The Sietch has covered extensively the back and forth battle over Cape Wind in the last couple of years. In all that time the alliance to protect Nantucket sound, the opposition group against the project, have continuously surprised me with the kind of strange and often foolish things they come up with. First they said the project would kill all the birds, top environmentalists including the Audubon found that it wouldn’t, then they said that ships would run into the turbines, then we all realized that the ground around the turbines was too shallow for this to happen, then they said that the turbines would interfere with radar, but the government said it wont. In short they have never really been able to come up with a single decent reason for why Cape Wind shouldn’t be built.
They have now gone and amazed me again by hiring Glenn Wattley (scroll down for his bio), a coal industry insider(pdf), to be the new chief executive officer for the alliance. To me it makes perfect sense in so many ways. It is obvious that the coal industry might have a little to fear from wind power, it is also obvious that a lot of very rich people made their money from exploiting poor regions of the country (mountain top removal anyone) so why not hire a coal man to help protect the views of the rich people that made their money from exploiting the poor of coal country. See it all makes perfect sense.
I am sure Glen Wattley is a very nice man, you know other than working to stop clean renewable energy, and promoting dirty world destroying coal, but other than that I am sure, very nice. The alliance’s choice highlights our choice. It’s not wind or nothing, its wind or coal, or wind or oil, or wind or gas. If they stop Cape wind they don’t magically fix global warming, they also don’t magically fix the need for more energy in the region. Those massive energy hogging vacation homes are not going to power themselves.
If you don’t support wind what do you support? Would you like them to build a coal power plant on cape cod? How about a new nuclear reactor, they could put it right on route six so everyone on the Cape could see it on their way to the vacation bungalow. Of all the options available to supply power to the region it would seem to me that the least offensive in every way, is wind power. I guess you could also build another power plant “someplace else” and let the little people that live there worry about it, perhaps that is their plan.
The Minerals Management Service, the government agency in charge of regulating the proposed project, is scheduled to release a draft environmental impact statement on the project before the end of the summer. The Cape Cod Commission, the regional planning agency for Barnstable County, will begin public hearings on the Cape Wind project at 5 p.m. Thursday at Mattacheese Middle School, Higgins Crowell Road, West Yarmouth. If you live on the Cape and are against Cape Wind, this would be a great place to lobby for a new coal power plant. If you are pro-Cape Wind this would be a great place to show up and let them know about it.
How about this – Jim Gordon has told Massachusetts residents that if they want renewable energy, it has to be in Nantucket Sound, take it or leave it….sounds like a false choice to me.
I’m sorry if Jim Gordon wont take his pet project elsewhere because he’ll take home a smaller bankroll.
What you have never reported on is the history of Nantucket Sound – how it is the only place in the continental united states where state waters surround federal waters, how it was previously protected as Cape and Islands Ocean Sanctuary, how it should be protected from a project of this size and scope.
If this project was environmentally friendly, it would have been passed years ago. The ACOE was found INADEQUATE by federal agencies. Let me say that again…INADEQUATE. Instead of addressing the environmental concerns raised by government agencies, the state of Massachusetts, and the towns this project will effect, you tirelessly take shots at Kennedy and other wealthy waterfront owners.
Yes, the United States should pursue offshore renewable energy, but this location isn’t the right place to start.
Hi Klaus: Could you provide me with some links about the ACOE, and its inadequacy. I just want to read up more on it.
I don’t really understand your aversion to someone making money from public lands, miners, ranchers, loggers, and many others do so all the time (and more often than not they do so at great harm to the environment). At least cape wind will do something good for our energy needs, and our environment. Would you rather they burn more oil/coal/gas?
I think your claim that this project is being held up by environmental concerns to be a pretty erroneous viewpoint. There are a lot of very powerful people, spending a lot of money, and calling in a lot of political favors to stop this project, it has in fact passed all the environmental benchmarks so far.
I take shots at Kennedy because he is calling for more wind power on one hand and screaming “but thats where I sail” on the other. He is acting like a hypocrite.
You have left your fair share of comments here against Cape Wind, so I can’t honestly say I expected you to suddenly change your mind, but then again you know my view too :)