The battle between industrialists and environmentalists is being fought off the coast of Nantucket.
Energy Management Inc., a New England-Based energy company, is planning to build 130 massive steel structures, each taller than the Statue of Liberty, across 24 square miles of the Horseshoe Shoal.
But this development is no factory or oil rig.
It is Cape Wind, an alternative energy farm.
According to an Earth Policy Institute statement issued in June 2004, wind power is one of the fastest growing forms of electricity generation in America today.
Taking a cue from older model windmills, the technology generates power by harnessing kinetic energy in natural air currents, according to capewind.com
Wind rotates long airfoil blades around a hub 246 feet above mean sea level, and an induction generator uses the motion to create electricity.
This renewable energy source allows power to be generated without producing greenhouse gases, acidic compounds, carcinogen or any of the other pollutants given off by power plants.
It also reduces the dependence on foreign oil, without the dangers associated with nuclear energy.
CAPE WIND CONTROVERSY
But according to environmental group The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, wind power has its shortcomings.
Assistant Director Audra Parker said construction of the turbines has the potential to disrupt the local ecosystem, affecting birds, fish and other wildlife.
“Twenty-four square miles is a significant amount of space,” Parker said. “These people are drilling 80 feet into the sea bed. There will be habitat alteration.”
Cape Wind Media Coordinator Mark Rodgers said the techniques used will be minimally invasive.
“We’ll be required to be monitoring to make sure marine mammals won’t be in the area,” he said. “There are techniques to scatter marine life temporarily [during construction] without hurting them.”
The sound is also home to some protected species of birds and is part of a major migratory route
Rodgers said he defends offshore wind farms because they are less of a danger to birds than land-based wind farms, although they are more expensive.
IT’S ALL POLITICS
The project has become a significant political issue, attracting the attention of many influential personalities, such as environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy wrote against Cape Wind in a New York Times Op-Ed in December 2005, denouncing the proposed installation as a blot on Nantucket’s naturally beautiful landscape.
Rodgers said he contends that such feelings are often held by those who have never seen an operational wind farm.
“Out of those who see them, more find them interesting than ugly,” he said. “More tend to like them.”
Parker said it does not matter that many politicians who are opposed to Cape Wind own property on Nantucket Sound.
“It’s just a PR strategy to minimize opposition,” she said. “Not all of them are wealthy waterfront property owners.”
Other politicians have taken sides on the Cape Wind issue.
According to the Alliance website, Gov. Mitt Romney and State Attorney General Thomas Reilly oppose the project.
Massachusetts democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick supports the Cape Wind Project.
“I will support renewable energy projects whenever the benefits for all of us outweigh the disadvantages,” he wrote on Devalpatrick.com. “I believe the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound is just such a project.”
AN ECONOMIC WINDFALL?
Rodgers said while Cape Wind is heavily subsidized, it will pay a 28% tax on its profits.
The turbines’ construction will create hundreds of new jobs, according to Rodgers.
While Parker does not dispute Cape Wind’s claim, she said the Alliance estimates job cuts in the tourism industry following the project’s completion that run into the thousands.
These estimates leave Rodgers skeptical.
“While the spectre of loss of tourism is invoked for wind farms,” he said. “There’s not a single example on the planet of tourism dropping due to their construction.”
Rodgers said offshore wind farms in Denmark have actually led to an increase in tourism.
Parker said this increase may have been due to other factors, and even if it were due to the wind farms, it does not suggest a long-term gain.
“The increase could be because it’s a novelty,” Parker said. “Once you’ve seen it once, is it an attraction?”
The Alliance is critical of Denmark’s Horns Rev wind farm, which they say had to be completely dismantled two years after it opened because of a manufacturing defect.
Rodgers said the farm is now running smoothly.
A DEEP SEA ALTERNATIVE
The Alliance looks to another international example to assert their feelings on how a wind farm should be run.
Scotland’s Beatrice wind plant is another proposed offshore wind farm, but it will be located 12 miles from the shore compared to Cape Wind’s five.
According to Parker, more distant offshore wind farms will solve many of the economic, social and environmental issues raised by Cape Wind.
“I’m very optimistic about deep water sites for wind farms,” she said.
Parker said the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative has joined with GE and the United States Department of Energy to create guidelines for an offshore wind collaborative, lending hope to the idea that deep-sea wind farms may become a reality in the near future.
Rodgers said building a deep-sea wind farm would not be economically practical.
“You need to be able to build a project you can finance,” he said.
Rodgers said Scotland’s Beatrice plant is entirely government-funded, while Cape Wind is privately owned.
“The construction techniques for deep water [wind farms] are still in technical development right now,” Rodgers added.
Though the Alliance claims the Beatrice plant may be operational a year from now, Rodgers said it may be 10 to 15 years before advances in technology allow the plant’s completion.
According to Rodgers, the Cape Wind operating permit will expire before a deep-sea wind farm can be developed.
“The permit will not be forever,” he said.
Rodgers said the plant will most likely be economically viable because it will generate electricity revenues, but Massachusetts residents will decide how long Cape Wind will operate.
WILL WIND BE PASSED?
But the question of the farm’s sustainability may become irrelevant if a recently proposed amendment to the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act is passed.
The amendment, introduced by Rep. Don Young (R-Ark) seeks a ban on offshore turbines within 1.5 miles of a shipping or ferry channel.
If passed, the amendment will halt the construction of Cape Wind indefinitely.
The amendment has met criticism from the Boston Globe, The New York Times and even opponents of Cape Wind, like Robert Kennedy.
Rodgers said he does not know what will result from the amendment.
“We don’t have a crystal ball,” he said.
The Alliance supports the ban.
Parker called the Cape Wind project “mired in controversy” and said the state should look to other alternative energy sources.
“I see a country more aggressive about controlling our demand and more mixed about renewables such as solar power,” she said. “Just by implementing half the controls available to us, we can solve all our energy issues.”