When Cape Wind begins construction, it will be the leading edge of an offshore wind industry that’s already created 35,000 jobs in Europe. As Cape Wind’s Hannah Wood writes in the Cape Cod Times, those jobs are critical to a region in transition:
I know for some, concerns about Cape Wind stem from a desire to keep the Cape as it is. But, like it or not, climate change is already affecting the Cape.
The question for all of us is whether we try to control the change or let it control us. If we don’t start using cleaner sources of energy, we are on a course to see much more severe erosion from our beaches and dunes and continued harm to fish and other wildlife, as well as to the plants and trees that we all enjoy.
Constructing this offshore wind farm is the type of change we need to ensure that future generations can appreciate the Cape as much as we do now.
Young people on Cape Cod also need more sustainable industries here that pay decent salaries year-round so more of them stay here to raise families of their own. Offshore wind is a move in the right direction, and Cape Wind is a crucial first step.
But what about the view from Bill Koch’s vacation estate? And what about all the other wealthy Cape Cod landowners hiding behind front groups to attack Cape Wind? What should come first – our economic development, public health, and long-term climate security, or their pristine estate views?
Sign the petition from the Conservation Law Foundation and MoveOn.org Civic Action to stand up to Bill Koch and build Cape Wind now.
Standing up to Ted Kennedy as he fought tooth and nail to prevent the project? I mean, really, THAT’S why it wasn’t built ‘now’.
And I’ve been saying this for tne years too – all the green/ocean rising crap has done more to prevent Cape Wind than its detractors.
IT MEANS HIGH PAYING TECH JOB. IBEW JOBS.
Stick to how it will make us all money, and the local opposition will go away. The much hated CLF and Move.On will only feed local resistance.
People claiming to speak for unions bashing conservation helps unions how?
Let’s stick to all of the above: Good-paying jobs AND beaches not getting destroyed AND turning the tide against superstorms like Sandy AND not having to import coal, gas & oil from other regions.
The events of ten years ago are irrelevant to what we must do today. I opposed Ted Kennedy’s resistance to Cape Wind. I don’t know where thegreenmiles was then, or if he or she was even of age. It doesn’t matter. Ted Kennedy has been dead for years.
I have no clue what you mean by “the green/ocean rising crap”. I do know that the front page of yesterday’s Sunday Globe included a story highlighting the devastating impact of this winter’s storms.
Far from being “crap”, the combination of rising sea level and climate change is causing ENORMOUS impact on the beaches of both the north and south shore (Plum Island was hit hard this winger).
Meanwhile, today’s Globe includes an only partially facetious editorial describing the variety of impacts climate change is causing in our already beleaguered seafood industry. The reality of climate change is challenged only by extremists who deny the compelling science supporting it — surely you are not a part of that crowd.
Wherever any of us was ten years ago, the pressing urgency of climate change surely demands that today’s reality demands that do everything possible to accelerate Cape Wind and similar alternative energy resources.
Let’s build a coal-fired plant next to Bill Koch instead!
Thought this might be interesting to some:
Spring 2013 Status Report on America’s 13 Offshore Wind Projects