Wind Energy and Middleboro

Ryan Adams did a nice job explaining progress on wind energy:

My, How the Winds are Changing...
Good news all around.
After years of study, Hull officials are now seeking approval of state environmental regulators to install four wind turbines, each about 430 feet high, in ocean waters about a mile and a half east of Nantasket Beach.Ian A. Bowles, the state secretary of energy and environmental affairs and a wind-power advocate, could approve the project as soon as Feb. 6 or order further environmental studies. There's almost no resistance to Hull's proposal because, guess what, wind turbines make complete sense. Hull will be the first town in Massachusetts to power their entire town by wind-powered renewable energy. Note Hull has a municipal electric company, something that has given Hull much more flexibility in deciding how it'll create it's electricity. Other towns with a municipal system have been aggressive in trying to create wind turbines, such as Rowley and Princeton, which is replacing their 1980s era wind turbines soon. I'm guessing these coincidences probably aren't really coincidences at all (never mind the fact that municipal electric companies tend to be much cheaper than buying private power). Anyone keeping score? Cape Wind passed its biggest hurdle, while towns like Hull and Princeton are showing true leadership in regards to renewable energy. Meanwhile, the state's second large wind farm, the Dartmouth/Mattapoisett project, will hopefully soon follow Cape Wind's suit. Maybe Massachusetts will meet its renewable energy goals after all. Lets hope all these green projects - and many more - are built as quick as humanly possible.

Consider sending an email in support of CapeWind through environmentmassachusetts.

You can subscribe to the site, as well as find invaluable information.

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Is it time for Middleboro to address the issue?

The Whining Kennedys, yet again?

The whining wealthy just can't seem to stop finding excuses to oppose Cape Wind.

Isn't it time for Rep. Patrick to just GET OVER IT?

If the current argument now includes impact on fishing, what exactly will the impacts of a major oil spill have on fishing?

We should be working together to aggressively erect wind turbines in viable coastal areas and mountains to ensure affordable, pollution free energy for consumers.

Yes, there are a few environmental issues that have been raised elsewhere that have been addressed. Cape Wind? Not so!

Massachusetts SHOULD BE leading New England, not allowing the NIMBY wealthy to protect their pristine views.

Kennedy: Wind farm would harm tourism, fishing

PAWTUCKET — Rep. Patrick Kennedy said yesterday that a wind farm located in Rhode Island waters between Newport and Block Island would be a bad idea because it would hurt the state’s tourism and fishing industries.
Those waterways are frequently used by people who sail between the two locations for recreation and racing, said Kennedy, a recreational sailor. ProvidenceJournal

Cape Wind Reports and Middleboro is where?

Cape Wind reports on the MMS report and much else.

Coastal Wind energy holds the promise of allowing the Commonwealth to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.

Certain locations clearly require public discussion about the environmental implications, but it seems to many that the Emperor is naked.

Those who pretend to be environmentalists in their opposition ALL appear to have other nimby agendas.

Isn't it time to recognize that Senator Kennedy, Rep. Kennedy, and Christy Mihos, inter alia, simply are the spoiled wealthy who don't want their view spoiled?

Isn't it time for the Commonwealth to lead New England?

Have you asked your Reps?

Isn't it time to wonder where Middleboro is?

A list of public hearings and public comment information below in EXTRA.

Cape Wind Takes Major Step Forward
Report Issued by Federal Minerals Management Service

BOSTON, MA -- Cape Wind passed a major milestone today at the start of its final year of permitting with the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) from the lead Federal permitting agency, the Minerals management Service (MMS) of the Department of Interior.


