Front page of today’s Cape Cod Times –
High Court Green Lights Cape Wind
My heartiest condemnation is reserved for the Cape Cod Commission and the Town of Barnstable for bringing this case in the first place, although a skosh less for Barnstable.
You see, not long ago the Cape Cod Commission sued the Energy Facilities Siting Board claiming they had jurisdiction, if not intelligence or expertise, to decide where the gas company should run a new gas line. The gas company wanted to run it down Old Main Street in Yarmouth, and the CCC wanted it to be under the bike path. Of course,the bike path isn’t plowed or maintained in the winter making it difficult to get AT the gas pipe for emergency or maintence. But gee, the houses on Old Main are so NICE…
The SJC affirmed the right of the EFSB to trump the Commission. So naturally, when Cape Wind was OK’d by the EFSB the Commission filed suit to claim jurisdiction. What’s the line about doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result?
Now if the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound wants to waste money and time, that’s different. Some of its money is sincere, some is sinister, but it’s theirs. BUT THE CAPE COD COMMISSION IS EXPENDING SCARCE TAXPAYER DOLLARS on its hubristic quest to rule land and seas. And Barnstable deserves condemnation for joining in this expensive fool’s errand.
I know very little about the facts involved in this specific litigation, but this certainly appears to a positive development. As it is, Massachusetts already grants localities too many tools to practice blatant NIMBY-ism (zoning rules, various requirements for local board approval, etc.) There seems to be disagreement about just how far-reaching this decision really is (as opposed to concerning “just” the Cape Wind project), but here’s to hoping that expertise continues to trump NIBMY-ism in the Commonwealth.
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p>By the way, I’d even go beyond PP here and question the wisdom of allowing groups like the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound to tie up projects indefinitely through endless litigation (even if they are using private funds, unlike the Commission). I don’t know if it applies in this specific case, but often private groups are simply doing the dirty work of the localities when they bring these suits. It’s one among the reasons why it can be difficult to get development projects off the ground in this state.