posted by metahacker at 8:00 AM on August 10 [14 favorites]
posted by metahacker at 8:00 AM on August 10 [14 favorites]
Luckily there are no more than 10 miles between prepositioned CANT GET THERE FROM HERE flashing sign trailers along that stretch of Route 1.
posted by mubba at 8:01 AM on August 10 [2 favorites]
posted by mubba at 8:01 AM on August 10 [2 favorites]
And do what with it?? Is someone at the factory just going to hammer out the dents and say “Good as new!”
I would guess the idea is to force it to be the factory's problem to dispose of, rather than putting it somewhere else where it isn't immediately the factory's problem, and so it isn't an immediate priority of the factory to deal with it.
posted by notoriety public at 8:01 AM on August 10 [2 favorites]
I would guess the idea is to force it to be the factory's problem to dispose of, rather than putting it somewhere else where it isn't immediately the factory's problem, and so it isn't an immediate priority of the factory to deal with it.
posted by notoriety public at 8:01 AM on August 10 [2 favorites]
It's probably unrepairable, and will join all the other used turbine blades they deposit into enormous landfills because they're not recyclable (the valid ecological complaint about wind power as it's implemented, today).
posted by Rash at 8:16 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
posted by Rash at 8:16 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
Bloomberg: Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills
posted by Rash at 8:18 AM on August 10 [8 favorites]
posted by Rash at 8:18 AM on August 10 [8 favorites]
Okay, now I have to chime in. Turbine blends are fiberglass, which means glass and resin. The resin is no nastier chemically than the asphalt we casually use in road beds. And the glass is sand.
The environmental impact of piling the stuff in one spot is very, very manageable.
And at worst, you can grind the stuff up and use it as a road bed aggregate, already an ongoing thing.
TO recycle fiberglass, you need a process that will exploit at scale a narrowly defined specification for the fiberglass. That's a lot more doable with turbine blades than it is with any other thing we do with fiberglass. Especially when you're piling them up in one spot.
posted by ocschwar at 8:59 AM on August 10 [44 favorites]
The environmental impact of piling the stuff in one spot is very, very manageable.
And at worst, you can grind the stuff up and use it as a road bed aggregate, already an ongoing thing.
TO recycle fiberglass, you need a process that will exploit at scale a narrowly defined specification for the fiberglass. That's a lot more doable with turbine blades than it is with any other thing we do with fiberglass. Especially when you're piling them up in one spot.
posted by ocschwar at 8:59 AM on August 10 [44 favorites]
Excellent post title.
For those not in on the lingo: ‘Storrowing:' A Boston tradition
posted by slater at 9:26 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
For those not in on the lingo: ‘Storrowing:' A Boston tradition
posted by slater at 9:26 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
Those photos really look like a piece from an alien spaceship crash landed. Wild.
posted by gwint at 9:26 AM on August 10 [2 favorites]
posted by gwint at 9:26 AM on August 10 [2 favorites]
Thanks for that info, ocschwar; glad to hear it's manageable, because those photos of blands in landfills don't look good. Explains why their graves are so shallow.
.
posted by Rash at 9:31 AM on August 10 [1 favorite]
.
posted by Rash at 9:31 AM on August 10 [1 favorite]
Bloomberg: Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills
Note that article is from four years ago. Orsted, the largest developer of offshore wind in the world, claims that 95% of their turbines are recycled after the end of their normal lifespan.
posted by gwint at 9:31 AM on August 10 [12 favorites]
Note that article is from four years ago. Orsted, the largest developer of offshore wind in the world, claims that 95% of their turbines are recycled after the end of their normal lifespan.
posted by gwint at 9:31 AM on August 10 [12 favorites]
SO, from the article, it seems that was the approved route for the blade, and the driver didn't go far enough to the left to get the space he needed.
When you're transporting one of these anywhere outside of Iowa (where most obstacles for blades have been removed over the last 10 years), you need to pay close attention to the route plan. So driver error isn't excluded here.
