If you don’t mind clouding the issue with facts, <a
href=”http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/footnotes/2005/12/17/robert_kennedy_s_misguided_editorial”>here’s
Chuck Kleekamp responding to RFK Jr’s NIMBO (Not In My Back Ocean) <a
href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/opinion/16kennedy.html”>op-ed
in the Times:
Cape Wind is simply putting up a windfarm five miles off
the coast
where the tips of the blades would measure a half-inch off the horizon
on a ruler when held at arms length. And that when visible only on a
very clear day. Cape Wind must have a decommissioning bond (as
established by the federal government) to remove it at the end of its
useful life or if the government lease is violated along the way. The
monopoles can be jacked out or cut off the ocean bed and cables jetted
out as they were put in… leaving the Sound in its “pristine”
condition. (And that “pristine” condition now touted is certainly an
arguable point).
Thanks to <a
href=”http://capecodworks.typepad.com/home/2005/12/another_tired_s.html”>Cape
Cod Works for the link.
And here’s Jack Coleman of the <a
href=”http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/windfarmers/2005/12/16/rfk_jr_on_cape_wind_so_much_for_nantucke”>Wind
Farm Blog:
Only two paragraphs in, how does Kennedy describe Nantucket
Sound – as
a “heavily used waterway.” Got that? Not this “pristine jewel” or
“cherished national treasure” or any of the overwrought labels
routinely trotted out by opponents.
And that brings me back to one of my favorite points: Not Cape Cod, nor
the islands, nor the ocean around it, are “pristine” — (and by
referring to such romantic language I really don’t think I’m setting up
a strawman here; read RFK Jr’s op-ed yourself. Many of the marvels
about which RFK Jr. waxes poetic are, in fact, human activities:
fishing, clamming, boating, shipping, tourism, “historic wrecks”, etc.
Now, someone explain to me why these private activities,
however necessary or enjoyable, are a better use of “the commons” than
producing electric power — which everyone uses — at a huge
environmental benefit?
Let’s aspire to a <a
href=”http://bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=41″>reality-based
environmentalism.
