Protesters burst into the George Sherman Union’s Metcalf Hall yesterday afternoon, interrupting a speech by Cape Wind President Jim Gordon outlining his company’s proposed project in Nantucket Sound, part of an international energy conference that began today at Boston University.
About 30 protesters, carrying homemade signs and shouting, “No power plant in Chelsea,” denounced a proposal by Gordon’s company, Energy Management, Inc., to build a diesel-burning power plant in Chelsea. Police officers and conference organizers escorted the protesters out of the GSU.
According to Gordon, the proposed plant would be located in a Massport-designated industrial area and would use ultra-low sulfur fuel, the cleanest distillate fuel available. He said the plant would operate 400 to 500 hours a year.
Gordon, a graduate of the former BU School of Public Communications, was at BU for the 2006 World Oil Conference, co-sponsored by BU’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies and the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas.
“What we have now, because we don’t have peaking resources on the grid, the grid has to run dirtier power plants at idle speed,” Gordon said during his speech. “So the upshot is this facility will have a net positive impact on air quality.”
Gordon also addressed the criticism that has followed the Cape Wind project and grown as the Massachusetts gubernatorial election approaches. If built, the project will become the first offshore wind farm in the country. The proposed project includes the construction of 130 wind turbines on a shallow shoal about seven miles off the coast of Hyannisport on Cape Cod.
Gordon, who has lived on Cape Cod for 35 years, said the wind turbines would produce about 75 percent of the electricity needed on the Cape and surrounding islands, with no pollutant emissions or waste discharge.
“Why wouldn’t we seize the opportunity to use a local, abundant offshore resource and create local jobs to produce the needed electricity that we’re going to need over the next decades?” he asked.
Gordon said the turbines would be visible one half-inch above the horizon from the nearest beach.
“We’re going to increase our energy independence,” he said. “If you look at the trillions of dollars we’ve sent overseas to a cartel that controls the price of energy, this is really a chance for us to start transitioning to a more sustainable-energy future.”
ASPO-USA advisory board member David Room said he agreed with Gordon’s proposed use of renewable energy sources but, like the protesters outside, was wary of a reversion to diesel-based projects.
“I think [Cape Wind] sounds like a good idea from my cursory understanding of it,” the Energy Preparedness founder said. “I think we need to think about how we can start generating large amounts of energy without fossil fuels. Wind turbines – they look a lot better than a lot of other things in our industrial landscape.”
However, he said, a diesel-fuel power plant similar to the proposed Chelsea plant would heighten the area’s dependence on petroleum for energy.
“I would be very skeptical about having a diesel-power plant in my neighborhood,” Room said. “Developing countries use diesel. That’s an archaic way of generating energy. I personally think that we need to start thinking about how we can move more toward renewable sources.”
Clean Power Now representative Erich Mettler said his group supports the Cape Wind project and is trying to educate Massachusetts citizens about it.
“It’s a very complex issue,” he said.
Mettler said many who oppose Cape Wind dislike its “view pollution,” or disruption of the Cape’s attractive landscape.
“What I think we have here are people who’ve made their fortune . .. and just don’t want to see a wind farm miles off their shore,” Gordon said.
Gordon said some have opposed each energy facility EMI has developed.”
“It just goes with the territory,” he said. “If you believe you have a project that has merit that will adhere to the regulations and standards that govern that venue, go forward. You put the facts forward. You try to deal with or ignore the misinformation.”