Klaus responds to Marathonpundit.blogspot.com

Read the initial post on Marathonpundit...

See the response:

I'm curious about your use of the word "NIMBY" because the Cape Wind project that you uphold so ardently is sited in unprotected Federal waters in the heart of Nantucket Sound. I would hardly call that area Ted's or RFK's backyard, that is public trust land that is being taken by a private developer in his for-profit venture. That's everybody's backyard being destroyed by the installation of 130 turbines and a 10-story transformer sub-station.

Few people realize Nantucket Sound is the only place in the continental United States where protected state waters surround unprotected federal waters. This is significant because our inner coastal water way (Nantucket Sound, which is traversed by 3 million people annually) is managed like the outer continental shelf. Opposition to Cape Wind does not mean that people are anti-environmental - it means that some of us believe that there are better ways to manage our ocean and wind resources by siting turbines in areas the will not need to be dredged to allow installation, in areas that are not heavily used by our commercial fishing fleet, in areas away from the ferry routes and shipping lanes...the list goes on.

As I mentioned before, Massachusetts residents have inherited a donut hole of unprotected waters. Most people don't know that all of Nantucket Sound was once protected from industrial development as Cape and Islands State Ocean Sanctuary. This was undone in the 80's when the federal government took back waters outside of the 3-mile state limit as part of Supreme Court case that involved a number of states in the Northeast - Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland and others. This legislation cannot be undone, and has left our coastal waters unprotected and susceptible to utility scale projects such as Cape Wind.

Lest we forget Nantucket Sound has twice been nominated as a National Marine Ocean Sanctuary.

RFK Jr. defends Cape Cod from industrial development

At a recent press conference regarding the future of Ethanol Robert F. Kennedy Jr., founder of the Waterkeeper Alliance, was again asked about his stance on wind power in Nantucket Sound. His remarks reflect a keen understanding of competing environmental values.

Of permitting of CapeWind, he remarked:

“Those decisions have to be made by the local community”

Kennedy also voiced concern about the impacts a project would have on community fisherman:

“I’m an opponent to the wind farm in Cape Cod because it will put hundreds of small commercial fishermen out of business.”

He also said that the wind farm could be moved a slight distance for a modest increase in cost, but to a location that would not interfere with the fishing industry at Cape Cod.

“If they move the wind farm, it could be slightly more expensive for the partners,” Kennedy said. “It’s a bad site. It will put hundreds of small fishermen out of business. There are 5.5 million people that use that waterway every year.”

See the entire story on Ethanol at Grainnet.