Update on Cape Wind

[beachmom]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/science/earth/05wind.html

For Cape Cod Wind Farm, New Hurdle Is Spiritual

BOSTON — In a new setback for a controversial wind farm proposed off Cape Cod, the National Park Service announced Monday that Nantucket Sound was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, guaranteeing further delays for the project.

The tribes — the Mashpee Wampanoag of Cape Cod and the Aquinnah Wampanoag of Martha’s Vineyard — sought the listing last fall, shortly before a final federal decision on the project was expected. The project has been in the works since 2001 and is strongly supported by Gov. Deval Patrick.

The decision by the National Park Service did not kill the Cape Wind plan, but it erected new hurdles by requiring more negotiations and, possibly, changes to the project, like moving it. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar set a deadline of March 1 for the tribes and the project’s developer, Energy Management Inc., to reach a compromise.

If they do not — a distinct possibility given the acrimony surrounding the project — Mr. Salazar can decide the project’s future himself after seeking suggestions from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent group. But even if Mr. Salazar lets the project move forward, the park service finding could help the tribes and opponents build a legal case against it.

Kate Sheppard has a more opinionated article on the matter:

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/01/cape-wind-delay-big-win-dirty-energy-interests

She documents who has been behind the biggest group opposed to the project, and the ties (if tenuous) it has with the tribes:

But what the Times fails to mention is that the bulk of the opposition to Cape Wind over the years has come from a multimillion-dollar campaign backed by oil and gas money—not Native Americans trying to protect territory they regard as sacred. At the forefront of the effort has been William Koch, who alone has spent more than a million to oppose the farm via a group called the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Koch is the founder and president of the Oxbow Group, and has made his fortune off mining and marketing coal, natural gas, petroleum, and coke products. He's the son of Fred Koch, founder of oil and gas giant Koch Industries—which also funds FreedomWorks and its campaigns against both climate legislation and health care reform.

The Alliance was founded in 2001 with the sole purpose of defeating the wind farm. Koch, a billionaire fossil-fuel tycoon and yacht enthusiast, has given at least $1.5 million to the Alliance and related efforts to defeat the project (as of 2006, that is—how much he's given since then is unknown), which would be visible from his home in the Cape Cod town of Osterville. Doug Yearley, the former CEO of mining giant Phelps Dodge and a member of Marathon Oil's board of directors, was also highly involved in the Alliance up until his death in 2007.

Koch and his wealthy friends in the area are responsible for more than 90 percent of the contributions to the Alliance . . .

...

Yet there's evidence to suggest the Alliance and the tribes are working more closely together than Green or Parker acknowledge. For intance, the tribes used Alliance letterhead to send at least one letter to the state historic preservation officer in Massachusetts. And the Alliance was clearly enthused to have the tribes step up with the historical preservation claim; Parker said it "would be great news" if their claim for historic preservation was what finally killed the project altogether.

She does allow that the tribes have "perfectly sound" reasons to oppose the project. However, there is this (which was also mentioned in the NYT article):

But in the case of this particular decision on Cape Wind, granting this level of preservation to an entire body of water could be a bad omen for all future offshore wind development. Barring development here, Cape Wind president Jim Gordon told Mother Jones recently, "would have a chilling effect on what could possibly be one of the most promising sources for energy independence and creating a new green economy."

Now maybe Ms. Sheppard is barking up the wrong tree. Feel free to comment if you disagree. As it stands, I thought this was interesting:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091203/NEWS/912030342/-1/rss36

A new opinion survey finds rising support by Cape Cod residents for a proposed 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

The University of Delaware survey on the Cape Wind project was released at Wednesday's start of the American Wind Energy Association conference. It found 57 percent of those who returned mail surveys support Cape Wind, while 41 percent oppose it. A 2005 survey by the same researchers found the project was opposed 56-44.

The researchers partly attributed the shift to the prospect of lower electricity rates and reduced dependence on foreign oil.

[Mass]

1. 57-41 vs 56-44 in a mail survey = rising support. I never had a great opinion of

southcoasttoday, but this does not them make look better. MOE of the survey (assuming the same rules apply than for telephone survey) is 5 %,
Seems to me that this is what I would consider stable.

As for the rest, I have no real information concerning the tribe opposition, but Kate Sheppard is funny if she thinks that big business is only on one side of this issue. She does not spend a lot of time explaining that Cape Wind is big business as well.

[beachmom]

2. You misunderstand. It was opposed 56 - 44. Now it is approved of 57-41.

As to the rest, I urge you and other Mass. people to comment on Mother Jones. Kate Sheppard is not hearing this POV.

[TayTay]

3. Cape Wind is a complicated matter

The http://bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1223787&position=0">Boston Herald weighs in with yet another side of the issue

Cape Wind’s big secret
Power will cost millions extra

National Grid customers will experience sticker shock after the giant utility negotiates a long-term electric contract with Cape Wind developers, energy experts warn.

