Committee Acts to Doom New England Wind Farm

[WhiteTara]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/washington/08cape.html
A Senate-House conference committee has approved a measure that would effectively kill a proposal for the first large offshore wind farm in the United States, in Nantucket Sound south of Cape Cod, Mass.

The measure, an amendment to a Coast Guard budget bill, gives the governor of "the adjacent state," Massachusetts, veto power over any wind farm in the sound. Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, opposes the wind farm, and most of the candidates running to replace him in the election for governor this fall have also come out against it, as have most of the state's prominent politicians.

The budget bill now goes to the full Congress, and members are expected to consider it after their recess.

Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind Associates, the private company that proposed the wind farm, said the language that would kill it was inserted into the measure, without hearings or other public discussion, in an "egregious abuse" of the legislative process.

I wonder if we will ever be able to make any changes.

[4morewars]

1. "When . . . in the course of all these thousands of years

"When . . . in the course of all these thousands of years has man ever
acted in accordance with his own interests?"
DOSTOEVSKY

[OneBlueSky]

2. the hypocrisy of some of our most noted "liberals" . . .

is pretty apparent . . . and not at all attractive . . .

NIMBY for Millionaires . . .

[sandnsea]

3. Kerry opposed this amendment

For the record. He has said repeatedly he was waiting for the completed studies and an actual site to be chosen before deciding whether it was appropriate. There are environmental issues with wind farms too. But he opposed this..

''I oppose this backdoor amendment to the Coast Guard authorization bill which - if passed - will derail offshore wind projects across the nation,'' Kerry said in an afternoon statement.

''At a time of increasing energy demand and sky-high costs, I am very concerned about any legislation that limits our options in pursuing renewable energy,'' he said.


http://www.capecodonline.com/special/windfarm/kerrywades25.htm

[salin]

4. there has got to be something that can be done to stop the

adding of riders that are barely tangentitally related to the main bill.

[salin]

5. there has got to be something that can be done to stop the

adding of riders that are barely tangentitally related to the main bill.

[midnight armadillo]

6. Romney is not anti-wind though

He supports a project to put turbines in the poor western end of the state, in the Berkshires.

Romney just doesn't want to piss off the uberwealthy seashore landowners on the Cape. Of course, with global warming they'll lose their properties in 50 years, but who cares about science anymore?!?

[Warren Stupidity]

10. Which makes him against the cape windfarm.

This whole affair is sickening elitist bullshit. You can't shit on nantucket for less than $1,000,000. Fuck them. We need a (peaceful) revolution.

[Earth_First]

7. I am so sick of the NIMBY's...

"We're all in favor of alternative energy infrastructure development, just Not In My Backyard." :eyes:

[LiberalEsto]

8. The Kennedys didn't want the wind farm nt

[Earth_First]

12. I make no distinction between (D) or (R) in this debate n/t

[jwirr]

9. It is the "off shore" part that is seen as the problem. I think we

would get the same uproar on Lake Superior where I live if we tried to ruin the beautiful view and the natural setting.

However, I would like to see them go one step further - ok individual back yard wind machines like they are in EU.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. I actually checked into that.

You have to do a study of your local wind conditions first or it is a loser. But with the right wind patterns you can, with around a 10K investment, get a decent return. I'd love to see my neighbor's reactions after the turbine went up.

[BiggJawn]

13. NIMBY in action.

The Wealthy around these parts have a history of threatening to sue their cellie providers for crappy service at home, then they threaten to sue when said provider wants to put a tower in their precious Planned Community...
Just no pleasing some folks, y'know?

[anotherdrew]

14. I think large slow moving wind turbines are beautiful personally

it's a very simple and direct reflection of humanities impact on nature for one thing.