For years, there has been a plan to build a huge wind farm in Nantucket Sound, equidistant from Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket island and mainland Massachusetts. It has been the target of fierce NIMBYism, almost certainly from people with second homes who think it will mar the view (of el mar). Also something about birds.
Ted Kennedy has been a big opponent, I’m guessing because the Kennedy Compound’s private sailing lanes would have to be slightly reoriented away from the turbines. Not a fan.
Even though this is the most ambitious wind farm idea in the US, ever. Even though it will save 1 million tons of CO2 annually, and reduce consumption of oil by 113 million barrels annually.
Even though this reduces the amount of oil that has to be shlepped through the Sound, and with it, the risk of spillage.
Even though there’s all of that, and, even weirder, the Bush Administration actually approved it, the opponents said this:
The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a group formed to fight the project, suggested that the Bush administration had unscrupulously rushed to approve it before President-elect Barack Obama takes office next week.
“They wanted some kind of a legacy,” said Audra Parker, the group’s executive director. “Cape Wind is far from a done deal, despite this favorable report.”
So…the Bush Administration is rushing this one through prematurely so that the incoming Obama people don’t reverse it? Can you imagine the audacity…nay, the temerity? All these people need to suck it, majorly. I mean, you fucking dickheads, this is exactly the kind of thing that needs to happen, everywhere. We need to carpet the earth and the ocean in windfarms, immediately.
What’s especially fucked up is that a big natural gas platform is about to go up int he Long Island Sound, and that faces far less opposition.
And the idea that windfarms are an eyesore is supremely irritating! They’re an example of amazing design and whenever I pass one, I feel like I’m driving through the future. They’re mesmerizing.
To prove it, here’s the ending of an episode of The Comeback with Lisa Kudrow (the dude disabled the embedding; skip to 4:26 for relevant part) featuring the windfarm near Palm Springs. The Comeback is the best show ever. Windfarms are the best power source ever. Why doesn’t Ted Kennedy get it? If you don’t like them, just remember that voting for Obama doesn’t mean you don’t suck.
Suck the Rainbow 