But I have this mental image of the driver getting his route plan briefing from a middle aged New Englander rambling endlessly about every turn and missing that important detail.
posted by ocschwar at 9:32 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
When you're transporting one of these anywhere outside of Iowa (where most obstacles for blades have been removed over the last 10 years), you need to pay close attention to the route plan. So driver error isn't excluded here.
But I have this mental image of the driver getting his route plan briefing from a middle aged New Englander rambling endlessly about every turn and missing that important detail.
posted by ocschwar at 9:32 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
I guess leaving it in place, building a new road around it and waiting for the tourists to trickle in isn't an option?
posted by Ashenmote at 9:53 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
posted by Ashenmote at 9:53 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
(Sigh. Maine hasn't been part of Massachusetts for 204 years. Surely a better term than one that specifically references Boston could have been found.
For those far away who look at the map and think, er, they look like they're right next to each other to me? It's a whole thing with native Mainers' uneasy relationship with tourists, and with increasing swaths of southern Maine turning into Boston exurbs. Searsport is still past that exurb boundary so far, but the linguistic encroachment is a worrisome initial foray to those of us who are inclined to worry about such matters.)
posted by eviemath at 9:55 AM on August 10 [6 favorites]
For those far away who look at the map and think, er, they look like they're right next to each other to me? It's a whole thing with native Mainers' uneasy relationship with tourists, and with increasing swaths of southern Maine turning into Boston exurbs. Searsport is still past that exurb boundary so far, but the linguistic encroachment is a worrisome initial foray to those of us who are inclined to worry about such matters.)
posted by eviemath at 9:55 AM on August 10 [6 favorites]
I'm surprised (not literally, actually this is totally unsurprising) they don't coordinate with the rail companies when they have to cross active tracks with exceptional loads like that.
posted by Pyry at 10:02 AM on August 10
posted by Pyry at 10:02 AM on August 10
Oh I'm actually thinking of a different video going around of a train hitting a blade being transported rather than the linked article.
posted by Pyry at 10:04 AM on August 10
posted by Pyry at 10:04 AM on August 10
Wind turbine logistics companies absolutely do coordinate with everyone along the route. It's quite common for overhead wires to be temporarily disconnected/rerouted to give more clearance while components are in transit. They know the height of every bridge, and compensate for any road curvature under it. It's a very detailed job, and developers pay a lot for it. The clearances are sometimes tiny, and it sounds like the driver was just enough off to bump the bridge.
A few years ago I knew most blade models for most manufacturers by sight. These days, not so much. The huge vortex-shedding blades hanging off the trailing edge make me think it might be a GE blade, but I could be wrong
posted by scruss at 10:43 AM on August 10 [5 favorites]
A few years ago I knew most blade models for most manufacturers by sight. These days, not so much. The huge vortex-shedding blades hanging off the trailing edge make me think it might be a GE blade, but I could be wrong
posted by scruss at 10:43 AM on August 10 [5 favorites]
glad to hear it's manageable, because those photos of blands in landfills don't look good
Do photos of landfills ever look good? There's a phrase about watching sausage get made. What you see in a landfill is civilization getting made.
One pet peeve of mine is the condemnation of item X, because item X will end up in a landfill. As if the landfill is the problem rather than the solution.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:47 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
Do photos of landfills ever look good? There's a phrase about watching sausage get made. What you see in a landfill is civilization getting made.
One pet peeve of mine is the condemnation of item X, because item X will end up in a landfill. As if the landfill is the problem rather than the solution.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:47 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]
If someone could figure out how to fabricate those at the point of use, they’d make bank.
posted by adamrice at 12:04 PM on August 10
posted by adamrice at 12:04 PM on August 10
Landfill is a problem, we should be beyond using them by now.
posted by biffa at 12:13 PM on August 10 [1 favorite]
posted by biffa at 12:13 PM on August 10 [1 favorite]
If someone could figure out how to fabricate those at the point of use, they’d make bank.
