There was no “on-the-fence” for the proponents and opponents who turned out for what could be the last public hearing on a proposed wind project off the coast of Cape Cod.
The Springfield (Mass.) News-Sun reports that the hearing before the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation could be the culmination of a nearly 10-year-old fight over the plan by Cape Wind Associates LLC to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound:
The historic panel was collecting public comment before making its recommendation to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who has said he will decide by April whether to approve Cape Wind. Salazar must take the council’s advice into consideration but is not required to follow to it, the board’s chairman, Mark Sadd, told the crowd.
The Minerals Management Service, a division of the Interior Department, found in 2008 that the wind turbines would adversely affect 28 historic structures or districts, including the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, and one traditional cultural property…
Cape Wind’s benefits would far outweigh any visual or other effects on historic properties, according to supporters.
The project would help combat climate change and reduce acid rain, which has been proved to damage historic buildings, said Eleftherios Pavlides, a professor of architecture at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.
Now, let me see if I got this right. Opponents believe that an area littered by boat traffic and mansions, such as the Kennedy Compound (nice to see they’re looking out for the common guy who might have benefited from lower energy bills from the cheap energy from this wind project), would be made un-pristine by some windmills whirring in the ocean breeze? Tell you what, ban all the boats and raze all the mansions, return it to its original environment, then we’ll talk about whether the windmills are clean or not.
0 responses to “Final Hearing on Cape Wind Project Brings Fireworks”
If anyone believes a wind farm on Nantucket Sound will lower their electric bills then there is a bridge in Brooklyn that I would like to sell them. Electricity from a wind farm in Nantucket Sound will go into a grid and will be pulled to whoever needs it most – Boston? NYC? most likely not Cape Cod, which will bare the burden of a blighted landscape. Thousands of people that do not have mansions come to the beaches of Cape Cod to enjoy the view , swim in its waters and fish. There are many more of them than there are mansions. The writer that thinks it’s just the wealthy hasn’t paid attention to the little boats out there with day fishermen, the public beaches filled with families. And some of the villages and towns are now limiting the size of homes built near the water so an effort is being made to keep out the mansions so all of us can enjoy Nantucket Sound. The question really is: Why Nantucket Sound? There are many other, better places to put it. So, ask yourselves, do you think ruining a beautiful body of water is the price you should pay when you don’t have to pay it? When there are better alternatives. Would you buy a Prius right now to be green when you could buy a Ford or Chevy that offers you the same energy saving value? America wake up! Don’t be green just to be green, be smart green! Save our natural beauty,keep America the beautiful nation it is and do it wisely.
The Environmental Impact Statement clearly states that all alternative sites studied (including the South of Tuckernuck Island site you’ll hear a lot about from the opposition) are all inferior to Horeshoe Shoal. The SOT Island location was even found to have a negative impact on certain avian species-but the opposition doesn’t care because all they truly care about is not seeing wind turbines in the far off hazy distance. Every one who has followed this debate is 100% aware that this is a wealthy NIMBY group funded by oil and coal money and wealthy homeowners. Their budget is in the millions! BUILD CAPE WIND!
Big Picture, don’t let pesky fats get in the way of flawed ideology. Clearly, when those 5000 sq ft mansions and 40 ft yachts and industrial fishing trawlers were disturbing the bones of buried Wampanoags, they desecrated the burial grounds in ways that were socially acceptable. But wind power is frightening to most people like us with a faint grasp of physics, because it doesn’t have a tailpipe which blasts pollution into the atmosphere. Therefore, it must be witchcraft and nothing good can come of it. And besides, wind power is expensive! As was proven in the summer of 2008, no carbon based energy source can experience huge price spikes which could make alternatives cheaper than conventional energy. Natural gas and coal will remain abundant forever, so it is folly to prepare for a world in which either of those two have a diminishing supply.
As Quoted in the Los Angeles Times 3/26/10 RE: Cape Wind
“Sigh. Big Energy are such mercenary jerks. Why on earth would we desecrate wilderness areas and culturally significant regions WHEN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT CAN ALREADY PRODUCE 200% OF THE US’ ELECTRICITY USE WITH CHEAP THIN FILM? The DOE determined back in 2003, that the entire US could be powered twice over if the existing built environment were used for rooftop solar.
THERE IS NO NEED FOR BIG WIND, BIG SOLAR OR BIG TRANSMISSION – these are all greenwashed LIES to remonopolize our grid, recentralize an inherently decentralized resource (sun and air), and to rip us off. WE should own the solar panels, efficiency upgrades and other point of use solutions and WE should be paid for producing more clean energy than we use – right where and when the energy is needed!
PLEASE do not believe Big Energy developers or their paid-off apologists (including politicians and some of the Big Enviro spokesmodels) – they are all lying to you in order to socialize the costs of their destructive, GHG INCREASING boondoggles and to privatize the profits. They need to be SHUT DOWN and WE need the programs that will stabilize, clean and democratize the grid.”
Those of you who think it’s the millionaires against this think again. Horseshoe Shoal is a breadbasket for a lot of REAL people who have to stay here nomatter what.