Image via WikipediaCape Wind 'Church Lady' on Dianne Them's show but not local affiliatesRobert F. Kennedy Jr., also on call for the show, states:
"The Horseshoe Shoal" proposed area of the Nantucket Sound for the Cape Wind project "is 63 percent of the catch for the fishermen of Menemsha, Chatham, Haines, and a couple of other communities come from there. Well, many of these families believe they will be put out of business because of this project. And all we’ve said to Jim Gordon (developer of the project) is let’s move it farther offshore.”
"And let’s put this offshore where it’s not going to harm the fishermen who are so much a part of the culture and the economy of our region. There is many places like Chatham, like Menemsha, and like Haines where the entire character of the communities are built around the commercial fishery. These are fisheries that’s 350 years old. Let’s not steal their most valuable resource and turn it over to an industrialist so that he can make money and put these people out of business."
Wendy Williams would be hard-pressed to find anyone in this country that knows more, has sacrificed more, worked harder and more tirelessly for the environment than life-long naturalist and envrionmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is an avid outdoorsman, senior attorney for the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper and President of Waterkeeper Alliance.
His uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy has been promoting the Nantucket Sound as a national marine sanctuary for nearly thirty years, way before a project like Cape Wind was even a twinkling in a developer's eye and pocketbook. Now he is being called a selfish NIMBY for continuing to protect it.
How ironic that she ignores the fact that the developer of Cape Wind is attempting to take over a public waterway for his own personal gain and stands to make billions in public subsidy and tax incentives for something the affected public does not want nor have they asked for.
"And here is another example. This is a public trust water. It’s one of the most heavily utilized public trust resources in North America. There is up to four million people a year who use this resource."
Not only has the public objected to it, but the towns, all three airports and passenger ferries (for reasons of public safety), toursim boards, commercial fishing organizations and conservation and wildlife protection groups have as well. Not one elected senator or congressman representing the Cape in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has endorsed the Cape Wind project.
His uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy has been promoting the Nantucket Sound as a national marine sanctuary for nearly thirty years, way before a project like Cape Wind was even a twinkling in a developer's eye and pocketbook. Now he is being called a selfish NIMBY for continuing to protect it.
How ironic that she ignores the fact that the developer of Cape Wind is attempting to take over a public waterway for his own personal gain and stands to make billions in public subsidy and tax incentives for something the affected public does not want nor have they asked for.
"Every time" Kennedy said "there is a national crisis or an international crisis, the first thing that the polluters and the industrialists say is, well, we have to sacrifice our most beautiful areas, whether it’s the ANWR or whether it’s building nuclear power plants or whatever."
"And here is another example. This is a public trust water. It’s one of the most heavily utilized public trust resources in North America. There is up to four million people a year who use this resource."
"What I’ve been fighting for 24 years is private developers who want to come and develop and steal public trust resources and privatize them. "And in this case" he added "there is very, very little democratic protection or process."
Not only has the public objected to it, but the towns, all three airports and passenger ferries (for reasons of public safety), toursim boards, commercial fishing organizations and conservation and wildlife protection groups have as well. Not one elected senator or congressman representing the Cape in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has endorsed the Cape Wind project.
Industrial wind farms, like the Cape Wind project, are on the rise and along with them public protest and opposition. Is it anti-environmental to even question much less object? Not at all. In fact, questioning wind power does not mean anti-environment and in reality the opposite is most often the case. Those that question are those that care or they wouldn't be involved in the debate at all.
Of course, conservation doesn't make anyone rich so it is mostly disregarded as too simple. Often, the real common sense solutions, that people can actually do themselves, are. Except, of course, in the past when American's were asked to conserve and make due during times of war and economic crisis. (Sound familiar?) And they obliged. Why aren't we being asked, even made, to conserve? Why are we only being asked to support more and more industry, to buy more and more gas guzzling vehicles and to go further and further into debt?
An example is GE who has managed to change its public image from a polluting industry to a green one simply through marketing itself as Green. While it manufactures wind turbines and markets itself in its eco-imagination campaign as a forward thinking green hero, it also is responsible for polluting our skies and waterways.
This company dumped pollutants like PCBs into the Hudson River for years and when it was caught launched an enormous well funded public relations campaign using beautiful images of the river, birds and estuaries, that hood-winked a majority of public into thinking GE was responsible for the very health and life of the Hudson River, not its slow death. In fact, people like Pete Seeger, though his activism for the Hudson River among other environmental warriors like the Hudson Riverkeeper were the ones that protected it, cleaned it up and called GE to task.
Behind every industrial wind farm is a developer looking to profit, Big.
What is wrong with that? Nothing. Except, of course, when you take a good look at the sales end of things. Most wind farm sales are based on marketing a product to cure all ills and as we all know marketing is often less than honest.
Years ago, we had the snake oil salesmen who would blow into town, offering their product guaranteed to cure all ills. By the time people realized they had been duped, the snake-oil salesman was long gone and off to his next mark.
This company dumped pollutants like PCBs into the Hudson River for years and when it was caught launched an enormous well funded public relations campaign using beautiful images of the river, birds and estuaries, that hood-winked a majority of public into thinking GE was responsible for the very health and life of the Hudson River, not its slow death. In fact, people like Pete Seeger, though his activism for the Hudson River among other environmental warriors like the Hudson Riverkeeper were the ones that protected it, cleaned it up and called GE to task.
Behind every industrial wind farm is a developer looking to profit, Big.
What is wrong with that? Nothing. Except, of course, when you take a good look at the sales end of things. Most wind farm sales are based on marketing a product to cure all ills and as we all know marketing is often less than honest.
Years ago, we had the snake oil salesmen who would blow into town, offering their product guaranteed to cure all ills. By the time people realized they had been duped, the snake-oil salesman was long gone and off to his next mark.
What does snake-oil have to do with industrial wind farms?
Everything. Just as snake oil salesmen promised to cure society's ills with a tonic, the wind power industry does the same with a wind farm. It promises, not only, to produce clean renewable energy at a lower cost, it also promises to lessen our dependence on foreign oil which will save our soldiers lives, our own, stop pollution, save the environment and cure Global Warming!
Buyer Beware. When something sounds too good to be true, it most often is.
In fact, being "Green" means you should question not only the viability of wind power but its potential negative impacts on the Earth, its communities and the living beings and ecosystems on which it depends.
Making responsible choices is the key to living Green.
Everything. Just as snake oil salesmen promised to cure society's ills with a tonic, the wind power industry does the same with a wind farm. It promises, not only, to produce clean renewable energy at a lower cost, it also promises to lessen our dependence on foreign oil which will save our soldiers lives, our own, stop pollution, save the environment and cure Global Warming!
Buyer Beware. When something sounds too good to be true, it most often is.
In fact, being "Green" means you should question not only the viability of wind power but its potential negative impacts on the Earth, its communities and the living beings and ecosystems on which it depends.
Making responsible choices is the key to living Green.
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