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.