Final Cape Wind hearing held in Boston

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1080263&srvc=rss

Final Cape Wind hearing held in Boston

By Associated Press | Friday, March 14, 2008

BOSTON - Supporters and opponents of the Cape Wind power project took one more chance to give their views to federal regulators at the last of four public hearings this week.

Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind Associates, said Thursday night at the University of Massachusetts Boston that the wind turbines he’s proposing for Nantucket Sound are an important start on addressing global warming.

Many environmental groups agree, but opponents say the turbines would harm fishing and transportation safety as well as being an eyesore in a popular recreation area.

Fishing captain Edward Barrett told the hearing the windmills would interfere with fishing gear and navigation.

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http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?15714

Current Edition: Friday, March 14, 2008

Fishing Concerns Dominate Cape Wind Hearing

By MIKE SECCOMBE

A few things became quite clear at Wednesday night’s public hearing on the draft environmental impact statement on the Cape Wind project.

The first was that about twice as many Vineyarders, assuming those who attended are broadly representative of Island opinion, oppose the project as support it.

The second was that those against the development of a wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound were motivated primarily by local and personal concerns, including their livelihoods, tourism, fish stocks, birds, taxes, and — to acknowledge the elephant in the room — aesthetics. Those in favor, by contrast, were primarily motivated by national or global worries, such as the need for American energy independence, the skyrocketing cost of oil, and the need to take decisive action to mitigate global warming.

And the third thing which became clear was that by far the most controversial part of the Minerals Management Service findings on the likely impacts of the huge project related to its effect on fishing.

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http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/headlines/2008/03/13/polar_bear_arabs_and_cape_wind

Polar Bears, Arab Sheiks, NIMBY Yachtsmen and Cape Wind in Boston

03/13/08 (9:53 pm) :: posted by CCToday

State gets final chance to comment, Cape Air's Dan Wolf endorses project again

The 400 or so Bay Staters arriving for the final MMS public meeting on the Cape Wind report on Cape Wind at the UMass campus in Boston last night were met by Polar Bears, Arab sheiks and NIMBY Yachts-persons. Only the bear seemed to be in favor of America's first offshore, renewable energy wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

Final confrontation a strong win for proponents of project

By Katie Dickson, CapeCodTODAY.com

This week's MMS meetings on the Cape and Islands were marked by the poignant testimonies of local fisherman, but at the UMass Boston meeting it was sheiks and polar bears. Thursday night's MMS (Minerals Management Services) meeting at the UMass Clark Athletic Center--the fourth such meeting so far--drew a diverse crowd: Wampanoags from the island of Martha's Vineyard, elected officials from Massachusetts and their representatives, as well as fishermen, pilots, and activists dressed as endangered animals and caricatures of Arabian oil power.

Cape Air's Dan Wolf urged strong support for the project saying it will have "no adverse impact" on flight or navigation.The pilot was the President of Cape Air and Nantucket Airlines, the country's largest privately owned commuter airlines, who strongly endorsed Cape Wind after previously being one of its earliest opponents when he was President of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.

The first hour of the hearings was largely, if not entirely, against the Cape Wind proposal because elected officials get to speak first, and most Cape Cod pols are beholden to Senator Ted Kennedy who has fought this renewable energy project for seven years.

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http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/14/a_long_winded_debate/

A long-winded debate

Seven years of spirited arguments on Cape proposal have solved little

By Stephanie Ebbert
Globe Staff / March 14, 2008

It is a sign that the discussion has gone on too long when a half-dozen faux oil sheiks stalk into a gymnasium and hardly anyone raises an eyebrow.

Seven years into the debate over the wind farm proposed off the Cape and Islands, the arguments for and against the proposal are excruciatingly familiar: It will either save the planet or kill the Cape, depending on who has the microphone.

But the theatrics grow more gusty all the time.

Before last night's final public hearing on the most recent government review of the wind plan, no fewer than eight costumed actors from opposing sides of the argument faced off outside Clark Athletic Center at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. On one side were Yachters Against Windmills Now, satirical wind lovers toting chardonnay glasses and wearing captain's hats to caricature opponents as elitist NIMBY-ites.

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