Tilting at offshore windmills

How Massachusetts's Cape Wind project got hijacked.

from the May 16, 2007 edition

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At that meeting, Doug Yearley, a board member of the Marathon Oil Corporation, told attendees they'd have to shore up their anti-wind arguments. "I've been through enough of these to know that wealthy people who are worried about [scenic] views" will not be listened to, he said. "We cannot afford to be complacent."

Since then, this privileged crowd has certainly been anything but complacent. The first objection to the project to find its way into print made the boating connection clear. "This is one of the premier yachting areas in the world and they're going to turn it into an obstacle course?" complained a local official to The Boston Globe.

Mr. Yearley promised to press "environmental" concerns about offshore wind to get the public's attention. Then followed an onslaught of grossly emotive and highly inaccurate claims. Jaci Barton of the Barnstable Land Trust wrote that Cape Wind could turn a migratory path for a half-million birds into a "killing field," calling to mind the dreadful Pol Pot era. European biologists who have studied the technology for a decade say offshore wind is generally environmentally benign, perhaps even more so than land-based wind power.

The Wianno Club meeting raised about $4 million. By now, opponents have spent more than $15 million – mostly on lobbying, legal fees, and public relations. They have funded no substantive scientific research.

Under Massachusetts' new governor, Democrat Deval Patrick, Cape Wind has just received a clean bill of health. Permits will likely follow soon. Federally, however, the process is stalled. The Minerals Management Service (MMS), the oversight agency, has repeatedly pushed back its hearing schedule.

MMS fears the inevitable lawsuits. Opponents have filed at least 20 project-related lawsuits and other actions. Some of these exhibit an extremely impressive imagination. These suits have ultimately failed – but that's not the point. The point is to create a high-stakes game of chicken and see who blinks first. "Endless litigation – nothing will get done!" threatened Rep. Bill Delahunt (D) of Massachusetts in a December 2004 public hearing.

The Cape Wind battle matters to the whole world. We must encourage the development of new technologies and begin to revamp the world's energy infrastructure.

We need a serious and responsible conversation about the future of energy in America. As we have it, we cannot allow the public discussion to be hijacked by those with hidden agendas. There's simply too much at stake.

• Science writer Wendy Williams is co-author, with Robert Whitcomb, of "Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound."

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