...In 2006 Vinick, a former vice president of the Cousteau Society, made $203,099 as president of the Alliance, according to the nonprofit group's tax records. Last year, Vinick handed off his role as chief executive officer to Glenn Wattley, an Osterville homeowner and former coal industry engineer and consultant... Note: Click here to read this article in the Cape Cod Times



Marketing the Ghost of Jacques Cousteau to his next highest bidder
Vinick camouflages his anti-environmentalism with green paint
Despite his best efforts and several millions of other peoples' dollars, departing Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound president and former CEO Charles Vinick has been unsuccessful in camouflaging his patrons' opposition to Cape Wind with green paint. CCT

Ryan Adams had this to say:

Hooray!
Cape Wind passed a major hurdle today.

For those who don't know, Cape Wind helped this blogger decide Ryan's Take should primarily be a state blog, not based on some other premise. It's important that Cape Wind be built, sooner rather than later. It's even more important that the rest of the state follow suit. Renewable Energy is here, today - affordable and ready to implement. We need to make sure this industry grows in Massachusetts and that this state becomes an international leader in confronting Global Warming. The climate tipping point quickly approaches, so it's good to know the Bay State is one step closer to making sure the Mass Bay won't be expanding any time soon.

Tailwind for Cape Wind
January 15, 2008
IN 2001, when Cape Wind first proposed its 130-turbine project for Nantucket Sound, oil cost $20 a barrel and natural gas cost $3 for a million cubic feet. Now oil is close to $100, and gas is $10. More important, scientists have estimated that global warming is happening at a quicker pace than they had believed seven years ago. All of this makes more timely than ever the green light that Cape Wind got yesterday from the US Interior Department's Minerals Management Service.

The longer the project faces opposition from the likes of Kennedy and Delahunt, the more their criticism appears motivated by not-in-my-backyard concerns. All forms of renewable energy still need support from Washington, and Massachusetts would be in a much stronger position to become a Silicon Valley of clean energy if all of its congressional delegation would rally around Cape Wind.

BostonGlobe

FOR COMMENTS & PUBLIC HEARINGS:

MMS publishes Cape Wind Energy ProjectDraft Environmental Impact Statement Public Hearings here in March, statements begin Friday
WASHINGTON – The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) filed the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the Cape Wind Energy Project with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday, January 11th. The Boston Globe reported that the report was favorable on Cape Wind and it would have mostly “negligible” or “minor” impacts on wildlife, navigation and tourism, see story here. The Associated Press, Worcester Telegram and Providence Journal reported that it "would pose no major environmental problems."The initial readings indicates a far more comprehensive report than the DEIS by the United State Army Corps of Engineers three years ago, but basically as positive for the project.

EXTRA

Energy -- Solar and Wind

As the Massachusetts Energy Bill gets hashed out in committee, the final product will reveal if consumers win or whether the wealthy will prevail in protecting their pristine views, environment be damned!

Whose side are they really on?

Will Massachusetts compete with the rest of New England and support coastal wind development?

And what of solar?

Do you think Middleboro will ever notice?


A Solar Grand Plan
By 2050 solar power could end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions
By Ken Zweibel, James Mason and Vasilis Fthenakis

High prices for gasoline and home heating oil are here to stay. The U.S. is at war in the Middle East at least in part to protect its foreign oil interests. And as China, India and other nations rapidly increase their demand for fossil fuels, future fighting over energy looms large. In the meantime, power plants that burn coal, oil and natural gas, as well as vehicles everywhere, continue to pour millions of tons of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere annually, threatening the planet. Scientific American

Regulators to debate two W. Maine wind-power projects
By Glenn Adams, Associated Press Writer January 13, 2008
AUGUSTA, Maine --With Maine's spot as New England's largest generator of wind power already well-established, state regulators on Monday will consider two more projects that would produce enough clean power to keep the lights glowing and toasters cooking in more 70,000 homes.

