Cape Wind - Controversy

Controversy

The controversy surrounding Cape Wind has been focused on its proposed location in Nantucket Sound. Many opponents of the project, including The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, are in favor of green, sustainable energy - just not in the location proposed by Cape Wind. It is considered by some to be the right idea, in the wrong location. Because Cape Wind is positioning its project as a potential ecotourism destination, it has been criticized for disguising (or greenwashing) its industrial aspects.

Supporters of the project, led by the non-profit grassroots organization Clean Power Now, cite wind's ability to displace oil and gas consumption with clean, locally produced energy and claim the project is the best option for much needed new generating capacity in the region. It would supply 75% of the average electrical needs of Cape Cod and the Islands. The Massachusetts Audubon Society conditionally endorsed the project in March 2006 as safe for birds, but asked for further studies.

Year round and summer residents expressed concerns over the location of the project: some claim that the project will ruin scenic views from people's private property as well as views from public property such as beaches (as the turbines will be only 4.8 miles from the shore ) and therefore decrease property values, ruining popular areas for yachting, and other environmental problems. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound argue that Nantucket Sound is known worldwide for its wildlife and natural beauty. and that the proposed wind farm would be located near shipping lanes. The Massachusetts Fishermen's Partnership (a combination of several fishing organizations) has also spoken out against the project. Local fishermen are also nearly unanimously against the project, citing the fact that for many of them, up to 60% of their annual income comes from catch caught on Horseshoe Shoals, which they claim would disappear and would have to be replaced by steaming to fishing grounds farther out to sea if the project is completed. Some who oppose the project are concerned about the corporate privatization of public property, referring to Cape Wind as "the right project in the wrong place." Other opponents include some prominent individuals who normally support sustainable energy.

Phillip Scudder, owner of the Hy-Line ferry service on Cape Cod, originally opposed the project because he wondered how to navigate around the turbines when going to Martha's Vineyard, but changed its opposition to support due to the economic opportunity to provide "eco-tours."

Walter Cronkite was the subject of controversy as well when he originally came out against the wind farm but then changed his opinion. Other opponents have included Senator Ted Kennedy, Sen. John Kerry, former Gov. Mitt Romney, and businessman Bill Koch, who has donated $1.5 million to the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Proponents suggest that some of this opposition is motivated in part by ownership of real-estate on Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard or the mainland and that it raises issues of environmental justice. Robert Kennedy, Jr., whose family's Kennedy Compound is within sight of the proposed wind farm, wrote an essay for the New York Times stating his support for wind power in general, but opposing this project. This doesn't represent the view of most Massachusetts citizens: in a 2005 survey, 81% of adults supported the project, 61% of Cape Cod residents supported it, and only 14% of adults oppose it.

A recent book by Robert Whitcomb, Vice President and Editorial Page Editor of the Providence Journal, and Wendy Williams argues that the fight over Cape Wind involves a powerful, privileged minority imposing their will on the majority.