The folks I talk to up in that area of the Northeast seem to be much more positive on wind turbines.  Rhode Island is looking into it very hard. I know that the Kennedy Clan doesn't want the project but they might be a minority of opinion now.

Enviro opinion has shifted over the last year, and quite dramatically. Concerns about birds are much more remote although I still have reservations about wind turbines on the lower Texas coast, the confluence of three bird migration flyways. Outside that area I'm all for them.

The big issue is the marine environment with the cabling, hazards, and so forth. Construction is 2-3 times more expensive (do we care?). Corrosion would be a extreme. This isn't a nice wetland in Denmark; this would be the first offshore wind turbine farm in the US.  /sam

Onward through the fog

Erik,
would you care to characterize the four hearings, who attended, how they proceeded, and what kinds of agendas and animosities got aired?

I would guess that at West Yarmouth, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, more of the natural allies of the Kennedys were more likely to be in attendance: rich guys with property.  Possibly also much less rich fishermen, too, who may be in opposition for reasons of their own.

And, by contrast, I would guess that at the Boston hearing, there was more likely to have been a near unanimous support for the wind farm.

Sam,
I follow your suggestion, that "2-3 times more expensive" may not matter much at all, in the long run.

Surely there are wind farms already some distance out in the North Sea?  Or are all the Danish farms in shallow water or on muddy islands?

Anyway, this wind farm should be built, without minimizing its value as an experiment, from which the engineers will learn many no doubt useful things.

As a bird-lover (needless to say!), I am not overly worried about the effect of the Cape Wind project on birds, and have generally supported it all along.  But I know what you are saying about your location on the Texas Gulf coast.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

This is taking far too long.  Floating wind/wave would not face this kind of opoosition.  It doesn't require seabed construction/destruction and can be located far enough offshore to be invisible from the coast.

Furthermore, floating wind/wave/ocean current power is steadier, the Gulf Stream is a constant energy source.  And floating power systems can be mass produced in dry docks like ships are, making construction and installation much cheaper.

The quicker payback and greater energy production from multiple energy sources more than makes up for longer power cables underwater.  These floating platforms can also serve as marine "farms" for oysters and other valuable marine species.

Then there is desalination.  Extra power not absorbed by the grid could be used to desalinate sea water and provide water to cities and agriculture to replace the dwindling water supply from glacier fed rivers like the Colorado.

GHG free desalinated water irrigating croplands produces clouds that reflect sunlight, cooling off drough stricken regions.  

The time and political capital wasted fighting the kennedys over Cape wind is dooming all offshore wind.  Time for the Kennedy family to pass into political history.  Their legacy has been destroyed by this shamefull manipulation against renewable energy.

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Chris Stimpson is describing the first of the four hearings, apparently, in West Yarmouth.  I am not surprised that it was so well attended, nor that comments in opposition should have outnumbered comments in favor.

But the point about Cape Wind having become so plainly a greater-than-local issue is impressive.  The attendance of coal miners from KY and WV is certainly surprising.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

Thanks Erik!!  I've been haranguing on this point for years (as everyone knows, hehey).

Floating offshore 23 miles out of sight out of mind.  I'm going to check this out and see if they have considered adding wave or ocean current features to these floating wind systems.

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