WIND POWER — OR HOT AIR? by Steve Nadis
Hypocrisy is running rampant in the Bay State formerly known as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (The wealth here is anything but “common,” as the following story illustrates…) U.S. Representative William Delahunt is now a big proponent of offshore wind power, despite the fact that he helped spearhead the opposition to the Cape Wind proposal–the one project out there that could make a difference in this region. Ted Kennedy has also been a hypocrite, pushing a provision to give governor Mitt Romney veto power over the Cape Wind project, knowing full well that Romney is an avowed enemy of the project. What really stinks about it is that Romney’s views are antithetical to Kennedy’s. Ordinarily Kennedy wouldn’t grant Romney veto power over anything, including the school lunch menu, but he made an exception in this one case where the wealthy and powerful of Cape Cod (hangers-on at the Kennedy compound included), Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket–as well as the people who pander to them (I’m talking about you Mitt!)–are coming together to thwart clean energy in New England.
Teddie’s nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is a vocal critic of the Cape Wind proposal, despite the fact that his employer, NRDC, has been a longtime proponent of wind power in general, as well as a backer of this effort in particular.
The third (fourth? I’m losing track!) instance of hypocrisy is the reaction to a plan to erect a wind farm in Buzzard’s Bay, away from the wealthy constituency fighting Cape Wind–folks, no doubt, who consider themselves staunch environmentalists. Frauds like Kennedy and Romney instantly claimed the idea had merit. For Kennedy, it was a classic case of YIMBY: Yes In Someone Else’s Back Yard.
As I always say (not that anyone’s askin’): It’s easy to be an environmentalist, so long as you don’t have to give up anything for it.
Callous Cape Cod conservative conservationists…
I don’t see what the problem is. The Cape has always been famous for its “whirlygig gardens.” You can hardly go 100 yards without seeing those little plastic windmills on somebody’s lawn or in front of a tourist shop. So these will just be a little bigger.
Maybe if we paint the wind-generators nice colors or make their arms look like duck wings? Or better yet, make the wind-generators double as giant gin-and-tonic stirrers. Then Kennedy and his friends will belly up to the wind-bar . . . uhm, I mean farm.
Thanks Gatemouth, I love your giant gin-and-tonic stirrer idea; that could turn the tide on this whole endeavor. Thank you too, FW. Let’s add alliteration to your long list of talents.
at last ,,snake is writing reality …
Oh shit, did I really write reality? Must have been some kind of mistake…
I thought reality writes itself. Or, to paraphrase Bruce Springsteen, “Around here, man, the bloggers don’t write nothing at all/They just sit around and let it all be.”
Well,well,well. Such a pretty idea. All those nice whirling blades making “free” energy from all those nasty ocean breezes. Ahhh..WAKE UP, folks. I’ve worked with electric production for years (B.S.M.E./E.E. 1980) & helped promote wind & other alternate energies (Natural Power,New Boston NH, Sunweaver,Northwood NH), but the idea of setting up a couple dozen (?) metal towers out on a salt water bay open to ocean storms, corrosion, ships, lightning strikes (1, mind you, could take out the whole system)would be SO freegin’ expensive to maintain that the project is INSANE. We could do FAR better by building hi-efficiency power plants that could co-generate heat for malls, apartment complexes & public buildings, like is done in Europe, rather than dumping all that heat into a river or the ocean.(For every Kw U consume, more than 1Kw goes to heat the fish & local air!) Windpower belongs on high, open, flat ground which there isn’t much of in this part of the US. (THat’s why most of the co.s moved west.)
Thanks Marco. As they say, that’s what makes horse racing.
From one snake to another, I do admit that I do like this blog! I’ve been away at training for the last month, so I’m just now catching up. I do like this entry though. I’m originally from Maine, so hearing about the political malignants in Mass is always a delight; especially when they screw up something that is as rightly New England as environmentalism. I’ll be reading…
It’s good to hear from ye’, guttersnake. And thanks for the comment.