WIND POWER OR POWER BROKERS OFF CAPE—WHAT WOULD BARACK OBAMA DO?

President Obama is said to have long thought about his unique responsibility to his supporters. David Axelrod, one of the President’s closest political advisors and friends, says Mr. Obama once, early in the 2008 campaign, wondered aloud if he could be the man his supporters and believers needed him to be, if he could “…be Barack Obama.”

Soon the new President must make a decision about the newest force in wind power and, in doing so, choose between being the Barack Obama who is New Energy’s biggest booster or succumbing – out of loyalty to one of the most powerful of his own boosters – to one of the most flagrant cases of NIMBYism ever to block New Energy’s path.

Cape Wind is the installation that has for 8 years wanted to be the United States’ first offshore wind project. Planned to turn the powerful winds of Nantucket Sound into vitally needed New Energy, only the Not-In-My-BackYard (NIMBY) opposition of powerful Cape Cod families for whom it is not a vital New Energy source but a minor inconvenience has stopped it.

The Kennedy family has been among the leaders to Cape Wind’s opposition. This puts the Obama administration in a potentially embarrassing position and the new President’s political opponents are waiting to pounce.

It seems almost inconceivable the Republican right could get a New Energy edge on the President politically but if the new administration sustains the contention of the Cape Cod powerbrokers that Cape Wind is objectionable, the President’s opponents will characterize it as an act of “patronage” to Senator Kennedy and portray Mr. Obama as a New Energy hypocrite. Preparations are already being made.

In the journal National Review, a cornerstone of conservative thinking, Jim Geraghty wrote: “We’ll know within a month how sincere Pres. Barack Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar really were in their promise to harness the wind to help meet the country’s energy needs: Sen. Ted Kennedy has de facto veto power over projects in his home state, and he’s trying to stop an initiative called Cape Wind.”

The U.S. has no offshore wind installations, despite the fact that New Energy planners in the U.S., Europe and Asia agree offshore wind must play an integral role if New Energy is to realize its potential. Europe has some 20 offshore installations and will in the next 2 years likely double that number.

The U.S. Department of Energy last year found it entirely feasible for the wind energy industry to provide 20% of the nation’s power by 2030. The finding assumed 20% of the 20% will come from offshore installations. There are obstacles, including opposition from the traditional power generation industries, supply chain congestion and inadequate transmission. But the worst hurt of all is the one that comes from wind’s friends, the NIMBYs.

An unnamed Cape Wind advocate, quoted by Geraghty: “There would have to be some extraordinary reason [for the Obama administration] to not make a favorable decision [on Cape Wind], aside from deference to Ted Kennedy…And if deference to Ted Kennedy is what delays this project, this means that deference is being paid by the president himself—and [that he’s] doing so at the expense of his pledges on energy policy.”

Cape Wind has enormous potential. Poll after poll shows the vast majority of Massachusetts citizens are for it. Its advocates say its only opponents are people who use the word “summer” as a verb, people who talk about “visual pollution” when they actually mean “the view of the few.” Even Masssachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a longtime friend and advisor to President Obama, is a Cape Wind advocate. It has been unequivocally established by numerous investigative journalists that the opposition to Cape Wind comes from groups funded by the wealthy few.

Cape Cod Times: “…what really upsets these well-to-do Don Quixotes is the thought of looking at windmills that would appear about as tall on the horizon as the thumbnail at the end of your outstretched arm.”

Both Senator Kennedy and environmental hero Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., have worked to stop Cape Wind on the grounds of its impact on the marine environment. Yet the final Environmental Impact Study (EIS) from the Department of Interior (DOI) Minerals Management Services (MMS) concluded, in its painstakingly exhaustive 2,800 page report, that the environmental impact would be largely "negligible" and the impact on the scenery would be "moderate."

There was one significant problem.

MMS EIS (as quoted by Geraghty): “Cape Wind will also have an adverse visual impact on 28 historic properties including the Kennedy compound, Nantucket historic district, Nobiska Point lighthouse, Monomoy Point lighthouse and several other light houses and proposed or existing historic districts.”

Senator Kennedy issued a statement in response to the study.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy: “I do not believe that this action by the Interior Department will be sustained…By taking this action, the Interior Department has virtually assured years of continued public conflict and contentious litigation.”

