Cape Wind is dealt a setback

[Eugene]

(Boston Globe)

Cape Wind is dealt a setback

Bill would give Romney final say

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | April 7, 2006

Governor Mitt Romney, an opponent of the wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound,
would gain the authority to kill the controversial project under a tentative agreement
reached yesterday in the US Senate.

After days of closed-door talks, members of Congress agreed on a measure that would grant
the governor or his successor the right to block the wind farm proposed by Cape Wind
Associates, Senate aides said. The break came yesterday when US Senator Gordon H. Smith,
an Oregon Republican, switched sides and backed the measure giving the governor the
authority to block the project, environmental advocates and Senate aides said.

The amendment is now expected to be attached to a broad Coast Guard authorization bill
that would face floor votes in the House and the Senate, where its future remains unclear.
Some expect the measure to generate a battle in the Senate, where Senator Pete V. Domenici,
a New Mexico Republican and chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sharply
criticized it this week as contradicting Congress's commitment to producing more renewable
energy.

<snip>

Cape Wind aims to build 130 wind turbines on a 24-square-mile area of Nantucket Sound.
During average winds, Gordon says, the project could provide three-quarters of the
electricity needs of the Cape and Islands, without generating pollution.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/04/07/cape_wind_is_dealt_a_setback
(Boston Globe - free registration may be required)

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Oh, for fuck's sake. nt

[EST]

2. Well said...

The array of self indulgent, arrogant sub-normal intellects is frustratingly astonishing.

[Savannah Progressive]

3. What really pisses me off about this is that Senator Kennedy is behind it

Apparently, the proposed wind farm is located in one of the Kennedy Family's favorite yachting locations.

[cali]

4. Good.

Nantucket Sound is not the place for a wind farm. I don't live there, but where I live, the wind farming debate rages hot and heavy, and I'm willing to see a wind farm built on one of my favorite mountain tops. It makes sense to put it there, but I don't think the same is true for Nantucket Sound.

[Dead_Parrot]

5. Any particular reason for thinking this?

Or just a case of spoiling the view?

[rfkrfk]

6. the oceanbed is federal or state jurisdiction?

where the windmills would be placed.

[Dead_Parrot]

7. State - I think...

State territory heads out to sea until it hits the continental shelf, as far as I can tell: I think this is the bit of legal gibberish that governs it, and if you understand it, let me know!

[One_Life_To_Give]

8. Federal

Actually all Navigable waters are Federal.
The stataes have some influence up to the three mile territorial limit. Which is why Cape Wind modified it's plans to keep the project outside the limit. And away from Romney's veto.

[NNadir]

9. It is really tough to get rich people to accept energy development in

their area.

A little known fact is that the anti-nuclear movement in the 1960's got funded when LILCO, then the power company on Long Island, proposed building a nuclear plant in Lloyd's Neck, a wealthy enclave. This ultimately led to the Shoreham disaster, which prevented out country from getting what it needs.

[soothsayer]

10. Wind power makes sense to me. Nuclear, not one iota.

[Dead_Parrot]

11. You must like candlelight. nt

[NNadir]

12. How much sense do you have?

Nuclear power is the safest continuous load form of power known. It is not quite as safe as wind power - but it is close - and wind power is only safe depending on the type of back up.

Wind can displace gas, but it cannot displace coal. Coal is currently known to be the most dangerous form of energy known, by far. It kills broadly and widely and constantly.

[rfkrfk]

13. I'm tired of 'extra-jurisdictional' BS

childish crap and cowardice

[bloom]

14. Does this group try to work with the people who live there?

"Cape Wind aims to build 130 wind turbines on a 24-square-mile area of Nantucket Sound. During average winds, Gordon says, the project could provide three-quarters of the electricity needs of the Cape and Islands, without generating pollution."


Seems like a bunch of smaller turbines on land - individual ones even - would not be so "in your face".

I wonder what solution the people who would be looking at these want. Seems to me there could be a different style that would go with their mostly 100 year old looking architecture. Are the Cape Wind people looking for a solution or just to "win" (IOW - force whatever they think is best)?

[phantom power]

16. I'm sure they could go with this classic design...

[bloom]

17. Well

I think they could use a design like that and modernize how it works. And if it fits an area better - why not?

I think it's kind of bulky looking, myself - it needs a slimmer look (but not as slim as what is proposed). It's not JUST about technology when the plan is to put them in a visible area.

If the things were being put on top of factories and skyscrapers - on the edges of airports - the aeronautical/industrial look would probably work better.

[phantom power]

18. It's an interesting idea to combat nimby-ism, but...

the laws of aerodynamics are fairly uncompromising. Any effective wind turbine is going to look pretty similar to the kind they make now, for the same reason that all airplanes follow a fairly similar bodyplan. Color strikes me as a parameter they could vary freely. I've noticed that fences with dark colors are less obtrusive than fences with white colors. It might be the same for wind turbines.

My understanding of the NIMBY reactions is that they simply don't want any tall structures polluting their view. Tweaking the style of the structure won't really address their complaints.

[bloom]

19. I think the Holland look

would do better on land. Heck - if they were marketed right - they could probably get people clamoring for them - IOW - they WOULD want them in their backyards.


And if they were to put the industrial looking ones somewhere in the water - it would be nice to paint them blue or or gray or something. Of course - if they are too well disguised - a plane might run into them.

[phantom power]

20. It's just that the "holland" style is too inefficient.

It won't provide cost-effective energy.

[bloom]

21. I think that the Holland look

could be combined with modern technology. Nobody's saying it has to be built our of wood (though they could make it look like it was) or that the shape of the turning things couldn't be adjusted - at least the part that works. I don't know that anyone has tried to make a more compatible design.


There is too much ugly stuff that people are expected to look at. Just because some people don't care - doesn't mean that nobody does - or that nobody should.


Or put ugly ones in the backyards of the people who don't care. :shrug:


I mean really - haven't any of these people taken a marketing course? Thought about how to sell an idea - make the thing desirable instead of merely functional?


All I ever hear is that the Cape Wind people are mad because other people don't want ugly things in their backyard. Well who does? I don't. And if I had to choose - I would rather have it in my front yard than my backyard - because I don't look at the view from the front. Are the Cape Winders really trying to come up with a solution that people want to live with - or are do they just want to be clueless to people concerns?

[NNadir]

23. One person's ugly is another person's beautiful.

Given the stakes, I could imagine few things more beautiful that the Cape Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts.

What could be ugly about saving lives and saving the Earth's atmosphere? I note that most of Cape Cod and Nantucket is low lying. That wind project will make it more likely that there will still be a place to stand and enjoy the view.

[skids]

22. If they are dirt cheap...

...the efficiency won't matter much. It's all about ROI.

I think it's a fun idea. Outside a dutch windmill, inside, out of view, a modern generator.

[One_Life_To_Give]

24. Wind is not as steady on land

The reason for putting these offshore is to increase the capacity loading. The wind does not blow as frequently and as strong on the Cape as it does on the Sound.

And leasing the sites on Horseshoe Shoels costs less than leasing on Million $/Acre Cape land.

[YankeyMCC]

15. We've got to keep it out of the Gov's hands until after Nov

and get Deval Patrick elected, he's the only candidate to support the project.