By: Hans Hillewaert
Some news out of my backyard (sort of): Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has approved the Cape Wind project. After nine years of trying to get approval, the project can take off.
Long story short: Cape Wind is a planned wind turbine farm off the shore of Massachusetts. It’s been opposed for years, primarily by the rich folks of Hyannis and other areas. Among its opponents are Mitt Romney and the the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.
I never really understood the opposition to this. Sure, there were some concerns, such as the impact on the fishing business, and impact on bird flight. But all of this was vetted more than two years ago, and it found that installing the turbines would have little impact on the concerned areas.
Lets face facts: Any other opposition is mostly NIMBYness. They don’t want to see it, even though the turbines will have direct positive impact on their areas, to the tune of 75% of the power needs for the Hyannis area, and the offshore islands.
And Massachusetts can certainly use the job creation, as the unemployment rate as of eight days ago was at 9.3%, only 0.4 points away from the national number of 9.7%.
Most important is that this project will pave the way for others of the sort. The off-coast area in New England is prime real estate for wind generators. It is time to take advantage of the resources that are there everyday and harness them to build up a viable industry and rebuild the economy that has suffered with the loss of jobs from other industries.
The NIMBYs will frankly have to deal with their less than pristine view.
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