The same energy company seeking to build America's first offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound wants to construct a diesel-fueled power plant adjacent to an elementary school in Chelsea.
As an advocate for the wind farm, am I obligated to support the power plant [...]
When in the course of modern events it becomes necessary for one people to assume greater control of their energy needs through indigenous sources provided by the Creator, a decent respect for humanity compels them to explain the rationale for their decision.
We [...]
First question out of the box during Friday night's debate between Cape Wind's Mark Rodgers and Charles Vinick of the Alliance to Protect to Nantucket Sound, from Rodgers to Vinick -- what is the greatest ecological threat to Nantucket Sound?
Vinick's answer, at least [...]
... from a statement just released by the Senate Energy Committee -
SENATE NEGOTIATORS REACH AGREEMENT ON CAPE WIND LANGUAGE IN COAST GUARD BILL: Deal preserves integrity of Energy Policy Act siting process
Washington, D.C. -– Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete [...]
A story I wrote about CPN's annual meeting, to be posted shortly at capecodtoday.com --
Mass Audubon, the largest conservation organization in New England, is planning to build a meteorological ("met") tower at its wildlife sanctuary in South Wellfleet to determine if the site is suitable [...] 
Alternative headline: It's a Beau-ti-ful Day in the Neigh-bur-hood ...
(Better alternative headline: Another Beau-ti-ful Day ... )
Simply awesome story in the Boston Globe today about Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound co-chairman and gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos, under this eye-opener of [...]
Big boost today in the form of Congressman Barney Frank describing his previous opposition to Cape Wind as mistaken.
While "the general principle of following the lead of my colleagues on matters that affect their particular districts physically is an important one," Frank wrote in an email to [...]
Listen to state Attorney General Tom Reilly describe his reasons for opposing Cape Wind and you won't wait long to hear about state ocean sanctuaries.
Nantucket Sound, Reilly said in a recent gubernatorial debate on Channel 56 , "has been designated as an ocean [...]
Finally dawned on me whom the Alliance is modeling itself after -- the late, hardly lamented Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran.
You remember Khomeini -- that turgid cleric whose stern visage befouled our airwaves almost daily during the hostage crisis of 1979-81.
It is with [...]
Hard not to discern a pattern when it comes to polls on Cape Wind.
The most recent survey, released yesterday by the Newton-based Civil Society Institute think-tank, found that 81 percent of Bay State residents are in favor of the project -- as are 61 percent of residents on the [...]
.... in a great "Guest View" column written by Cape Wind's Jim Gordon that ran in yesterday's New Bedford Standard-Times, in response to an op-ed by Alliance co-chairman and avid billionaire yachtsman Bill Koch.
One by one, Gordon undercuts Koch's spurious assertions, ending the [...]
The Cape Cod Voice casts a skeptical eye at lobbying on both sides of Cape Wind with a half-dozen stories in its current issue - coverage that I suspect has members of the Alliance wincing as they read.
For example, one of the stories by [...]
An op-ed I wrote for today's Providence Journal -
WHY ARE YOU fighting the wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound?, New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman supposedly asked his Senate colleague Ted Kennedy, of Massachusetts.
"This is Jack's sacred sailing ground," Kennedy responded [...]
The Minerals Management Service of the US Interior Department yesterday published a Federal Register notice describing the agency's plans to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Cape Wind proposal.
"The EIS analysis will [...]
Quincy developer Jay Cashman wants to build the turbines for his Buzzards Bay wind farms at the former Fore River shipyard in Quincy, as reported by the Patriot Ledger.
With this announcement, yet another component is in place for the emergence of a major new industry - offshore renewable [...]
How about that, one day after Senator Ted Kennedy drops his demand for a governor's veto over Cape Wind, Minerals Management Service announced it is adding at least 18 months to its review of the wind farm, as described in today's Cape Cod Times.
"The new schedule puts [...]
