What a great yarn! A smart, successful, committed energy entrepreneur comes along with a solid project to provide enough zero-emission, renewable energy to supply, on a good day, all the stationary power needs of Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and, if you had plug-in vehicles, a good bit of the surface transportation needs as well. Wind turbines are a proven technology and in Europe, offshore wind farms have been flourishing for years. The project would serve an area that is now subject to considerable air pollution from the ancient power plant that is in place. A devastating oil spill from a barge headed to that power plant occurred only a few years ago. The wind farm will eliminate three quarters of a million tons of GHG a year and provide a much-needed and reliable boost to the New England electrical grid. What's not to love?!
Well, if you have a multimillion dollar summer home on Nantucket Sound, you might not like that the view is going to be diminished at the horizon. If you have a yacht, you might not like the idea of sailing in and around the farm. So, as has been too often the case in determining energy policy in this country, and elsewhere, money talks. The book, Cape Wind, out a little over a year ago, tells the story of, as the subtitle says, money, celebrity, class, politics, and the battle for our energy future on Nantucket Sound. It's not a pretty story. It's beautifully told, don't get me wrong. It reminds me of Fast Food Nation, a hugely depressing book, but compelling in every way. However, the Cape Wind story ends better. There appears to be wind at the end of the tunnel.
The Cape Wind project continues to wend its way through the courts and the environmental review process. Fighting opposition that has extremely deep pockets and connections in high places, the project has kept moving forward. After more than six years of environmental review, the comment period for the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) ended in April. The Army Corps of Engineers transferred the lead agency responsibility for the environmental review of the project to the Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior a couple of years ago. See the MMS webpage for Cape Wind here. It's got all the documentation. In November 2004, the involved agencies released, according to the developer, a very positive DEIS reporting numerous project benefits at minimal impact. Here is the developer's summary of the findings. The permit should be issued this year, and they expect turbine manufacturing and construction in 2010.
The "NY Times" did a story on this in 2003 that is still worth reading , A Mighty Wind. The story of the reporter's impact on the chemistry of the debate is recounted in the book.
Cape Wind bills itself as America's first offshore wind farm. They were certainly the first to come out with a real proposal but it looks like they've got some competition to be the first into the water and onto the grid. See Bluewater Wind's proposal for Delaware waters.
My old buddy, Mike Vickerman, gave me the book last summer. I'm really glad that I finally got around to reading it. Mike runs a superb organization, RENEW Wisconsin, that has been promoting wind power for years. Read his insightful and entertaining two-part commentary on the book here and here.
Wind is here to stay. For more, see these links: American Wind Energy Association, Windpower Monthly, Nat’l Wind Technology Center, Danish Wind Turbine Mfr. Association and the U.S. DOE Wind Power Program, and some of my posts, here recently and any number of other times at the blog.
Finally, for fun, go to the Daily Show's segment from last summer on the Cape Wind controversy.
