Quixote and Fear of Cape Wind
An apt metaphor for what’s going on in the US and its failure to embrace wind turbines more vigorously, especially offshore, is provided for us by Miguel Cervantes’ in his masterpiece Don Quixote. Written in the 17th century, the half-blind protagonist Quixote repeatedly mistakes the early windmills for evil giants and ineffectually attacks them.
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This is happening again, isn’t it? The Massachusetts coastal Cape Wind project can’t get built without inciting a massive legal assault as if Cape Wind wanted to line Nantucket’s beaches with hazardous waste incinerators. A Federal regulatory morass creates a fertile environment for opportunistic blocking maneuvers.
Attorney Carolyn Elefant, keeper off the Wind and Wave Energy Weblog, lays out a few of the reasons Cape Wind and other similar projects spend as much money on attorney fees as they do on developing improved technologies: - Applicants don’t always know where to go t always know where to go – and even the agencies are not aware of each others even the agencies are not aware of each others’ jurisdiction (Corps and FERC)
- Agencies w/jurisdiction may not be properly geared Agencies w/jurisdiction may not be properly geared for processing applications (Corps and offshore for processing applications (Corps and offshore wind; FERC and wave energy) wind; FERC and wave energy)
- Success of technologies will hinge on the extensiveness of a permitting process and not the extensiveness of a permitting process and not the merits merits
- No central repository [exists] for data No central repository for data – which leads to which leads to duplication of effort
We've got to cut to start cutting through this mess. Today’s sleek turbines are about as hazardous to humans and the environment as the mechanical marvels made of wood and cloth. Constructed of 21st century composites in computer optimized shapes, they are much taller and generate many thousands of times the power of their early ancestors.
I find the reasons for fighting wind power installations in 2004 about as cogent as Quixote’s four centuries ago: primarily based on blindness. With all due respect, the folks seem to be blissfully ignorant of: - The volatile price of oil and its effects on the economy
- Environmental impacts of old energy power sources
- The human pain and suffering from the casualties incurred defending middle east supply lines
What gives?
posted by Andy Bochman at 10:33 PM
 
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