In a recent piece published in this newspaper, (the Vineyard Gazette) Glenn Wattley made misleading statements about wind power and Cape Wind that I would like to address. Mr. Wattley is chief executive officer of the organization that formed solely to oppose Cape Wind, he has a background working in the coal industry, and he incorrectly argues that wind cannot help reduce our use of oil.

They say that everybody has their price, and it turns out that ours is four dollars.

For the first time in decades, the American public is driving less due to the rise of gas over that four-dollar mark. Last year, after the fourth Clean Power Now (CPN) annual meeting, I wrote this in order to explain my long standing support for the wind farm: "I support the wind farm as a matter of national defense. Burning oil is fouling our air, politics and economy. As I write this, oil is $93 a barrel, Turkey is preparing to attack Iraq while Iran is building a nuclear bomb for Tel Aviv, and childhood asthma is a national epidemic. The United States needs to become energy independent to maintain its ultimate independence, and we have a chance to contribute right here with the wind farm. It's the vision, not the view."

When I wrote that, gas was at $2.97 per gallon. Until this week, on Cape the price was as high as $4.50, although it's dropped back to just under $4. Unless bad things happen in Georgia. Or Nigeria. Or a hurricane hits the Gulf. Or just about anything. Now the world situation is even less stable and the Nantucket Sound wind farm makes more sense than ever.

Long term opponents have begun to change their minds.
Note: Click here to read this column in the Cape Cod Times

In a plan that would drastically remake New York City’s skyline and shores, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking to put wind turbines on the city’s bridges and skyscrapers and in its waters as part of a wide-ranging push to develop renewable energy.

...Mr. Bloomberg said he would ask private companies and investors to study how windmills can be built across the city, with the aim of weaning it off the nation’s overtaxed power grid, which has produced several crippling blackouts in New York over the last decade.

...But aides said that for offshore locations, the city was eyeing the generally windy coast off Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island for turbines that could generate 10 percent of the city’s electricity needs within 10 years...He later evoked the image of the Statue of Liberty’s torch, saying he imagined it one day “powered by an ocean wind farm.”
Note: Click here to read this article in the New York Times

The lead article in the July, 2008 Special Issue, Engineering Strategies for Global Climate Change, of Leadership and Management in Engineering, Published by the American Society of Civil Engineers, is entitled, "The Cape Wind Project in Context" and is co-authored by Mark Rodgers and Craig Olmsted of Cape Wind.

Note:

Click here to read this entire article online

Click here to read other articles in this publication

The state's Energy Facility Siting Board made a series of key rulings yesterday on the wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound, including reasserting that it has more authority than the Cape Cod Commission over parts of the project.

"The bottom line is they defined the scope of the proceedings," said siting board spokesman Timothy Shevlin. The siting board is hearing a petition by Cape Wind Associates that would give the panel almost complete authority over parts of the project that fall under state jurisdiction.

Note: Click here to read this Cape Cod Times article

 

The US rush into wind power has enabled the country to pass Germany to become the world’s biggest generator of such energy, according to estimates for the first half of 2008 from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
Note: Click here to read this Financial Times article

Faced with a ravenous appetite for electricity, Texas these days is finding that one answer to its energy needs is literally blowing in the wind. Given the potential offered by this renewable energy resource, its efforts illustrate just how important is the Patrick administration’s support for Cape Wind and other renewable energy projects.
Note: Click here to read this editorial in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Former Vice President Al Gore challenged Americans yesterday to switch all of the nation's electricity production to wind, solar, and other carbon-free sources within 10 years, a goal that he said would solve global warming as well as economic and natural security crises caused by dependence on fossil fuels.

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Click here to read this article in the Boston Globe

Cape Wind Communications Director Mark Rodgers was interviewed by Brian Sullivan on Fox Business Network on July 11, 2008.
Note: Click here to view this video