Business groups worry that a National Grid contract with Cape Wind, which needs a long-term deal to secure funds to build a giant wind farm off Cape Cod, could add tens of millions of dollars per year to electric bills.

They point to a recent price agreement between National Grid and a Rhode Island wind-farm developer as cause for alarm.

The Rhode Island deal calls for National Grid to pay an eye-popping 24 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity from Deepwater Wind’s proposed wind farm off Block Island for 20 years. That’s three times higher than the current price of natural-gas generated electricty - and the Rhode Island deal includes a 3.5 percent annual price increase over the life of the contract.

Cape Wind is also about money. Big money. There are alliances here that are formed for convenience sake to unite opposition that is based on multiple objections. Here is some more info on the recent ruling that Nantucket Sound is a national heritage site from a http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2010/01/07/salazar_should_quickly_resolve_tribal_objections_to_cape_wind/">Boston Globe Editorial:

The tribes complained that the wind turbines would interfere with their welcoming of the rising sun and might disturb prehistoric sites, now underwater, where tribe members might have once lived. Their objections to Cape Wind did not keep the Martha’s Vineyard Wampanoags from planning their own wind project just a few hundred yards from the Vineyard’s Gay Head Cliffs, which have won designation as a National Historic Landmark.

This issue is complicated. Follow the money.

[MBS]

4. Yup, it is complicated, that's for sure.

That's why I get so frustrated with people, especially my fellow environmentalists, taking absolutist "for or against alternative energy" stands on this
Follow the money: you bet.

[beachmom]

5. But what I argue in the OP and comments is that you guys need to speak up

on it, instead of just on this lonely part of the internet. I will continue to say that Kate Sheppard is a fair reporter and someone worth engaging with. She needs to understand all sides. Looking at the comments on her piece, it is full of people who are opposed to wind energy in general. No liberal environmental voices in response. So Kate will continue to think she has gotten the story about right, since the opponents in the comments are also opponents to all wind energy and use many of the dirty fuel arguments against it.

This was from one of the commenters, which was interesting:

CAPE WIND

Submitted by peter kenney (not verified) on Thu Jan. 7, 2010 6:36 AM PST.

This article is a joke, a bad joke. It is poorly researched if at all and demonstartes a bias so ugly it is comical. Seme people work better unimpeded by facts.

FACT: The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound shows more than 30,000 names and over 10,000 contributors in the their records. Can all of these people be billionaire waterfront property owners? The earliest fund raising gatherings for the Alliance featured plastic beach pails being passed around so people could toss in their spare change and occasional $20 bills. Bill Kock was nowhere in sight back then. But, faced with fighting an energy developer, Jim Gordon, who was prepared to spend millions to seize the heart of Nantucket Sound we welcomed Koch. Grodn has so far spent $40 million or so he claims.

As for John Kerry...here is where good research would have paid off...Jim Gordon lives across the street from Kerry on Boston's Beacon Hill --- literally across the street. The Issue is not that Senator Kerry has not made a definitive statement about Cape Wind; the issue is that he clearly supports it but does not have the guts to say so on the record. Did MoJo call him and ask for comment? I know the answer. How best to describe the new blogger/journalist, Hmmmm.....how about lazy? How about wrong? How about not at all helpful when there are serious issues at hand?

I notice that MoJo actually spoke with Jim Gordon. A few other phone calls would have been helpful. Why is it wrong for the tribes and the Alliance to work closely together? If Sierra Club worked closely with another environmental group, say Conservation law Foundation, would MoJo hint at improprieties?

By my reckoning Cape Wind will cost more than $2 billion to construct and will increase electric bills across New England. Of course, I have done some homework and taken the time to understand the technology and the finance and the regulatory issues. But, why let facts get in the way of something that could make me feel so good? the only thing green about Cape Wind is the money that Gordon stands to make.

I have no idea if all of this is true. It just sounds like Mr. Kenney is actually a local. But I tend to believe JK supports Cape Wind, but has actually been savvy to stay mum on it. Sounds like a minefield.

Thing is, these are competing interests, and I don't see why it has to be framed in a good vs. evil way. Of course, if folks in Nantucket want the area protected they could donate their land to the federal government, get Congress to act, and make it a national park so that all people can enjoy that beautiful sunrise . . . but somehow I doubt that will ever happen. I just think that wind energy along with solar is a piece of the energy puzzle, and I hate to say it, but perhaps the venture would have gone better had they picked an uglier shoreline for which it is already legal to drill for gas and oil.

[MBS]

6. I think he also is very aware of all the issues involved

The only things I've heard him say publicly (at his book signing, so not the most current) are:
1. let the approval process take its course (as ALL such large projects should do: alternative energy projects should not be exempt)
and
2. in explaining that this wasn't a NIMBY issue (something Teddy was accused of) he stated that he favored the site also favored by RFK jr., that is, one CLOSER to Nantucket, ie, closer to his own house there.