Arguments For And Against – Cape Wind Project Approved

Cape Wind has been one of one of the most hotly debated renewable power projects in the country. Now the US Department of Interior has approved Cape Wind, the topic of debate is a lot more frantic. If Cape Wind ends up being built, it could be the first offshore wind development to provide cheap power to 3 quarters of the Cape Cod community. Developers have a loan company and a lot technology at the ready, but some of the residents of the shoreline are vowing to fight the development as long as they can.

What is Cape Wind?

Cape wind planned because of a 130 turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound. The original proposal for Cape Wind was submitted almost a decade ago, and it has been under "federal review" for nine years. The wind turbines would be anchored to the sea floor and would use the constant sea wind to generate power. It is estimated that Cape Wind turbines would be about one half of one inch tall when standing on the shore. Cape Wind would be the first offshore wind farm in the United States, even though there are proposals for Maryland, Delaware, Texas, and New Jersey as well.

Cape Wind arguments against it

Cape Wind encountered its first roadblocks very early in the project development. Late Senator Edward Kennedy fought against Cape Wind, worried that it would be a "special interest giveaway" and that it would ruin the views from the family property that looks out onto Nantucket Bay. Other anti-Cape Wind groups worry the wind farm would "jeopardize tourism" by changing the view of Nantucket Bay. Cape Wind has also been challenged by the Wampanoag Native American tribe. The Wampanoag tribe claims that Cape Wind would obstruct religious practice that calls for a clear view of the sun over the bay - and that the windmills would be anchored in long-flooded burial grounds.

Arguments towards Cape Wind

Individuals who like Cape Wind form a coalition just as odd. Environmental groups have lauded Cape Wind, as the renewable energy from the development would provide clean energy for 3 quarters of Cape Cod. As domestically produced power, the Cape Wind project would also help reduce U.S. dependence on oil, a major goal of the Obama administration. In the depressed economy, Cape Wind could produce hundreds of “green jobs”..

Government approves Cape Wind to go up

Even though U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved Cape Wind, that is far from the last word on the development. While other countries, such as Denmark, have been using Cape Wind-style projects to provide power for years, this project would jump-start the U.S. development of clean offshore power. Opponents have vowed to use quick loansto fight off Cape Wind within the court at the very same time environmental groups, along with the government, are looking for domestic energy solutions that don't risk 1,800 square mile oil spills. What is your opinion of Cape Wind?

Sources

NPR.org

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126363616

Washington Post

http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/04/salazar_to_approve_cape_wind.html