"Just a few weeks ago, it looked as though Massachusetts was about to lose its one offshore wind project to a closed-door maneuver on Capitol Hill," reads an editorial in today's Boston Globe. "Now, support for that congressional garroting [...]
A welcome development, as described in this story in today's Boston Globe --
"Senator Edward M. Kennedy has dropped his insistence that Governor Mitt Romney be given the power to veto a giant wind farm proposed off the coast of Cape Cod, in a shift that's expected to [...]
That it's coming from political analyst Jon Keller at cbs4boston Channel 4 comes as no surprise; Keller nails it as usual.
"When you heard that yet another wealthy Boston developer wants to sully our pristine shoreline with a massive wind farm development, you [...]
As to be expected, a few passive aggressive observations in stories about the wind farms proposed for Buzzards Bay.
Congressman Bill Delahunt, for example, praised developer Jay Cashman's statement "that he will involve the community" - as if there's been little of that, on both sides of [...]
Media reports are referring to it as a wind farm, but it's actually three separate arrays of turbines off Fairhaven, Dartmouth and Naushon Island, as described in this story appearing in today's Cape Cod Times.
The Boston Globe also weighs in on the [...]
... as described in today's New Bedford Standard-Times (the same story appears in the Cape Cod Times, another Ottaway newspaper).
Patriot Renewables LLC, an energy subsidiary of Quincy developer Jay Cashman, "wants to build a $750 million offshore wind farm comprised of 90 [...]
Otherwise Tom Reilly could be looking at a perjury rap.
Here's what the state's top law enforcement official had to say about Cape Wind during Thursday's gubernatorial debate -
"That is a huge rip-off. Twenty-four square miles of Nantucket Sound are going to be given [...]
Playing catchup after a hectic last few days -
- good news with the Sierra Club offering its preliminary approval of Cape Wind, along the lines of Mass Audubon's endorsement in March, and described in a story posted at the Clean Power Now site.
- great op-ed in the Providence Journal [...]
Come 'a listen to my story
'Bout a man named Ted,
Rich senator,
Kept his family well-fed,
Sailin' one day
He almost run a-ground,
When what should he see but
Cape Wind on the Sound.
Turbines, that is ...
Tall [...]
For those who missed it, Congressman Bill Delahunt cut loose with a May 12 op-ed in the Boston Herald that was stunning in its historical revisionism, even by the lofty standards of Cape Wind's opponents.
Delahunt claimed as "fact" that "tucked away in the [...]
The single best one I've read about the anti-wind machinations in Washington comes from CLF's Phil Warburg and Sue Reid, as published in yesterday's Cape Cod Times and posted at the Clean Power Now site.
"Opponents of the Cape Wind project have poured millions of dollars into a campaign aimed [...]
... at noon on Boston City Hall Plaza, with protesters arrayed in the shape of a wind turbine - as seen from Sen. Edward Kennedy's office in the John F. Kennedy Federal Building, at right in the photo, overlooking the plaza. Looks like we might [...]
... at least as envisioned by this great "Saturday Night Live" intro making the rounds on the Gore-envisioned Internet and posted at Crooks and Liars. Laugh-out loud funny.
Hat tip to the great Truth and Progress blog, which brought this to my attention.
[...]
Wasting little time responding to an incident it deems "suspicious," the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound is demanding a "comprehensive and time-consuming" congressional probe into Sen. Edward Kennedy's plane getting hit by lightning over the weekend.
"Consider at the timing of this -- just [...]
Sixty-nine Massachusetts legislators have signed onto a letter sent to members of Congress on Friday voicing opposition to the stealth amendment in the Coast Guard funding bill that targets Cape Wind.
"We believe putting wind turbines six miles off the shore in Nantucket Sound is a small price to pay [...]
Sen. Kennedy's plane struck by lightning yesterday in western Massachusetts; all aboard safe and sound, as reported in today's Boston Globe.
As to be expected, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound is demanding an immediate ban on lightning.
After an incident like this, [...]