I think we're looking at blades that can be in separate parts as the next innovation.
posted by biffa at 12:14 PM on August 10 [1 favorite]
I think we're looking at blades that can be in separate parts as the next innovation.
posted by biffa at 12:14 PM on August 10 [1 favorite]
And just to share the parallel news, because big oil is highly dependent on earned messaging the negatives of Wind power and deploying CCS and "Blue Oil", and the IRA is forking over about $200 Billion to these companies. Their current line is that "Wind and solar are ok, they just can never be more dominant than oil". this is their line and their objective, which was achieved by changing "Build Back Better" to the IRA bill in the Senate.
The good people at NOAA track it all.
(also Oil doesn't dispose of their waste in landfills they dispose much on site)
A major CCS pipeline company which has received $8 Million in competitive grant funding from US DOE spilled 840 barrels of crude into Bayou Lafourche, polluting the air at the local high school (just headaches for the kids, though, as the chemical release is below EPA levels,) and threatening drinking water for the county. I wouldn't fish from this section of the Bayou for five years--a lot of the material is just continually buried in the silt, and will have to dissapate via oil eating bacteria.
Over 100 oil clean up workers have been on site, largely African american and Latino men. Unknown what the exposure levels are for them, since 30 minutes is likely to give you a little bit of distress. Not to mention we are under a heat index over 100 degress.
This facility was built by Exxon in 1963, apparently before lock out tag out was invented. A contractor just left the valve open friday night.
I'm sure the worker will be blamed, and not the shitty company. I would not surprised if Cresent uses Lafourche Parish TWP workers from the State Correctional system.Carlyle Group is looking to purchased this overleveraged asset, which has been repaired over 200 times since 2010 (LDNR SONRIS Records), for $1.4 Billion
I hope this will be the worst of the 1,300 oil spills in coastal Louisiana this year.
with the oil biz, we are paying them cash, but not removing the clunkers. It's a "Cash to the Clunkers" country. We will only able to remove these clunkers once the need for oil is sufficiently displaced to remove their K street budget. Or if we help Texas go blue. Send journalists, and ammunition.
I pray for a future where our transportation problems in the USA were this simple all the time.
A sincere thanks to all who are keeping our northeastern roads safe, and putting waste fiberglass where it needs to be, and not in our waters.
posted by eustatic at 12:25 PM on August 10 [14 favorites]
The good people at NOAA track it all.
(also Oil doesn't dispose of their waste in landfills they dispose much on site)
A major CCS pipeline company which has received $8 Million in competitive grant funding from US DOE spilled 840 barrels of crude into Bayou Lafourche, polluting the air at the local high school (just headaches for the kids, though, as the chemical release is below EPA levels,) and threatening drinking water for the county. I wouldn't fish from this section of the Bayou for five years--a lot of the material is just continually buried in the silt, and will have to dissapate via oil eating bacteria.
Over 100 oil clean up workers have been on site, largely African american and Latino men. Unknown what the exposure levels are for them, since 30 minutes is likely to give you a little bit of distress. Not to mention we are under a heat index over 100 degress.
This facility was built by Exxon in 1963, apparently before lock out tag out was invented. A contractor just left the valve open friday night.
I'm sure the worker will be blamed, and not the shitty company. I would not surprised if Cresent uses Lafourche Parish TWP workers from the State Correctional system.Carlyle Group is looking to purchased this overleveraged asset, which has been repaired over 200 times since 2010 (LDNR SONRIS Records), for $1.4 Billion
I hope this will be the worst of the 1,300 oil spills in coastal Louisiana this year.
with the oil biz, we are paying them cash, but not removing the clunkers. It's a "Cash to the Clunkers" country. We will only able to remove these clunkers once the need for oil is sufficiently displaced to remove their K street budget. Or if we help Texas go blue. Send journalists, and ammunition.
I pray for a future where our transportation problems in the USA were this simple all the time.
