Wind Farmer's Almanac

Delahunt's sudden surge of confidence in the Coast Guard

Interesting quote from Congressman Bill Delahunt in today's Cape Cod Times about Congress passing the Coast Guard funding bill without the poison pill amendments sought by Cape Wind's opponents.

Instead, "the Coast Guard commandant will decide whether the project would pose a navigational threat in Nantucket Sound," the story states, as written by Kevin Dennehy and David Schoetz.

Delahunt said "the Coast Guard is the right agency to judge navigational threats," wrote Dennehy and Schoetz, followed by this quote from Delahunt -- "I have great confidence in the Coast Guard. I just know they'll conduct a process that's thorough, that's exhaustive and that will be fair."

That allegedly being Delahunt's belief in Coast Guard competence and expertise, why would he want to give unilateral veto power over Cape Wind to that world-renown whiz at maritime safety, Mitt Romney? Perhaps it had to do with Delahunt's unstated concern that the Coast Guard will conduct its review in a thorough, exhaustive and fair manner -- and decide the project does not pose a threat to navigation. Hey, with a possible outcome like that, why take chances?

Keep in mind that Delahunt is someone you'd expect to have a little more faith in the Coast Guard than he apparently does beyond the exigencies of political reality at any given moment. After all, he served in the Coast Guard, as he can hardly pass an hour without reminding people, and also serves -- a word deserving of quotation marks -- as co-chairman of the House Coast Guard caucus.

And speaking of the Coast Guard funding bill approved by Congress, was Delahunt able to provide anything sought by the Coast Guard in his district (which is bordered almost entirely by coastline) -- or did he expend so much political capital trying to thwart Cape Wind that he has nothing else to show for his efforts?

Based on what's been posted on Delahunt's congressional website, it appears our dutiful congressman was not all that dutiful when it came to actually helping the Coast Guard, an agency assigned with the arguably important mission of saving lives.

As of this morning, there is only this cursory entry about the Coast Guard bill on the site, to be found at the "What's Comin' Up" link - "Monday: House votes on $8.3 billion Coast Guard authorization bill which includes$1.6 billion for fleet modernizations -- Coast Guard operates second oldest fleet in the world (North Korea, Iran and Italy have better navies). Bill also contains strengthened CG role in siting off shore wind project in Nantucket Sound."

Not to worry, Delahunt's website will probably be updated within days to provide his constituents with more details of his arduous work on the Coast Guard bill -- just as Delahunt's website was updated only days after I wrote this blog post back in April. And yes, I know, that was just a coincidence.

(photo credit, Vineyard Gazette)