As of now, all of the remaining five New England states have a total of 13 megawatts of installed wind power, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Noteworthy among the region's proposed projects is the 468 megawatt Cape Winds project off Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
By comparison, New York has 390 megawatts of installed wind power, California 2,376 and Texas, the nation's leader, 3,953, according to AWEA. BostonGlobe

Massachusetts Energy Legislation

CCT EXTRA reports the following regarding important energy legislation as it winds its way through the legislative process:


Sanctuary amendment dropped from energy bill
By David Kibbe
Ottaway News Service
Massachusetts Senate leaders have drafted an energy bill that drops a House amendment to open Buzzards Bay and other ocean sanctuaries to what critics say would be unlimited renewable energy development. Inquirer & Mirror

Another filing Friday to override Cape Cod Commission
A formality in the process to undo a commission misstep Patriot Ledger

Wind Turbine

It appears that the skyline on CERTAIN coastal properties will be dotted with wind turbines that benefit the select few, while the wealthy few continue to fight Cape Wind.

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One must wonder when the Kennedys and Christy Mihos will drop the pretense of their opposition to Cape Wind and support widespread development to benefit consumers.

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And, on a local level, isn't it time for Middleboro Selectmen and the Middleboro G&E to start talking about ENERGY ?

Wind power at Massachusetts Military Reservation
By Jim Liedell
A big step to save taxpayer money and reduce harmful air emissions. The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE) recently announced that a new large (389 feet high to highest blade tip, 1,500-kilowatt capacity) wind turbine will be up and operating within two years, at the southwest corner of the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR).

Politics, Energy, Vested Interests, Consumers Come Last

Keep watching the unfolding saga of wind energy, Boston-style to see if the consumer (you) wins in this deal.

It's interesting that those who protest the potential of some to profit, were silent when a Republican

Congress repealed PUHCA which prohibited foreigners from owning utilities, inter alia.

Were it not for the wealthy few who have fought Cape Wind, this would have/should have been a done deal by now.

Other states will move ahead, as they already have, while the few wealthy stifle wind development to preserve their ocean view in the Commonwealth. Other states are offering low interest loans, grants and incentives. And Massachusetts?

And Middleboro remains in the Dark Ages with no energy policy beyond pass it along to the taxpayer.

Rigging in the wind

By Peter Kenney The smart money knew the fix was in two years ago when word started circulating that construction mogul Jay Cashman would move to erect a 120-unit wind farm in Buzzards Bay. Cashman’s proposal meant building entirely within state waters. And since, at that point, Cape Wind’s Jim Gordon had been jumping through million-dollar hoops for four years to avoid siting any of his 130 wind turbines where the Commonwealth would have the power to deny his application, the Cashman deal smacked of old fashioned Boston politics...rigged. CCT

Has anyone heard 'Energy' mentioned in Middleboro?

Northampton ranks No. 1 in state survey
Posted by The Republican Newsroom November 24, 2007 15:22PM
By FRED CONTRADA

NORTHAMPTON - For the fourth consecutive year, Northampton has earned the highest score on a state report card that measures community commitment to sustainability and smart growth. The city scored 131 out of a possible 140 points on the Commonwealth Capital Application, which assesses commitment to protecting open space, promoting clean energy, expanding housing opportunities and other topics related to sustaining quality of life and preserving the environment. The town of Barnstable on Cape Cod had the next highest score, 117. Wayne M. Feiden, the city's planning director, said Northampton's high achievement on the test has the practical benefit of pushing it to the front of the line for state funding. The city recently received a $470,000 Self Help grant from the state to help it purchase 72 acres of open space near the Mineral Hills Conservation Area and Feiden said that its high ranking in the Commonwealth Capital program accounted for 40 percent of its score on the competitive Self Help application. Its high marks have also benefited the city in applying for development money for the Village Hill Northampton project, he said.

Group opposing wind farm off Cape saw big drop in contributions in '06
By Stephanie Ebbert
Globe Staff / November 25, 2007
Times are tight for opponents of a Nantucket Sound wind farm: Last year, contributions to the cause were less than half the amounts raised in each of the two prior years.
more stories like this
Math, science teachers use hands-on lessons in Mass. suburbs
Edwards offers immediate, future fixes for high heating oil costs
Cape Wind seeks to skip local permit battles
Brockton fights for leverage to block power plant
Company proposes hundreds of wind turbines off R.I. coast

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the group fighting the development of a 130-turbine wind farm off the Cape and Islands, raised little more than $2 million in 2006, according to federal tax filings required of the nonprofit and submitted this month.
on legal fees, and $126,072 on travel costs. BOSTON GLOBE

Hope for Cape Wind?

