Blowing In The Wind
John Kerry is leading the climate fight in the Senate. So why won’t he support a major renewable energy project in his own backyard?
Cape Wind, the bitterly contested proposed offshore wind farm in Massachusetts’ Nantucket Sound, is approaching a critical juncture. After eight years of delays, the project will likely be approved or denied before the end of 2009. If it proceeds, the 24-square-mile, 130-turbine wind farm could generate enough electricity to power 420,000 homes—and kick-start an offshore wind industry in the United States.
But opposition to the project has been fierce, and Cape Wind needs all the help it can get. So where is the state's senior senator? John Kerry is among Capitol Hill's most ardent advocates of addressing climate change, but he has refused to weigh in on one of the most significant debates over the future of alternative energy—and one that’s occurring in his own backyard.
The proposed wind farm, 14 miles offshore, has been delayed for nearly a decade, thanks to a multi-million dollar opposition campaign. Some of the most prominent adversaries were the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and his family. Kennedy insisted that the project would cause environmental problems, create navigational difficulties for boats in the sound, and make the scenic area less attractive to tourists. But it's long been suspected that he simply didn't want rows of large, ungainly wind turbines marring the view from the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, just eight miles away. And as Kennedy was the undisputed dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, many of the state's lawmakers deferred to his position on the matter.
Kennedy's death coincided with the beginning of the final phase of permitting for Cape Wind. In early November, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who had previously been quiet on the issue, sent a strongly worded letter to the Obama administration urging the National Park Service to approve the project before the Copenhagen climate talks begin on December 7.
Markey's endorsement was a major boost—and it made Kerry's silence on the matter even more conspicuous. Now the highest-ranking political figure in the state, Kerry is also the lead player on climate issues in the Senate. He's the main author of the cap-and-trade bill that passed out of committee earlier this month, and he's marshaling cross-party support for the measure.
According to sources close to the project, Kerry's reluctance to weigh in on Cape Wind stems from continued deference to the Kennedy family. But the majority of Democratic politicians in the state have now embraced the project. All four of the Democratic candidates vying to fill Kennedy's seat support it, as does Gov. Deval Patrick and the majority of the state legislature.
In an email statement from Kerry to Mother Jones, he said he is not yet ready to make an announcement on Cape Wind. "I support wind technology, and I want more renewable energy powering more homes in Massachusetts, not less, and I'm talking with leaders in the state and at the federal level about this, and I'll have more discussions in Massachusetts with my constituents before I make a final announcement," he said.
But in a 2007 posting about the "controversy" on his website, Kerry suggested he was no fan of the proposal. "You can't just have someone plunk something down wherever the hell they want," Kerry wrote, questioning "whether this is the best location."
The National Park Service will soon make the final decision on whether to allow Cape Wind to go ahead. With its fate hanging in the balance, support from Massachusetts' senior lawmaker could prove critical. The big question is: Will John Kerry step up?
Comments
Nice article.
It is nice to see the reality beneath their rhetoric.
I am a huge fan of wind power
I am a huge fan of wind power (no pun intended.) However, if you drive through:
a) altamont pass
b) tehachapi pass
c) banning pass (palm springs)
I have to agree with many people that the towers can be quite ugly, even when working, and uglier when they fall into disrepair and rust out.
I've seen various statements about just where that wind farm is going to be, but this is the first time I've heard it's 14 miles offshore. Are you really saying it's 14 miles away from any chunk of land or island?
You can use google maps to see the wind farms and their footprint.
If you were only moderately clever, you Kate, could build a simulation pretty easily with Google Earth that let people easily visualize exactly what the offshore windfarm would look like. That would be very cool journalism.
Cape Wind is located in prime
Cape Wind is located in prime yachting waters, and Kennedy was of course a famous sailor. Much of the most vocal opposition on Cape Cod has come from wealthy homeowners with water views.
The irony of course is many of those homes will be drowned by rising ocean levels with global warming.
The way I see it - we've been letting Appalachia be leveled for coal, now it's our turn to pay an environmental price for electricity...even if that means the yachtsmen will have to avoid some towers when sailing recreationally.
cape wind
Katherine: you state that turbines will be located 14 miles off shore. The original hard&fast proposals (read demands) by CapeWind were 5-6 miles off shore. IF you are correct in your statement that they are to be located 14 miles off shore, that is probably a result of difficult negotiations over several years.
The permitting process is completed. There is a suit pending by the Wampanoag tribe. This week National Grid has agreed to buy their power, but now they are haggling over the price. It is a big step but I believe the two sides are still far apart.
There is hesitation in Massachusetts to send a private company more money without better safeguards. Massachusetts is still smarting from subsidizing Evergreen Solar with 58 million dollars only to have them move their solar panel manufacturing from Mass to China this year.
Kerry did his job to keep Cape Wind alive by blocking Congressional legislation to give Gov Romney executive power to kill the project in a Coast Guard appropriations bill in 2006. These are local, business, and regulatory issues now. The author taking swipes at Kerry's limited role now seems mostly gratuitous.
Cape Wind should ultimately go through.
I have read the article based
I have read the article based on the Wind power. I Like the concept and information behind this scheme.I agree with the point that the permitting process is completed. There is a suit pending by the Wampanoag tribe. I know that National Grid has agreed to buy their power, but now they are haggling over the price. It is a big step but I believe the two sides are still far apart.
