Cape Wind.

What could be said about Cape Wind?! That depends on your own point of view. Some opinions are based on rhetorical ideology.

Others?

Cold hard facts.

If you are the President of Conservation Law Foundation, rhetorical notions are sufficient.

So much so, that Offshore Wind Advocate John Kassel President, CLF, has been on a advocacy campaign of ocean destruction to decimate what he claims to love.

These values are often associated with places: when we think of America, we think of the icons of America. Yellowstone. Zion. And New England’s very own Acadia National Park. As Americans, preserving these natural treasures is among our proudest accomplishments. Our oceans should be no different. Here, in the Gulf of Maine, we have George’s Bank, Stellwagen Bank, and Cashes Ledge – a spectacular undersea mountain range – where you find steep canyons, deep kelp forests, and vibrant, charismatic marine life. Their beauty and majesty are breathtaking.

The places he describes are the very places we harvest our seafood from. Natures infinite food producing ocean bottom.

All Natural. No Preservatives. With care, a never ending, virtually endless supply of fish and shell fish.

Also included in his article,

Just as there is no doubt that our oceans are treasures, so too is there no doubt that they are being damaged. Bottom trawlers damage huge swaths of the ocean floor with their heavy chains, doors and dredges, likened by some scientists to a bulldozer scraping the delicate floor of a pristine forest. New England’s oceans are rising much faster than predicted. They are also becoming more acidic from harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Recent record increases in precipitation may even be fundamentally altering plankton production, jeopardizing the very productivity of our marine web of life.

As it stands, the commentary of ocean acidification is a legitimate argument.

As far as fundamentally altering plankton production, Kassel mentions nothing of pollution, like estrogen, and chemicals flushed through our bodies being injected into the ecosystem via sewerage treatment, which also have negative affects.

He does hammer away at the fishing industry's methods of modern day harvesting methods that he finds unpalatable.

I will argue, the notion is unfounded, while he bulldozes his Cape Wind preference as a harmless project that with just the right amount of pixie dust sprinkled on it, will deliver energy to New England with no environmental consequence!

11 years. That’s how long we’ve been waiting for the promise of Cape Wind: clean, renewable energy; new, green jobs; reduced air emissions and carbon pollution; energy at a predictable price over the long-term; and energy security. At a time when the evidence of global warming is overwhelming, and the need for jobs critical, unleashing the potential of this home-grown offshore wind project can only be a good thing.

Now this is rhetorical hyperbole at its finest!

So, why isn’t Cape Wind up and running? Because the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a pseudo-environmental organization backed and led by fossil fuel magnate Bill Koch, is hell bent on blocking it.

What is it about always blaming one evil entity for something that clearly lacks the support of the rate payers, or any fishermen of conscience that has a vested interest in preserving and protecting our ocean, from people like yourself who have no regard for it, even though you hypocritically claim you do?

The destruction you condone constructing this aberration, will bring even greater destruction to the ocean environment than the last century has trawling for fish.

Before you accuse any organization as pseudo, Mr. Kassel, maybe you should examine your organization, along with your "enviro - partners" at your Cape Wind Now website.

The Sierra Club.

Carl Pope, the Sierra Club's executive director, has traveled the country promoting natural gas's environmental benefits, sometimes alongside Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp., CHK+1.74% one of the biggest U.S. gas companies by production.

The national group's pro-gas stance has angered on-the-ground environmentalists in several states who say their concerns are being marginalized.

"It makes us look like the extremists that the industry wants to call us anyway," said Beth Little, a board member of the Sierra Club's West Virginia chapter, which is more skeptical about drilling than the national organization.

The rift in the Sierra Club, one of the country's oldest and most prominent conservation groups, highlights deep divisions in the broader environmental community over natural gas. And pressure from local activists is forcing some major environmental groups to revisit their positions on drilling.

What Does Wind Cost?

"The Energy Information Administration assumes the total overnight capital cost of an onshore wind turbine to be $1,497 per kilowatt (in 2008 dollars) and that of an offshore wind unit to be $2,998 per kilowatt. [18] These costs are below the estimated cost made by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) of $2000 per kilowatt for onshore units and $3800 per kilowatt for offshore units (also in 2008 dollars).[19]. "

A question for you, John.

When will you approve or reject my comment?

We can’t allow dirty energy interests to thwart our clean energy revolution. Not now – not when we’ve come so far. So please, stand with Cape Wind. Stand with Cape Wind Now.

Tags: Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, Audra Parker, Bill Koch, cape wind, dirty energy, Jim Gordon, john kassel, Massachusetts, nantucket sound, Oxbow, Oxbow Group, renewable energy, The Alliance, Wind Energy

Posted in: Clean Energy & Climate Change, Massachusetts

No Responses to “Why We Need to Fight for Cape Wind. Now.”

1. bore head

   October 3, 2012 at 2:47 pm Your comment is awaiting moderation.

   This editorial is not accurate.
   This project is environmentally irresponsible.
   How any environmentalist can ignore the damage to the eco system that they crucify fishermen over, is obscene.
   To ignore the assult of the ocean bottom that will be supported with your short sighted position is revealing.
   80% approve? Hogwash.
   This is an ocean destroying industrial complex.

   Reply

http://bore-head007.newsvine.com/_news/2012/02/06/10330104-exclusive-how-the-sierra-club-took-millions-from-the-natural-gas-industryand-why-it-stopped-ecocentric-timecom

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126135534799299475.html

http://bjdurk.newsvine.com/_news/2009/02/05/2400385-even-rich-nimbys-cant-afford-cape-winds-energy

http://bore-head007.newsvine.com/_news/2012/05/03/11525810-so-hey-have-you-heard-about-the-slaughter-that-lies-ahead-for-those-marine-mammals-weve-been-saving

http://www.clf.org/blog/clean-energy-climate-change/why-we-need-to-fight-for-cape-wind-now/

http://www.clf.org/profiles/john-kassel/

http://www.clf.org/blog/ocean-conservation/new-englands-oceans-national