Not in my backyard.

["Patricia Milligan" <PXM@NRC.GOV>]

>From today's Washington Post.. 



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37778-2002Aug19.html



Windmills on the Water Create Storm on Cape Cod 

               Concerns About Environment, Tourism Fuel Mass. Debate 



               By Pamela Ferdinand

               Special to The Washington Post

               Tuesday, August 20, 2002; Page A03 



               EASTHAM, Mass. -- On a clear day, Cape

               Cod beachcombers can see across Nantucket

               Sound to where blue sky and sparkling sea

               meet in a seamless horizon. During summers

               to come, however, their view may be

               interrupted by hundreds of twirling windmills

               dotting the distant waterscape like a profusion

               of tiny masts. 



               Proposals for what could be the nation's first

               energy-producing, offshore wind farms are

               brewing a fierce debate over their potential

               impact on tourism, fisheries, safety and the

               environment -- as well as the aesthetics of

               rotating blades on steel towers taller than the

               Statue of Liberty. The feud comes at a time of mounting debate not only about

               domestic energy supplies, but also over how to divvy up the ocean among

               competing interests while protecting one of the world's greatest natural

               resources.



               Environmentalists sit on both sides of the argument: Proponents say wind

               farms, which already operate inland in 29 states, lessen reliance on fossil fuels

               and nuclear power. Opponents, who say they support renewable energy

               alternatives, contend private developers are trying to cash in on a public

               resource and are exploiting regulatory gaps by positioning projects in federal

               waters, outside local and state control. 



               "This is like an Oklahoma land grab," said John O'Brien, president of the

               Hyannis, Mass.-based Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.



               Buoyed by technological advances and falling costs, wind is the world's

               fastest-growing energy source. Giant turbines harness the wind's kinetic

               energy, powering a generator that pumps out electricity, which is then

               transmitted to power grids. 



               An estimated 50,000 wind turbines operate around the world; Denmark, one of

               the leaders in the field, relies on small wind power plants to generate roughly

               15 percent of its electricity. Germany, Britain, Australia and Sweden have

               offshore wind farms, and Ireland recently granted permission for a 200-turbine

               offshore facility, one of the world's largest. 



               In the United States, where some states require utility companies to invest in

               renewable energy and producers receive tax credits, wind power makes up

               less than 1 percent of energy generated annually. Yet about $3 billion worth of

               wind power projects -- enough to supply 850,000 homes -- are being proposed

               or planned for the next several years, from a $55 million, 34-turbine wind farm

               west of Chicago to facilities off the coasts of New England, New Jersey and

               New York. 



               "The big picture is that the whole country is going to have to make the

               transition away from coal, oil and nuclear power," said James F. Manwell,

               director of the Renewable Energy Resource Laboratory at the University of

               Massachusetts-Amherst. Cape Cod, he added, could be a leader because of its

               location.



               New England, after all, is no stranger to wind power. Vermont was home to

               the world's then-biggest turbine in the late 1930s, before it fell prey to design

               flaws (some early turbines were felled or disabled by high winds). And Cape

               Cod had more than a thousand working windmills in the 1800s; traces of them

               still exist. 



               The project generating the most controversy is a 170-turbine wind farm,

               costing $600 million to $700 million, proposed by Cape Wind Associates. The

               partnership said it is responsible for several of Europe's largest wind farms.

               Yesterday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved plans for a test tower

               off the cape to gather data about the project's feasibility.



               Under the proposal, lighted towers would be placed six to nine football fields

               apart over 28 square miles in Horseshoe Shoals, about six miles from Hyannis

               and nine miles from Martha's Vineyard. The turbines would be connected to

               the Northeast power grid by cables buried six feet under the ocean floor. The

               facility would produce an average of 170 megawatts, or about half the

               electricity demand on Cape Cod, the Vineyard and Nantucket, lowering the

               overall price for energy in the region and saving an estimated $25 million per

               year, said company spokesman Mark Rodgers. 



               Another developer plans to build an even larger facility. Winergy LLC of

               Shirley, N.Y., is seeking a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers for one of

               four sites south of Nantucket for a maximum of 400 turbines on 64 square

               miles, said company President Dennis Quaranta. A third company,

               Texas-based Sea Energy Generation Inc., also expressed interest in positioning

               a small wind farm nearby. 



               Wind energy developers said Nantucket Sound is an ideal site because it has

               some of the strongest, most sustained winds and shallowest waters in the

               United States. Modern turbine technology has improved -- the blades are

               quieter than powerboats and rotate slowly, so they are unlikely to endanger

               wildlife, company officials said. 



               "The wind turbines of today are not your father's windmills. They're not even

               your older brother's windmills," Rodgers said.



               The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and other opponents, however, said

               the massive project represents "a permanent industrial facility in a pristine

               natural environment." Wind power, by its nature, is unreliable, these opponents

               added, and unlikely to benefit taxpayers or live up to promised production

               levels. 



               State and federal agencies have called for further impact studies, including

               reviews of risk to endangered migratory birds. Aviation and Coast Guard

               officials have raised safety questions, and fishermen worry that vast turbine

               tracts on navigable waters will impede their already struggling industry. 



               The area's $1.5 billion tourism industry is another matter, said John Donelan,

               associate director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and a Cape Cod

               native. "One of the things about Cape Cod that people come to is the empty

               horizon," he said. "They love the open ocean." 



               As important, many people say, is that unlike offshore oil and gas leases, there

               is no specific regulation governing renewable energy projects in federal

               waters, including the outer continental shelf, where these wind farms are

               proposed. 



               A bill in Congress would expand the Interior Department's jurisdiction to

               supervise renewable energy projects such as wind farms on the shelf, but

               critics such as Rep. William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.), whose district

               encompasses the cape and islands, said the bill is too weak. Clearly defined

               national standards are needed to address competitive bidding, compensation,

               public safety and environmental protections, they said.



               "The reality is there is no process," Delahunt said. "There are no safeguards in

               place to ensure that our ocean is being managed properly." 



               Other lawmakers have stepped into the fray as well. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

               (D-Mass.), whose family compound in Hyannisport sits on the coast, inserted

               an amendment into the energy bill requesting a National Academy of Sciences

               study of renewable energy projects on the outer continental shelf. 



               And in a letter last week to Les Brownlee, acting assistant secretary of the

               Army for civil works, Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) said current laws were

               inadequate "to properly protect environmental concerns, the navigational

               safety of the public, and the financial investments of the private sector

               proposing projects and seeking permits for activities in outer continental shelf

               lands."



               He ended the letter by saying, "My state, Virginia, being a coastal state, could

               well face a similar project in the future."



               Developers and others, however, say critics are overstating the harms. They

               say that wind farms have boosted tourism in some areas and that an exacting

               permitting process is underway, involving federal, state and regional

               authorities.



               The project, if approved, is scheduled for completion in 2005. In the

               meantime, environmentalists remain split on the issue, and the only consensus

               appears to be a widespread desire for more information. About 50 people

               attended a recent presentation here in Eastham, the site of the oldest cape

               windmill (built in 1680), and more forums are planned. 



               Helen Miranda Wilson, 54, a landscape painter born in Wellfleet, said she is

               worried about the lack of federal regulation and voter input. But her concerns

               do not extend to windmill aesthetics. "They really are beautiful," she said





Patricia A. Milligan, RPh.,CHP

USNRC

301-415-2223

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/