Points well taken, LH. I live on Nantucket Sound and so am quite familiar with the controversy currently raging regarding the proposed wind farm to be constructed on Horseshoe Shoals. Environmental impact not withstanding, the case has been taken to federal court, disputing the right of a private, commercial enterprise, namely Cape Wind Farm, to construct these turbines in fedral waters. Certainly no one is naive enough to believe that Cape Wind Farm is acting in the pubic interest, for altruistic reasons. They are out to make a buck and to set such a precedent, to allow similiar private enterprises to construct these tubines in federal water without oversee, is I believe, something we do at our peril.
Opponents and state officials argue that there is no firm regulatory structure to determine how and where offshore wind farms can be built in federal waters, and that the plan should be halted until a clear approval process is established. A powerful anti-wind farm group, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, also filed suit in federal court saying that the Army Corps of Engineers, which licensed the construction of the data tower, had no authority to permit the use of "public waters" to a private developer without clear guidelines in place. That case is pending in federal court.
Yes, in theory, one may argue that this should indeed be a project hearlded by environmentalists. But the postive aspects of the farm may in fact be out weighed by a myriad of negative impacts, including effects upon some of the most fertile fisheries in the country and possbile impact upon weather patterns amd interference with shipping lanes. Here it is not the construction of such a project that is at issue so much as the location.
Being the eternal optimist that I am, and having great faith in American ingenuity and know how, I have to be believe that somewhere out there, there's got to be some emerging Einstien who will come up with the ultimate solution to our energy crissi
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