A sincere thanks to all who are keeping our northeastern roads safe, and putting waste fiberglass where it needs to be, and not in our waters.
posted by eustatic at 12:25 PM on August 10 [14 favorites]
(Sigh. Maine hasn't been part of Massachusetts for 204 years. Surely a better term than one that specifically references Boston could have been found.
Boston newspaper uses term familiar to its readers while Portland Press Herald cowers behind paywall, Mainers lament!
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:38 PM on August 10 [7 favorites]
Boston newspaper uses term familiar to its readers while Portland Press Herald cowers behind paywall, Mainers lament!
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:38 PM on August 10 [7 favorites]
Meanwhile, south of Storrowville, America's first offshore windfarm is offline because one of its 351-foot-long turbine blades somehow fell apart and plunged into the water off Nantucket - initially prompting the closing of some beaches there because the blade is filled with fiberglass, not something you want to come into contact with while swimming (although now the concern seems to be more other stuff that wound up in the water).
As for Maine English, at least in terms of vocabulary, there are some similarities to the Boston variant - both, for example, really are wicked awesome (but yeah, OK, as somebody who writes a lot, maybe way too much, about storrowing, I've gotten some criticism that I should limit the phrase to things that slam into bridges on Storrow Drive or maybe across the river on Memorial Drive, not in such exotic locales as Dedham or Medford).
posted by adamg at 12:58 PM on August 10
As for Maine English, at least in terms of vocabulary, there are some similarities to the Boston variant - both, for example, really are wicked awesome (but yeah, OK, as somebody who writes a lot, maybe way too much, about storrowing, I've gotten some criticism that I should limit the phrase to things that slam into bridges on Storrow Drive or maybe across the river on Memorial Drive, not in such exotic locales as Dedham or Medford).
posted by adamg at 12:58 PM on August 10
Bloomberg: Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills
I can't wait for this message to be put to rest. Until then, to match a four-year-old article, here's a four-year-old video that points out some refreshing context:
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 1:27 PM on August 10 [26 favorites]
I can't wait for this message to be put to rest. Until then, to match a four-year-old article, here's a four-year-old video that points out some refreshing context:
In this video I am going to talk about how long wind turbines last, how much waste there is at the end of their lifetime and how much of that can be recycled. Then I’m going to compare the wind turbine waste with the waste produced by coal power plants, and the amount of garbage the average person creates over the lifetime of a wind turbine blade.Emphasis mine. We may be moving fossil fuel plants to natural gas now, but we've gotta bury a whole lotta blades to even begin to catch up with where coal brought us, or with the stuff we toss in the trash every day.
The outcome:
If an individual Australian gets all of their household electricity from wind energy, over 20 years their share of non-recyclable wind turbine blade waste is 9kg. That same mass of solid waste is produced by one person’s share of a coal-fired power plant in 40 days, and it is just 13 days of municipal waste.
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 1:27 PM on August 10 [26 favorites]
but yeah, OK, as somebody who writes a lot, maybe way too much, about storrowing, I've gotten some criticism that I should limit the phrase to things that slam into bridges on Storrow Drive or maybe across the river on Memorial Drive, not in such exotic locales as Dedham or Medford
Otherwise it's just a sparkling bridge collision?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:29 PM on August 10 [18 favorites]
Otherwise it's just a sparkling bridge collision?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:29 PM on August 10 [18 favorites]
The opposite of low bridges:
Need to get a 60 meter blade up a twisty, steep mountain road? Use a blade lift trailer!
Here, it's backing up into a switchback, with rear wheel steering by a handheld console. Then continue on the steep grade toward the top of the mountain.
(The Maine blade is 73 meters, 240 feet.)
posted by jjj606 at 3:06 PM on August 10 [3 favorites]
Need to get a 60 meter blade up a twisty, steep mountain road? Use a blade lift trailer!
Here, it's backing up into a switchback, with rear wheel steering by a handheld console. Then continue on the steep grade toward the top of the mountain.
