I KNEW I liked that boy, ever since the days I went to his Commonwealth presentations at the Parker House!
When the Great Satan, George W. Bush, signed the Energy Bill in 2006, it required that off-shore wind pay a lease to the Federal government (which is why you haven’t heard that chestnut about Cape Wind being a free land grab lately). It moved oversight from the Corps of Engineers to the Minerals Management Services, which also does leases on other Federal lands.
I attended a hearing in Yarmouth last week, intended to use the Cape Cod Commission as the device to artificially delay the project. I am pleased Mr. Bowles was not taken in by this ruse, and even more pleaased that this project – which enjoys bi-partisan support and derogation – will remain on track and after eight long years WILL BE BUILT!!!!
Who better watch their backs. Ted Kennedy and Bill Delahunt are going to get paybacks for all of their well heeled corrupt buddies! Alternative forms of energy are for the great unwashed NOT the beautiful people.
…but, I’m wondering.
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Has anyone figured out what noise will be generated by the propellors of these windmills, that might affect the Anwohnern–sorry, the people nearby?
I was in Toronto, where there’s a full-size windmill. I can’t remember if one could hear a very low hum or nothing at all when standing about 1 foot away from the base. And these things will be hundreds of yards or more out to sea–they’ll be as audible as, say, a car 10 miles from your house. (i.e. theoretically detectable with specialized equipment, but not noticable otherwise.)
You can’t hear it from the shore.
it’s really undetermined at this point. One would think that the distance plus the sound of waves crashing would scatter the noise, and it will. The flip side is that the turbines could create very high frequencies — or very low frequencies — or both that may be audible to some.
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Probably not, but it’s certainly possible. Is the risk of possibly hearing some high or low frequencies enough to scuttle the project? I would hope not — just as noise alone doesn’t stop highway projects, rail projects, etc.
I would like to confirm my perceptions of the partisans on each side of this issue:
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Pro Wind-farm
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— Embittered Republican lackeys, who would sell their own first-born if it would make the Kennedies look like asses.
— Embittered curmudgeons throughout the Commonwealth looking to stick it to Nantucket and the Vineyard
— Unions looking for an endless stream of high-paying construction work.
— Bechtel or other mega-construction firm looking forward to another opportunity to over-charge for substandard construction (but no one will really notice until one of those windmills falls over and capsizes a fishing boat)
— Alternative energy proponents, especially those who couldn’t even tell you what the power output of a wind farm would be, or in fact, don’t know what a power distribution system is.
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Anti Wind-farm
— The Kennedies.
— Property owners on the Islands (especially those involved in tourism industry, especially the owner of the little B&B looking straight into the wind farm)
— Boaters. Other people who hang out with boaters. Anyone who likes a good view when hanging out on deck with a Campari and soda.
— The immigrant family of the crew of the fishing boat that is destroyed by faulty windmill (see above)
— People concerned primarily about birds: bird safety, bird nesting, bird migration; all bird things considered.
Anti Wind-farm guy
And as far as the boaters go, keep this phrase in mind:
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Figawi Slalom.
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(note – the annual Figawi yacht race on Nantucket Sound and its adherents contained much of the opposition referred to as ‘boaters’).
Whatever I can think of I’m sure he’s been called worse đŸ™‚
Could you be a little more cynical?
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I happen to know about wind farm power output, capacity factors and the like. I know about ISO-New England. I know the marginal emissions profile for power sources on the grid in New England. I know how many square miles of PV panels you’d need to provide the US’s entire energy supply (and what it would cost- yikes!).
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And yet I support Cape Wind.
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Why is pretty much everyone in your list characterized as selfish, greedy and/or incompetent? Except the birders and the fisherman (do you really think falling turbines would make a Top 100 list of dangers to fishermen?).
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Do you think all construction projects are substandard? Here’s (warning: PDF) an interesting summary of the (non-)management of the Big Dig- not sure if it’s authoritative, but it made for an interesting quick read.