U.S. tapping rich new energy source (and it's not oil)

[Rhiannon12866]

U.S. oil production may be booming, but America is also hitting another gusher in expanding the nation's energy supplies: wind.

Late next month, the U.S. Department of Interior will auction off more than 742,000 acres in the waters off Massachusetts for the development of commercial wind energy. Twelve companies have qualified to take part in the January 29 auction for the Massachusetts Wind Energy Area, located about 12 nautical miles off the Massachusetts coast.

The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says that, if fully developed, the area could support between 4 and 5 gigawatts of commercial wind energy. That would generate enough electricity to power more than 1.4 million homes.

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Bay State officials have high economic hopes for the project. "This offshore wind energy area not only has the capacity to generate enough electricity to power half the homes in Massachusetts," noted Governor Deval Patrick, "but it will create local jobs and a renewable and home-grown source of power."

More: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-tapping-ample-new-energy-source-and-its-not-oil/

[Spitfire of ATJ]

1. Expect to hear some idiot Republican claim those wind turbines are "ugly".

[nationalize the fed]

2. Or maybe even a democrat like Kennedy

Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer November 21, 2004

...But to many Cape Codders, concern for global warming does not justify spoiling a view -- one that also does wonders for the local tourist trade.

Massachusetts' Republican Gov. Mitt Romney and Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, whose family compound in Hyannis would look out at the wind farm -- have warned that the unsightly turbines would depress property values and damage the local economy, which relies heavily on tourism...

Kennedy said through his spokesman, David Smith, that he was opposed to "turning over public lands for private commercial use."

Kennedy's nephew, Robert Kennedy Jr., a prominent New York environmentalist, has also spoken against the wind farm.

"People go to the cape because they want to connect themselves with the history and the culture," he told Boston's NPR affiliate, WBUR, in 2002. "They want to see the same scenes the Pilgrims saw when they landed at Plymouth Rock. "...
http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Residents-upset-over-Cape-Cod-wind-farm-plan-2634714.php

This kneejerking would be funny if it wasn't so sad.