The Daily Kos, one of the most widely read blogs in the country, posted a great article today about wind power that demolishes many of the bogus claims routinely trotted out by naysayers. Worth your time and not a suggestion I make lightly.
[...]Three opinion pieces in Bay State media today on the project -
The Falmouth Enterprise, a weekly that has previously editorialized against Cape Wind, holds its nose in disdain with what we're witnessing now.
"There's an old saying that there are two processes that a person is advised not to [...]
Sen. Ted Stevens made numerous claims about Cape Wind in his remarks on the Senate floor; some were even true. The project is proposed for Nantucket Sound, for example, and its turbines will extend 417 feet from water to the highest blade.
Elsewhere, however, Stevens [...]
So reads the headline of this story in today's USA Today. News of the new proposal out of Texas, six months after another off the shores of Galveston, comes one day after the US Dept. of Energy reported that the American wind industry is on track for another [...]
This would explain it - word out of Washington that Congressman Don Young is claiming the reason he and Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens are leading the charge against Cape Wind is because Ted Kennedy vowed to help them get the green light to drill [...]
Ever since April 6, when Senate conferees approved the Kennedy-Stevens amendment, its proponents and apologists have defended the legislation with the refrain - Nantucket Sound is unique. No other body of water in the country is quite like it - federal waters surrounded by state waters. This explains our targeting [...]
A frequent question heard by the Senators Ted, Kennedy and Stevens - why single out Cape Wind? With all these allegedly insurmountable problems to radar and navigation from wind turbines elsewhere, why write the Kennedy-Stevens amendment in such a way that it targets one project in a single location?
[...]
... as stated yesterday afternoon on the Senate floor and published today in the Congressional Record (page S4186) -
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I thank my friend and colleague, the Senator
from Alaska. I hope to [...]
... as reported in this story in today's Boston Globe. Stevens described his rationale for opposing Cape Wind in remarks made yesterday afternoon from the Senate floor, followed by Kennedy.
Stevens' office sent out an email copy of his remarks, which I post here in their entirety (still working [...]
... as described in this story published today by the Norfolk Eastern Daily Press newspaper in Norfolk, England -
"Energy experts in the East of England yesterday welcomed plans to build a "supergrid" of European wind farms - and said this [...]
As quoted in today's Cape Cod Times, the Alliance's Audra Parker dismissed yesterday's State House News Service polling results on Cape Wind by stating, "This is a statewide poll with a very small sampling of those most affected."
But if the opinions of Bay [...]
So much for claims of the state not having a voice - it just spoke loud and clear.
Polling results released this afternoon by the widely-respected State House News Service found 71 percent of Bay State residents support the Cape Wind project compared to 17 percent who don't [...]
The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, which assumed federal jurisdiction over Cape Wind and other offshore energy projects with passage of last year's comprehensive energy act, has released its schedule for public scoping meetings. The meetings are described by MMS as "the first step in the preparation of [...]
Always nice when a columnist from a major newspaper shares your view of a particular subject - such as when Sen. Edward Kennedy rails against Republicans for wanting to "change the rules in the middle of the game" for filibusters in the Senate - [...]
In case anyone got the wrong impression from his fierce opposition to Cape Wind, Congressman Bill Delahunt is a huge fan of offshore energy projects. No, really, I read this in yesterday's Cape Cod Times.
"He's been a critic of the proposed Nantucket Sound [...]
No wonder the Alliance is running full-page newspaper ads that reek of desperation - Cape Wind's motley naysayers are getting pounded by one news story after another about a growing chorus of skeptics angered by their deceitful claims and backroom machinations.
A major development today with the Bush administration making [...]
Cape Wind does not possess exclusive rights to build on Horseshoe Shoal.
This bears repeating - Cape Wind does not possess exclusive rights to on Horseshoe Shoal.
It never has, and last year's federal energy act didn't change that - despite what Cape Wind's opponents want you to believe.
A [...]