The Boston Globe reports Cape Wind's attempt to move forward over the opposition of a small number of wealthy Cape residents who don't want their view spoiled. It might be hoped that the needs of consumers win over the needs of the spoiled.

It is curious to note Mr. Mihos' laudable efforts, but one is reminded of his 'cartoon' campaign commercial with that curious popping sound. Perhaps we can expect Mr. Mihos to experience an epiphany and actively support widespread offshore wind farms.

Cape Wind appeals ruling that blocked wind farm in Nantucket Sound

32-page petition seeks would overturn a decision by the Cape Cod Commission Cape Wind Associates today asked a state energy panel to overrule a decision by the Cape Cod Commission that blocked a plan to build a 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind asked the state to green-light the project and approve all state and local permits needed for constructing the turbines.

http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/EXTRA/2007/11/21/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2007/11/cape_wind_appea.html

First of several Christy's Markets converts to renewable wind power Christy's will mean "renewable, cutting-edge technology" to Cape travelers

http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/headlines/2007/11/21/christy_goes_renewable_today

Kennedy: “Don’t you realize — that’s where I sail!"

More will be said as energy bills move forward and the urgency grows, but shallow vested interests need to be defined for what they are.

Instead of proclaiming opposition based on specious arguments, had these same wealthy Cape residents supported Cape Wind and others, this would have been a fait accomplit.

“Don’t you realize — that’s where I sail!” may, by now, be one of the most famous statements ever made regarding Cape Wind, the 130-turbine offshore wind project proposed for Nantucket Sound.
It was made to a constituent who asked Sen. Edward Kennedy at a Hyannis summer event why he opposed the clean-energy project, which would provide on average almost 80 percent of the electricity for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, make electricity more reliable in all of New England and help lower New Englanders’ electric bills.

With polls showing 85 percent of Massachusetts residents, including over 60 percent of Cape and Islands residents, favoring Cape Wind, and a full-blown energy crisis upon us, wouldn’t it be nice if the Kennedys showed a little more respect for the public’s needs and wants and a little less sense of family entitlement? Cape Cod Today

Who owns your elected officials?

After watching a community held hostage to international casino investors who also happen to be generous campaign contributors (oops!), the Cape Cod Commission cowing to wealthy Cape residents averse to a view spoiled by wind turbines, Congressman Patrick Kennedy sputtering his opposition, and Massachusetts legislators lining up their opposition to the pending energy bill that's LONG OVERDUE & doesn't go far enough, I am forced to wonder 'Who owns your elected officials?'

Did we, as voters, allow them to be purchased by campaign contributions because we haven't paid enough attention or been active enough to assure a voice at the table?

When increased CAFE standards are discussed, the lobbyists rally, batter proponents because they wield the well-funded stash of campaign funds, and consumers loose vehicle fuel efficiency and much else.

Other states are doing more. Other countries have greater fuel economy. The EU has half the per capita consumption of the US.

How do we correct energy to the policies that we, as voters, consumers and occupants of this planet correct the ownership of our elected officials?