Cape Wind clarifications
There are many issues concerning Cape Wind that need clarification:
1. Cape Wind will not be located 14 miles off shore, it is a 24 square mile project located on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. It is app. 5 miles off shore and is bordered in a triangle by Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod. This area is heavily used by recreational boaters during the summer months and fishermen year round.
2. Cape Wind claims that by using the power of the wind it will provide most of the Cape and Islands' electricity. Not! Cape Wind will be selling electricity to the National Grid and it will not be used for the needs of the Cape and Islands.
3. Cape Wind claims that it will stabilize the electric rates on the Cape etc., but by selling to the National Grid at the best price available to maximize profits, it will have little, if any, positive effect on rates!
4. As a private, for profit business using public resources, what monies will be paid to the Commonwealth for its use?
5. It has been suggested by RFK Jr that it is a good project, but in the wrong location and that it could be located on the backside(eastern side) of Nantucket.
It has been over ten years since I have visited this site and I believe Cape Wind would be despoiling a beautiful area of nature. I would no more place wind turbines in Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon than in this area. There are other off shore wind farm projects proposed for MA that haven't raised any objections.
I don't understand points 2 &
I don't understand points 2 & 3. If electricity is fungible (isn't electricity fungible?) how could "more electricity" into the national grid not help the cape, even wrt rates?
Your other points align with what I've heard about the location: 5 miles offshore and not 14 miles offshore. As I've suggested if the author of the post had been even a so-so clever reporter, a barely competent reporter, a d grade reporter, she might have given us a "m a p".
Map
A map of the impacted area is available on the Cape Wind web site. Electric rates in New England are primarly predicated on the price of oil and natural gas and to the market fluctuations of said resources. If the markets are up, I would venture to say that Cape Wind, as a for profit company, would negotiate for higher prices. I am not sure of the influence the price of coal may have on rates.
wind turbines
Wind turbines are awful, ugly, intrusive, and their acceptance would be a display of the poverty of the human aesthetic sense in modern times. The energy of the sun is there and all we need to solve our energy problems without the ugliness of wind turbines..
Cape wind farms
Kerry fancies himself "Kennedy-esque" which means he is a narcissistic 'rich boy.*' Cape Cod is "theirs" and don't you put a wind turbine in front of his mansion. Hooray for him and to h__l with anyone else.
* The riches are his wife's money. He didn't generate a dime.
A lot of questions can be
A lot of questions can be answered by reading the Cape Wind's website.
My family has summered on the Islands for 6 decades and I like the idea of the wind farm. I have talked with a number of people from the area that support it.
The windfarm is planned for Horseshoe Shoal, it won't be a problem for boats that wouldn't cross the shoal anyway. I think the location was chosen for it's wind potential, this is one, if not the most, consistently windy spot around.
5 miles from the Capecod Coast, it will be barley visable from those beaches.
We actually think it will be fun to sail out to the shoal and look at the farm.
The only problem I have w wind power is the bird kill, so I hope they have got some way to reduce it.
Cape Wind
I am for alternative energy all the way, but I just don't understand why they can't build wind farms in cities, along highways, in old industrial sites, brown fields etc. Why do they have to muck up the beautiful places with this stuff?
Cape Wind presents unacceptable siting conflicts
Senator Kerry supports the fishermen and navigators of Nantucket Sound threatened by Cape Wind. Senator Kerry recognizes the opposition to Cape Wind legitimately identifies an unacceptable risk to public safety posed by Cape Wind.
Coalition of 18 Massachusetts commercial fishing organizations calls on Cape Wind to "stop making false claims" about their offshore wind project’s impact on fishing.
“Mass. Fishermen’s Partnership says "Cape Wind puts fishermen at risk"
GLOUCESTER - The Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership (MFP) today released a letter publicly calling on Cape Wind CEO Jim Gordon to "stop making false claims to the public" to the effect that the world’s largest proposed offshore wind energy plant won’t have any detrimental impact on fishing in Nantucket Sound and may even prove beneficial to fishermen.”
Hy-Line Cruises states:
“We feel strongly that the scope and location of this project will prove to be an additional navigational hazard to commercial and recreational boaters alike.”
The Air Traffic Controllers Union at Cape Approach states that they, “could not think of a worse place to put these turbines."
Town of Barnstable: “The Cape Wind project would have negative impact on Barnstable and the region as a whole. Local economies would suffer from a loss of tourism-the financial lifeblood for most of Southern Massachusetts-and from the job loss as a result of this decline in tourism. Moreover, another economic mainstay of the area, commercial fishing, would be seriously harmed by the project.”
Brewster Selectmen: “ Local economies could suffer…by a systemic erosion of the Cape’s reputation as a wild, historic and pristine destination.”
Hyannis area Chamber of Commerce: “The location is unacceptable.”
Nantucket Chamber of Commerce: “The 23-member Board of Directors of the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce, representing 660 Nantucket businesses, organizations and individuals, has unanimously voted to go on record in opposition to the locating in Nantucket Sound of a wind park as proposed by Cape Wind Associates.” “The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University indicated that Cape Cod alone would experience as much as a $123 million annual drop in tourism spending.”
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