A full-page ad that appeared today in Roll Call newspaper, identical to one rumored to be running in tomorrow's Cape Cod Times.
Why do I suspect they aren't doing much smiling at the Alliance when they resort to sophomoric ads like this?
Opponents of the wind farm certainly make for strange bedfellows, syndicated political columnist Robert Novak observes in a column appearing today in newspapers across the country, including the Boston Herald, The Enterprise in Brockton and New Hampshire's Manchester Union Leader.
"Opposition to America's first offshore [...]
The Independent System Operator of New England is warning Congress of "a need for significant new generation resources ... " - such as Cape Wind - " ... by 2008 to avoid supply shortages - also known as blackouts.
The warning came in the form of a [...]
As reported today by E&E News -
Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., "said he will be part of a 'formidable' effort to defeat a legislative plan that would derail the Cape Wind project ... Language added in conference committee last month [...]
Senator Kennedy ended his recent op-ed with this assertion -
"In light of all of these questions, I strongly support the provision in the Coast Guard legislation that will give the Coast Guard commandant and the governor of Massachusetts - not the developer - the final decision over [...]
Among the more persistent and misleading claims made by Senator Kennedy is his frequent description of Nantucket Sound as an "ocean sanctuary" designated by the state.
In Friday's op-ed by Kennedy that ran in the Cape Cod Times, he wrote that "more than 30 years ago, Massachusetts designated Nantucket [...]
Yesterday's front-page story in the Boston Globe about Ted Kennedy's stealth maneuvering to derail Cape Wind helped fill gaps in the public record - while also showing a subtle attempt at historical revisionism by Kennedy and Senate colleague Ted Stevens.
According to Globe reporter Rick [...]
Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens as quoted in Thursday's Boston Globe -
"If that were in Puget Sound," he said, referring to the Cape Wind project, "don't you think people in Washington would want to say something about it? If it's off our coast, we'd want [...]
Ted Kennedy's newfound faith in states' rights leads to some interesting possibilities for resolving thorny issues not otherwise receptive to resolution.
Drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska comes to mind as just such a possibility.
Seeing how Kennedy and his [...]
No single assertion by Senator Kennedy in his Cape Cod Times op-ed is more demonstrably untrue than this one, no matter how many times Kennedy and his cohorts repeat it, as if repetition will make it so -
Under the energy law enacted by Congress last year, Kennedy [...]
Listen to the rambling explanation from Ted Kennedy on why he opposes Cape Wind, as heard yesterday on Diane Rehm's syndicated radio show and archived here.
Then hear the voice coming through with far more clarity in this op-ed from Kennedy in today's Cape Cod Times.
Yes, politicians frequently outsource [...]
... in an op-ed written by Mark Rodgers of Cape Wind that runs in this week's Vineyard Gazette. In the print version, that is - unlike the story that prompted the op-ed, which ran in both the print and online versions of the Gazette.
Rodgers writes - "Last week’s [...]
Imagine the chagrin among assorted naysayers to read this in today's Boston Globe - "Kennedy rejected suggestions that he doesn't like the wind farm because it would be near his Cape home, and said the project wouldn't be visible from the Kennedy compound."
Every now and [...]
... as described in the lead story in today's Boston Globe - "Kennedy faces fight on Cape Wind: Key lawmakers oppose his bid to block project."
"As record oil prices turn attention to the need for renewable fuels, momentum is building in Congress [...]
As reported by Ben Geman at E&E News -
"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a leading advocate of legislative transparency, today criticized language attached to U.S. Coast Guard programs legislation aimed at killing a proposed offshore wind farm in Massachusetts.
"The conference report [...]
Wish I'd seen this scathing analysis by CBS4Boston's Jon Keller when it ran last night, but I wasn't disappointed while watching it a few minutes ago from the station's website.
Today's Cape Wind editorial in the Boston Globe, Keller said, "confirmed what informed observers [...]