This simulation demonstrates what a devastation on the horizon Cape Wind will be. (click to enlarge)

Other great advocates for the environment and for New Energy, like Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) and Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass), have avoided this issue. The American Wind Energy Association and multiple environmental groups, from Greenpeace to the Union of Concerned Scientists, support Cape Wind.

If President Obama sides with Senator Kennedy, the man whose crucial endorsement may have turned the Democratic Presidential primary in his favor last year, in the face of overwhelming evidence in favor of the Cape Wind project, he will give Republicans something they have recently been anxiously looking for, a way to portray themselves no less objectionable to New Energy advocates than the Democrats.

Karl Rove, political guru to outgoing Republican President George W. Bush: “Voters ages 18 to 29 voted Democratic by a 2-to-1 margin…A market-oriented ‘green’ agenda that’s true to our principles would help win them back.” (See SPEW MUST STOP & ACTION IS COMING…)

UK Conservatives have successfully co-opted the “green” label in the post-Tony Blair years in a similar way. Obama’s Republican opposition is watching for an opportunity.

Whit Ayres, Republican pollster: “Obama is attractive to young people, but that doesn’t mean Republicans can’t still get in the game…”

Would President Obama fail to support New Energy? Cape Wind advocates do not take his support for granted.

Sue Reid, Conservation Law Foundation: "The opponents have proven to be very crafty and to embrace a scorched-earth approach to fighting this project…Of course we are going to be vigilant."

Perhaps the saddest part of the Cape Cod powerbrokers’ opposition to Cape Wind is how much they have mimicked the misinformed mischaracterizations of wind power normally heard from the obstinate naysayers of Old Energy.

Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-Massachusetts): "[Cape Wind is] a $2 billion project that depends on significant taxpayer subsidies while potentially doubling power costs for the region."

By making such claims, they lay the entire call for New Energy open to charges of hypocrisy.

Cape Cod Times editorial: “Good to see the Congressman now recognizes the limitations of green tech, such as its tendency to boost consumer electricity prices - but his makeover as taxpayer champion is a bit belated. Green energy has been on the subsidy take for years, including in 2005 when Mr. Delahunt was calling for "an Apollo project for alternative energy sources, for hybrid engines, for biodiesel, for wind and solar and everything else." The reality is that all such projects are only commercially viable because of political patronage.”

There is little doubt wind’s opponents will make use of this controversy. In its editorial describing Massachusetts Democrats’ opposition to Cape Wind, the Cape Cod Times seized the opportunity to completely skew the discussion.

Cape Cod Times editorial: “The Energy Information Administration estimates that wind receives $23.37 in government benefits per megawatt hour -- compared to, say, 44 cents for coal. Despite these taxpayer crutches, wind only provides a little under 1% of U.S. net electric generation.”

Wrong firstly because wind now provides almost 2% of U.S. power and is growing as fast as its recalcitrant, truth-defying opposition can be beaten back. It is the fastest growing form of new power generation in the country and was, in the most recent national statistics, second only to natural gas in providing new power generation.

And wrong secondly because the quoted calculation of “benefits per megawatt” fails to consider a whole range of expenses for coal. In fact, most fair-minded calculations rank subsidies to coal higher than those to all of New Energy. And that is without considering coal’s 150-year history of federally-subsidized development and all the societal ills the coal industry perpetrates on the public, from true environmental devastation to the lung disease and cancers it causes. To create an opportunity for New Energy sources of environmentally benign, infinitely renewable power generation to get in the game against the malignant entrenched interests of coal and traditional sources, the federal government provides a relatively meager tax credit.

click to enlarge

Yet the Kennedy position on Cape Wind lays New Energy and the new President open to such accusations as well as to the accusation of hypocrisy.

Cape Cod Times editorial: “We wouldn't be surprised to see the President's green future wrestled to the ground by the likes of Mr. Delahunt, the Kennedys and other anticarbon Democrats. Environmentalists love the idea of milking Mother Nature for power, but they hate the hardware needed to make it work: huge windmills, acres of solar panels, high-voltage transmission lines to connect them to the places where people live. Of course, they still totally, absolutely, wholeheartedly support green energy -- as long as it gets built where someone else goes yachting.”

Politics may seem to idealists like the carrying forth of a cause but to professionals it is merely the art of the possible. What is possible is what the political professional contributes to the cause. What is not possible is handled by spin, slipped by on a holiday weekend or indefinitely put aside. The Obama administration has promised a higher level of responsibility. It has promised to answer to its constituents.

