Alternative energy USA: Will Obama Save Offshore Wind Power--Or Kill It? - by Wendy Williams
Cape Wind has long been the problem child of the nation's push for renewable energy—and it could end up being one of Barack Obama's biggest energy headaches in his first term, one that may decide the future of offshore wind power in the United States. The Cape Wind project was proposed just before September 11, 2001, and calls for 130 3.6-megawatt wind turbines, sitting five miles off the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts (map here). All told, the wind turbines would provide 75 percent of the Cape's electricity and obviate the use of the peninsula's 40-year-old dirty oil-fired power plant, one of the state's worst polluters. But even though a majority of the state's residents and politicians, including Governor Deval Patrick, support the project, it's been held up by a handful of wealthy and well-connected elites. Chief among opponents is Ted Kennedy, whose relentless opposition to the Cape Wind project was recently called "Ahab-like" by the Boston Globe, but foes also include House Democrats like Bill Delahunt (who represents Cape Cod) and Nick Rahall of West Virginia. These opponents have raised any number of issues—from a potential decrease in coastal property values to the potentially adverse effects on commercial and sport fishing. In some cases, the objection is personal: "That's where I sail!" Kennedy famously complained.
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