Three items of potential interest pertaining to Cape Wind -
- great editorial in today's Boston Globe that ends with this admonition to Ted Kennedy - "It is bad enough that the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have blocked efforts to reduce greenhouse gases by requiring greater [...]
From today's Cape Wind story in the Boston Globe - 
"Senator Stevens sees it as a states' rights issue," said Aaron Saunders, an aide to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. "He believes the people of a particular state should be able to determine [...]
It's starting to show, as described by newsman Jon Keller, one of the most astute political observers around, in his blog at the CBS4Boston website.
"As politicians go, I’ve always found Ted Kennedy to be the consummate professional to interview," Keller writes. "You get exactly [...]
... as reported late this afternooon in this story by Jon Keller over at CBS4 Boston, also known as Channel 4.
"I'd look at what the legislation authorizes me to do and I'd carry out an honest and full review on that basis," Romney said.
After Keller asked Romney [...]
A tip of the hat to the Cape Wind opponent who comments at capecodtoday.com with the pseudonym "Little Fish" for citing a story I wrote in July 2003 that ran under the headline, "Kennedy changes course on state veto."
The story begins like [...]
"Congress will soon face a test of its professed new interest in energy independence and legislative transparency," begins a great editorial in today's New York Times. "It comes in the form of a flawed amendment, hatched in secret, that would prevent the construction of a wind farm off the [...]
So claimed this story in the Lowell Sun, based on the campaign's first debate of Democratic gubernatorial candidates which was broadcast this morning at 8:30 on WBZ-TV Channel 4.
The Sun reported that "(Deval) Patrick and Gabrieli said they support a controversial [...]
A letter to the editor I wrote that appears in this week's Barnstable Patriot -
In May 2005, Sen. Edward Kennedy took to the Senate floor and criticized Republican attempts to end the filibuster.
"Every child knows that you don't change the rules in the middle [...]
... of a cartoonish Ted Kennedy hammering away at wind turbines sprouting from the waters off Hyannisport ... click here to enjoy ...
Best one of these I've seen since that JibJab parody of "This Land is Your Land" back in [...]
A statement released today by US Senator Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. -
“As my friends at Greenpeace know, I have long been a strong advocate for alternative energy sources, and in fact my Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act contains a provision that would ensure that wind and [...]
A curiously timed front-page story in today's Cape Cod Times, under the headline, "FAA to probe turbines' risk to radar."
"Concerned about findings in the United Kingdom, the Federal Aviation Administration will conduct its own evaluation into the effects of wind turbines on air traffic control systems," [...]
Excerpts from Sen. Ted Kennedy's new book, released yesterday, from a five-page section titled, "Conserving Energy and Reducing Our Dependence on Foreign Oil" ---
"The need to reduce our demand for energy and develop alternatives to the use of oil is of vital concern to [...]
... at left is a cropped section of the cover of this month's "Special Green Issue" of Vanity Fair magazine, with an Edenic cover photo of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts and former vice president Al Gore, as seen in [...]
... unlike, to cite a recent example, non-binding ballot questions on Nantucket. Within days of the island's annual election last week, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy campus in Buzzards Bay was graced by a majestic and graceful new presence - a 248-foot, [...]
"The rapid melting of Arctic sea ice appears to be separating walrus young from their mothers, leaving them likely to die at sea, a team of researchers said."
This is the lead paragraph of a story in today's Washington Post under the headline, "Warming [...]
Talk about timing - only days after my post here on Monday, "Cantwell brings home the bacon in Coast Guard bill - why not Kennedy and Delahunt?," where I pointed out that Congressman Bill Delahunt's website had not been updated since December, a [...]
Not something a conservative politician with presidential ambitions wants to see - the lead editorial in the today's Washington Times slams Gov. Mitt Romney for his opposition to Cape Wind.
Romney "has a golden opportunity to distinguish himself as an environmentally-friendly, consumer-oriented, technologically savvy [...]
Do the results of Tuesday's ballot question on Nantucket accurately reflect wider public opinion of Cape Wind?