(The Maine blade is 73 meters, 240 feet.)
posted by jjj606 at 3:06 PM on August 10 [3 favorites]
Wow, new word! Made my day.
Where the heck were his spotters? They run blades down I84 all the time--perfectly flat, open, high bridges, easy curves for miles in the west--and the front-back spotters are right on it. Guess they'll blame the driver or the dispatcher instead of the company being too cheap to budget the job right, because it's always the little guy's fault.
I'm sure there's pollution involved in producing and disposing of turbine blades. Once again, society's problem vs corporate profits. But I'll take the cost of wind power pollution over the oil companies destroying the world anytime. It sounds like there's already some mechanisms in place for recycling blades, and we know where the others are if we need to get them to recycle them later. (Assuming they last that long and don't disintegrate before then)
posted by BlueHorse at 4:19 PM on August 10 [3 favorites]
Where the heck were his spotters? They run blades down I84 all the time--perfectly flat, open, high bridges, easy curves for miles in the west--and the front-back spotters are right on it. Guess they'll blame the driver or the dispatcher instead of the company being too cheap to budget the job right, because it's always the little guy's fault.
I'm sure there's pollution involved in producing and disposing of turbine blades. Once again, society's problem vs corporate profits. But I'll take the cost of wind power pollution over the oil companies destroying the world anytime. It sounds like there's already some mechanisms in place for recycling blades, and we know where the others are if we need to get them to recycle them later. (Assuming they last that long and don't disintegrate before then)
posted by BlueHorse at 4:19 PM on August 10 [3 favorites]
As for Maine English, at least in terms of vocabulary, there are some similarities to the Boston variant - both, for example, really are wicked awesome (but yeah, OK, as somebody who writes a lot, maybe way too much, about storrowing, I've gotten some criticism that I should limit the phrase to things that slam into bridges on Storrow Drive or maybe across the river on Memorial Drive, not in such exotic locales as Dedham or Medford).
Um... you mean a down east accent? I grew up in Maine in an area with that accent. As such, I now introduce you all to The Wicked Good Band... and if you are all.. well, that's singing not talking... Here's Tim Sample introducing you to Maine Humor.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:51 PM on August 10 [2 favorites]
Um... you mean a down east accent? I grew up in Maine in an area with that accent. As such, I now introduce you all to The Wicked Good Band... and if you are all.. well, that's singing not talking... Here's Tim Sample introducing you to Maine Humor.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:51 PM on August 10 [2 favorites]
And to really understand the Maine accent - or to 'Talk Yankee' - Tim has a great sketch...
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:02 PM on August 10 [2 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:02 PM on August 10 [2 favorites]
but yeah, OK, as somebody who writes a lot, maybe way too much, about storrowing, I've gotten some criticism that I should limit the phrase to things that slam into bridges on Storrow Drive or maybe across the river on Memorial Drive, not in such exotic locales as Dedham or Medford
Otherwise it's just a sparkling bridge collision?
Storrowing is named after Storrow Drive, which is named after Helen Storrow. She was a Boston Brahmin who donated the land for what is now the Charles River Esplanade, with the explicit proviso that it be used for a park and only for a park. Beacon Hill waited for her to die before building Storrow Drive, and that should never have been built.
So turning her name into a term for a bridge truck collision is, well, painfully bad given who she was. I look forward to her name becoming the term for admitting that a city should just rip out a highway altogether and replace it not with a tunnel highway but with nothing at all.
Some day. Her great great grandchildren will hopefully see the day the Webster's dictionary defines her name that way.
posted by ocschwar at 5:03 PM on August 10 [4 favorites]
Storrowing is named after Storrow Drive, which is named after Helen Storrow.
Actually named after her husband - the road's official name is James Jackson Storrow Memorial Drive (which nobody uses, of course).
The couple was active in building a park along the Boston side of the Charles (he was a Boston Brahmin investment banker - who ironically spent a year as president of General Motors - she was from a well off New York family; they met while trying to scale the Matterhorn).