The President was able to fulfill his promise to force stronger vehicle fuel emissions standards because it crossed no allies. The decision on Cape Wind is different. Siding with his constituents means crossing the Kennedys, which could be more than a personal betrayal. The President may need Senator Kennedy to see the health care reform agenda through Congress.

On the other hand, the heavily burdened Senator might feel he needs the President, to make certain health care reform is on the agenda soon enough to become the last and most lasting piece in the monumental Edward Kennedy legacy. Governor Patrick could be part of a conciliatory negotiation, in which the Governor convinces the Kennedys to accept Cape Wind and health care reform moves to the top of the Obama legislative agenda.

With the Cape Wind EIS released, a final decision on Cape Wind is expected from DOI in the next 30 days (though certain agency approvals, considered formalities after the thorough EIS, are still pending). If Ken Salazar, the President’s newly appointed Secretary of the Interior, approves, installation of the Cape Wind project will begin in 2010.

There is an opportunity in this small but crucial crisis for the President to prevent Senator Kennedy from leaving a tarnish on his great record of service to his state and his nation. To do so, Mr. Obama must remain true to his campaign promise of New Energy for America.

Greenpeace calls for Cape Wind. From greenpeaceusa via YouTube.

Obama faces tough choice on Cape Cod wind farm
Andrew Miga, January 26, 2009 (AP)
and
President Obama vs. Senator Kennedy; The challenge is blowin’ in the wind
Jim Geraghty, January 26, 2009 (National Review)
and
The fabulous debate over wind power on Nantucket Sound
January 24, 2009 (Wall Street Journal) and January 25, 2009 (Cape Cod Today)

WHO
President Barack Obama; Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.; Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick; Minerals Management Service of Department of the Interior (DOI) Ken Salazar, Secretary); Jim Gordon, CEO. Cape Wind LLC; Greenpeace

WHAT
Cape Wind requires only a few formalities and the approval of President Obama’s Department of Interior to become the nation's first offshore wind farm.

Simulated view from Cotuit, another life-shattering aesthetic horror. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- November 2001: Cape Wind LLC filed its first application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- January 2009: MMS approval.
- FAA and DOI Inspector General approval pending
- 2010: If approved, installation will begin.
- Late 2011 or early 2012: It would be online.

WHERE
- Cape Wind will be located in federal waters 4.7 miles offshore opposite Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket in Nantucket Sound.
- There will be a clear sightline from the Kennedy family's oceanside Hyannis Port, Mass., compound.
- There are reportedly 12+ pending applications for offshore wind installations, including off Maine, New Jersey, New York and Delaware.

Where the turbines will be. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- Cape Wind is a $1 billion project to build 130 turbines across a 25-mile stretch of ocean. It will meet 75% of the region's electricity needs and cut greenhouse gas emissions by some 734,000 tons annually.
- MMS says the wind farm project poses no major environmental impacts.
- Reviews by the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, permits from the Federal Aviation Administration and the and Coast Guard and the DOI Inspector General must approve the EIS process.
- A DOE study found it is feasible for wind to provide 20% of U.S. power by 2030, with offshore wind providing 20% of it.
- Senator Kennedy wanted Senate colleague Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to add wording in a spending bill that would have provided grounds for then-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to veto Cape Wind.
- One of the few issue-related compromises made by Robert Kennedy Jr., a Time magazine "hero of the planet," was his attempt to defeat Cape Wind by getting Nantucket Sound designated as a national marine sanctuary.
- Greenpeace is in favor of Cape Wind.

A neutral assessment. From FLYPMedia via YouTube.

QUOTES
- Kennedy, on Cape Wind: "The interests of our state have been basically submerged to a special interest developer…"
- Patrick, on Cape Wind: "I haven't come to my conclusions for political reasons; I've come to my conclusions because I'm convinced that the future of our economy is very much connected to the development of a vibrant industry in alternative and renewable energy…"
- Cape Cod Times editorial: “…there is the political saga, with the Kennedy family as the Hyannis Port Sopranos, supplying the muscle. While Ted Kennedy was castigating President Bush for destroying the environment, the Senator was working furiously behind the Congressional scenes to kill Cape Wind.”
- Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior: “As part of the President-Elect’s energy team, I will work to modernize our interstate electrical grid, expand the use of renewable energy like solar and wind on public lands, and help tribes develop renewable energy resources on their lands.”