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

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).

Wind

The 12/6/07 Middleboro Gazette published a letter to the editor written by Kevin J. Cook that filled half the page promoting wind energy in Middleboro.

While I'm highly critical of the Cape Cod Commission and the legislature for their inaction in aggressively supporting coastal wind development, the feasibility of wind energy was not within my consideration when criticizing the Middleboro Board of Selectmen's inactions.

After reading Mr. Cook's letter, which itemizes solely coastal communities with prevailing winds, a little google searching provided the information listed below.

It appears from the DOE maps, that mountains and coastal zones are the appropriate locations for wind energy generation.

Should the G&E pursue a joint coastal venture with other communities more appropriately situated, it would appear a progressive solution.

As is pointed out in pingswept, reducing energy consumption should be the beginning, but falls sadly short, and is totally ignored by the Middleboro BOS.

This map indicates that Massachusetts has wind resources consistent with utility-scale production. Excellent-to-outstanding resource is located on the northern part of Cape Cod and good-to-excellent areas are found in the southern part of Cape Cod and along the shore of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Particular ridge crest locations of the Berkshires in western Massachusetts also have excellent wind resource. DOE

TrueWind

The outcry against Cape Wind is a travesty. It comes down to an unpleasant choice of how we get the energy we need. We have to satisfy our rising energy needs somehow. If you’re opposed to using local energy sources to fulfill our energy needs, you have to be in favor of either reduction of our energy needs (which have been strictly increasing for all of recorded history) or getting the energy from somewhere else.
The first choice, reducing energy consumption, requires either widespread, voluntary efficiency gains among the populace, forced efficiency gains via government intervention, or the arrival of the hard times. I think it would be imprudent to plan on any of those events occurring. Our understanding of efficiency improvements falls vastly short of what we need. Even the NPR-listening Prius drivers among us are making decisions around the level of 20% improvements by 10% of the population, while the population continues to increase. We’re excited about skyscrapers with green roofs, which collect water for irrigation of the plants in the lobby, and building-integrated solar, which can supply maybe 1% of the heating and cooling requirements of the building. We’re not thinking about changes on the level of, “You don’t get to heat your house in the winter any more.” pingswept

MilfordDailyNews

Aquinnah

Changes may buoy Cape Wind project

Wind turbines 'could fuel all homes by 2020'

Wind energy expansion unveiled

Off-Shore Wind Could Power All U.K. Homes

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

G.H.W. Bush Installs Wind Turbine

When the wealthy few on Cape Cod are obsessed with their view being spoiled, G.H.W. Bush has installed a wind turbine.

Maybe it's time for Massachusetts legislators to act in the best interests of consumers.

Ex-president to use wind at Walker's Point George H.W. Bush decides to have a wind turbine installed for electricity at his Kennebunkport homeKENNEBUNKPORT — Walker's Point is a little greener these days. Last week, a 33-foot-tall windmill was installed to generate electricity for the oceanfront home of former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara. The Bushes decided to buy and install a windmill after being approached by Southwest Windpower, a nationwide company that manufactures wind turbines, said Jim Appleby, personal aide to the former president.

http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/EXTRA/2007/11/23/post_environmentalist_vision_sweden_s_pr
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=149555&ac=PHnws