Only if the island is a microcosm of the state as a whole - which it's not. Far from being reflective of anything, Nantucket is more akin to [...]
Who's the focus of everyone's attention, you might wonder. That's Ted Kennedy (between the two police officers to the right), ducking past protesters from Clean Power Now and other Cape Wind supporters and hopping into - could the symbolism be more fitting? - a large [...]
The Cape Wind ballot question on the island went down in defeat by a 2-1 margin yesterday, with 2,156 residents voting against, 1,054 in favor. I was disappointed but not surprised; based on my experiences on Nantucket extending back to childhood, it is among the places least receptive to change. [...]
... and one of the things they will votee on is ballot question 8 - "Shall the Town of Nantucket support the generation of wind power as proposed for a site in Nantucket Sound?"
Clearly an uphill battle here for Cape Wind for several reasons - if every proposed [...]
... a link to both here for those who missed them Monday night on "NewsNight" with Jim Braude - the first a discussion with Phil Warburg of the Conservation Law 
Foundation and the Alliance's Ernie Corrigan (with [...]
... perhaps because they were too busy huffing and puffing to blow down Cape Wind and not busy enough pushing legislation that would actually help the Coast Guard.
Then again, maybe Kennedy and Delahunt did finagle funding and other benefits for the Coast Guard in the reauthorization bill approved last [...]
The caption over a letter to the editor in the Miami Herald on Thursday - the same day Senate conferees approved the so-called Stevens amendment - sums it up well: "Castro could drill off Florida coast."
"U.S. lawmakers aren't the only ones who, [...]
The title of this post is a direct quote from Sen. Edward Kennedy, spoken on the floor of the Senate on May 19, 2005. Kennedy used it to make a point about Republicans attempting to enact the so-called "nuclear option" and eliminate the filibuster [...]
... as I reported earlier tonight in a story at capecodtoday.com. Maybe it's too little, too late; then again, maybe not. Not the first time Cape Wind has brushed with oblivion.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., sent a letter to Senate Energy Committee [...]
How about this for a revelation in a Cape Wind story updated on the Boston Herald's website shortly before 2 p.m. --
"The veto measure got a boost in recent days from longtime project foe U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, who made a personal appeal last [...]
A brilliant analysis today by my blog buddy Spyro Mitrokostas over at Renewable Energy Revolution on how the Alliance's deep-pocketed benefactors pay the salaries of Alliance's staffers - while giving themselves a tax break! Never let it be said the leisure class skimps when it comes to hiring clever [...]
In late March 2003, proposed oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was defeated by a 52-48 vote in the Senate - and only because eight Republican senators, including Gordon Smith of Oregon, broke party ranks.
Great lead editorial in this morning's Boston Globe - "An ill wind from Congress" - that describes how "the country's most important renewable energy project is in danger of being sandbagged."
"An amendment to a spending bill for the Coast Guard would grant veto power over the plan for a [...]
More on yesterday's developments in this story in today's Boston Globe -
The question all are asking - why did Gordon Smith, at right, a moderate Oregon Republican considered an advocate of renewable energy, switch his vote and decide to support the Stevens language?
[...]
A statement from Cape Wind's Jim Gordon released in the last hour -
"Despite the President, Congress and the public's call for the rapid development of renewable energy resources, a handful of Transportation and Infrastructure committee members, led by Alaskan Congressman Don Young and working behind closed doors [...]
From the story in today's Boston Globe, "Senators denounce bid to block wind farm," by Stephanie Ebbert -
"Cape Wind supporters said their understanding was that all the House members on the conference committee support the language giving the governor veto rights and [...]
From "Rachel's Democracy & Health News #848," March 30
THE DANGERS OF BEING POOR AND NONWHITE
"[Rachel's introduction: The poor and communities of color are exposed to up to 10 times as much industrial pollution as their wealthier and whiter counterparts. In Massachusetts, if [...]
