Business Week commented on the progress of Cape Wind and the potential to move forward to provide clean energy to Cape Cod.
For almost 8 years, wealthy Cape residents and energy lobbyists have waged a battle that has delayed approval and construction, and more significantly, forced consumers to pay more for their power.
[Jim Gordon] has methodically responded to every objection from Cape Cod property owners and sometime-vacationers, ranging from heiress Bunny Mellon and billionaire Bill Koch to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). "This is like trying to put a wind farm in Yellowstone National Park, as far as we're concerned," says Glenn Wattley, CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the opposition's lobbying arm.
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Victory is by no means certain. Cape Wind could yet bog down in litigation or be nixed by the feds, Gordon concedes. Even if Washington O.K.'s the project, he must find a way to finance it. Expected costs have more than doubled in the last eight years, to over $1.5billion, by some estimates. And assuming the funding comes through, engineering and construction could drag on for three or more years. .
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In Hull, Mass., a faded Victorian-era beach town just across the bay from Boston, there's already a windmill spinning above the local high school and another over the dump. Four more turbines are planned for the waters just a mile and a half from one of Greater Boston's busiest public beaches. Thanks to the two functioning windmills, power rates in the town haven't risen in seven years, although they've doubled statewide. With four more, Hull could meet all of its needs with homegrown energy, says town manager Phil Lemnios.
.The US has allowed other nations to surpass our technology and manufacturing capacity because of our failure to insist on a sensible national energy policy. Instead, we are subsidizing dirty power, like coal, to the detriment of our future.
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Where the US should be leading the world, some are still mired in the shortsighted propaganda of a failed Administration that denied Global Warming.
.Europe is some 15 years ahead of the U.S. in exploiting offshore wind. Hundreds of giant windmills already dot the North Sea, with more than 1,000 megawatts of generating capacity. This head start provides an edge to equipment suppliers such as Denmark's Vestas Wind Systems and Germany's Siemens (SI), the only two companies building offshore turbines in large volumes today.
.Isn't it time to expect aggressive support for WIND on Beacon Hill?
2 comments:
The Minerals Management Service has shown in its draft report that Cape Wind would more than double the wholesale rates for electricity.
Double what????
In the last several years, energy costs have more than doubled. OPEC is predicting $170 per barrel oil. And if the US is foolhardy enough to provoke war with Iran, care to guess what that figure will be?
The Commonwealth, governed by crisis mode only, has been short-sighted in their actions. With the innovation and skill available, the Commonwealth should be a leader.
Buildings codes should have been amended gradually over time.
But then, if an energy efficient home were marketed, who would buy it?
Homes can be constructed to be net zero energy users. Who cared?
Instead, McMansions were constructed that are energy gluttons.
Cape Wind? A beginning. But take a look around at what others are accomplishing. Information has been posted about Cambridge's energy conservation efforts. It's affordable. It's doable.
And take a look at what the Commonwealth has done to stymie new projects.
You will find information posted about Taunton's School Dept. efforts to reduce energy costs by + $500K annually. You'll find other towns that have moved ahead with conservation, wind turbines, solar PV.
Middleboro? The Middleboro G&E? Silence!
Americans WASTE enough energy so that conservation should be easily accomplished to avoid construction of new power plants. But they also need the information publicized and explained to them.
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