RECORD PRICES, RECORD RIPOFF

Volume XII No. 33 - November 9, 2007
One of the first lessons we learn as kids is that taking something without permission that belongs to somebody else is stealing. Executives at the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, the second-largest oil and natural-gas producer in the U.S., seem to have never learned this important lesson. Last week, while oil prices were nearing $100 a barrel, the oil services giant won a court decision arguing that it doesn’t have to pay taxpayers for oil and gas it removed from federal waters.
Oil and gas companies lease taxpayer-owned lands and waters from the federal government to drill for oil and gas. In return for this right, they give taxpayers a percentage of the revenue generated from the oil and gas that is extracted. The $7 billion in annual oil royalty payments are the nation’s third largest source of revenue. pdf index

Court Rejects Fuel-Economy Standards NYT

Truck, SUV mileage standards thrown out by U.S. appeals court SFGate
Court rebukes Bush fuel economy plan, tosses light truck standards to take effect next year

SignonSanDiego

Court tells U.S. to rethink fuel standards for many vehicles SacBee

Everyone's talking about energy & oil prices ......

Everyone's talking about energy and oil prices. Some are even doing something about it like the Town of Reading (article & link below).

And the Middleboro Board of Selectmen? Or the G&E? The sound you hear is silence. Why be pro-active or search for solutions when it's not their money? They can just pass the increases along, as the costs for other blunders, like the landfill, have been passed along.

Energy policy seems to be guided by hypocrisy, like Congressman Patrick Kennedy or the short-sighted opposition of wealthy vested interests who don't want their views spoiled.

~ 85 % of Americans live along the coasts. The aggressive implementation of ALL alternative energy sources specifically targeting those areas has significant implications in reducing dependence on imported oil, especially New England.

Previous posts include links for tidal wave action power generation that holds great promise.

Cape Wind estimated that production would provide 75% of the power needed on the Cape. Can we afford to cater to the wealthy because they don't want their view spoiled?

As the energy bill moves forward in the Commonwealth Senate, watch for the vested interests' rhetoric disquised as environmental concern intended to delay or stall ALL projects to the detriment of consumers.

It takes a town 23,000 residents of Reading want to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions created where they live

SANTA CLAUS VISITS THE TOWN OF READING EVERY THANKSGIVING weekend. He ascends a stepladder in the classic New England town square and throws a ceremonial switch that sets oaks and maples aglow with energy-guzzling incandescent bulbs. But last year, officials proudly announced that two maples near Town Hall held strings of efficient light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, for the first time. The LEDs cost more upfront but consume just one-10th the electricity of incandescent bulbs, and they should last 20 holiday seasons.The change seemed to be a no-brainer. After all, the bedroom community 12 miles north of Boston is one of 36 municipalities in Massachusetts (45 total in New England) that have signed on with Cities for Climate Protection, a campaign to help communities tally greenhouse-gas emissions and devise ways to reduce them. With guidance from this campaign - forged by the nonprofit International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, known as ICLEI - municipalities around the world are organizing to fill the void between personal action and national policy aimed at slowing global warming and climate change... CapeCodToday

Across the continent, on the southwestern edge of Cape Cod, researchers can dig three inches below the seabed in marshes and find diesel fuel that looks as if it was deposited just yesterday. It came from a 1969 barge accident that sent 175,000 gallons into the marshes near West Falmouth, Mass... InsideBayArea

Energy bill's turbine amendment stirs storm

The change, if adopted by the Senate next year, would remove a major hurdle to Boston developer Jay Cashman's controversial plan to build up to 120 wind turbines in Buzzards Bay.

SouthCoast

No wonder Congressman Patrick Kennedy says so little about Cape Wind. .....

WJAR political reporter Bill Rappleye asked, "how about a wind farm on Nantucket Shoals?," presumably a reference to Cape Wind, though he got the location wrong. Kennedy - "Ah, well, I mean, I think that, ah, certainly, I'm against the Cape Wind project if you're trying to get to that."Rappleye - "Why?"
Kennedy - "Why? Because I don't want to see a big, huge (spreading arms wide) Nantucket wind turbines in the middle of Horseshoe Shoal." (emphasis added, and throughout).

CapeCodToday

Let's get rid of poisonous fossil fuel power plants and fossil politicians

CapeCodToday

Ambush at Eelgrass Pass
Trampled rights and muddied waters
By Peter Kenney

CCT