After his death, she donated $1 million to the city to improve the park. And she fought the idea of building a highway through it - the road wasn't built until after she died as well.
posted by adamg at 8:28 PM on August 10 [4 favorites]
Actually named after her husband - the road's official name is James Jackson Storrow Memorial Drive (which nobody uses, of course).
The couple was active in building a park along the Boston side of the Charles (he was a Boston Brahmin investment banker - who ironically spent a year as president of General Motors - she was from a well off New York family; they met while trying to scale the Matterhorn).
After his death, she donated $1 million to the city to improve the park. And she fought the idea of building a highway through it - the road wasn't built until after she died as well.
posted by adamg at 8:28 PM on August 10 [4 favorites]
I think we're looking at blades that can be in separate parts as the next innovation.
America's first offshore windfarm is offline because one of its 351-foot-long turbine blades somehow fell apart and plunged into the water off Nantucket
Mission accomplished!
posted by zamboni at 8:41 PM on August 10 [1 favorite]
America's first offshore windfarm is offline because one of its 351-foot-long turbine blades somehow fell apart and plunged into the water off Nantucket
Mission accomplished!
posted by zamboni at 8:41 PM on August 10 [1 favorite]
351-foot-long turbine blades somehow fell apart and plunged into the water
Oh yeah. At sea? Chance in a million!
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 8:57 PM on August 10
Oh yeah. At sea? Chance in a million!
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 8:57 PM on August 10
→
That's a nifty video. They used several of these to get blades through the Scottish Borders over the last year or so. Blades are surprisingly light, and have a convenient ring of anchor bolts at the root end. Unfortunately, the longer the blade, the larger that ring has to be.
(To hint how old and out of the business I am, the first wind turbines I worked on had ~17 m blades, and the last 52 m ones. Those ones were big enough to stand inside comfortably: we had a meeting with 6 people sheltering from the rain inside one once. The Maine blade is 73 m.)
Tower sections are bigger and heavier, but shorter. They're less of a specialized process than blades, so are more frequently made closer to site. Enercon's sectional concrete towers are kind of neat, with the idea that they could be made close to the site.
posted by scruss at 7:42 AM on August 11 [4 favorites]
a blade lift trailer!
That's a nifty video. They used several of these to get blades through the Scottish Borders over the last year or so. Blades are surprisingly light, and have a convenient ring of anchor bolts at the root end. Unfortunately, the longer the blade, the larger that ring has to be.
(To hint how old and out of the business I am, the first wind turbines I worked on had ~17 m blades, and the last 52 m ones. Those ones were big enough to stand inside comfortably: we had a meeting with 6 people sheltering from the rain inside one once. The Maine blade is 73 m.)
Tower sections are bigger and heavier, but shorter. They're less of a specialized process than blades, so are more frequently made closer to site. Enercon's sectional concrete towers are kind of neat, with the idea that they could be made close to the site.
posted by scruss at 7:42 AM on August 11 [4 favorites]
11foot8 has extensive footage of vehicles hitting a single train overpass, many of them truly facepalmey. The most recent video from May 8 is astonishing, and scary, as I could see it causing a derailment.
posted by dsword at 12:01 PM on August 11 [1 favorite]
posted by dsword at 12:01 PM on August 11 [1 favorite]
‘Seriously, this sucks.’ How a small Minnesota town was left with a giant pile of wind turbine blades
Here is an interesting case of blades being left to rot in a lot. Town NOT happy. Has no way to force their removal. Supposed to be recycled, but contractor ran out of money.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:27 PM on August 11
Here is an interesting case of blades being left to rot in a lot. Town NOT happy. Has no way to force their removal. Supposed to be recycled, but contractor ran out of money.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:27 PM on August 11
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And do what with it?? Is someone at the factory just going to hammer out the dents and say “Good as new!”
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:46 AM on August 10 [3 favorites]