Cape & Islands News

Clean Power Now introduces 'Eve the Electrician'

Interactive Web cartoon details Cape Wind's final hurdles
Alliance backers shown dwelling in 'Cavern of Frivolous Lawsuits'

By James Kinsella
While Joe the Plumber had his moment in the national sun, Clean Power Now is hoping that Eve the Electrician will make an even bigger impression on Cape Cod and the Islands.

CPN put together this interactive graphic "Eve the Electrician" to help the public learn about what needs to happen, who is trying to stop it and how they can help.

Eve is the heroine of an interactive cartoon on the home page of Clean Power Now's newly revised Web site.

The cartoon shows what steps remain for the permitting of a wind turbine farm in Nantucket Sound by Cape Wind LLC - and what could slow or interfere with the approval and construction of the wind farm.

"It's designed to help people understand the final stages of what is needed to get Cape Wind permitted," said Barbara Hill, executive director of Clean Power Now, a non-profit organization that supports renewable energy in general and the Cape Wind proposal in particular.

At the moment, judging from the cartoon and the interactive balloons that appear when a reader rolls his mouse over the cartoon, Eve is in a good mood. In her hand is a power cord extending to several off-shore wind turbines. She's standing on a panel labeled "FEIS," for final environmental impact statement.

That's what Clean Power Now expects the federal Minerals Management Service to issue in the coming weeks. Hill anticipates that the statement will clear the way for Cape Wind to go forward.

Even so, potential trouble awaits Eve. Down underground, in the "Cavern of 'Frivolous' Lawsuits," lurk several characters who are markedly less happy about the situation, including Osterville businessman William Koch and a fellow wearing an "I Love Coal" T-shirt. The cartoon labels these characters as members of or people associated with Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a not-for-profit organization that opposes construction of Cape Wind.

The "I Love Coal" guy is standing by a plunger, prepared to use legal challenges to dynamite any federal record of decision that would clear the way for Cape Wind with legal challenges.

The cartoon references two documents: one a list of lawsuits already mounted against Cape Wind, another what Hill said is a copy of an Alliance fundraising letter sent out this fall vowing to stop the Cape Wind project at all costs.

Hill said Eve wasn't inspired by Joe the Plumber - the nickname for plumber Joseph Wurzelbacher, a supporter of Republican presidential candidate John McCain who became a touchstone in the final weeks of McCain's campaign.

Rather, Hill said Eve was the culmination of a lot of creative conversations. She also is an allusion to the support that union workers have expressed for the Cape Wind project.

Hill said the organization's redesigned Web site is designed to meet several goals, including drawing a clear picture of what hurdles and challenges remain for Cape Wind, and attracting donations to help support Clean Power Now's operations.

The organization has been advocating the Cape Wind project, which was announced in 2001, since 2003.

"It's been a long journey for all of us," Hill said Tuesday.

At the same time, she said Clean Power Now members are very excited about the pending environmental impact statement.

Hill said they anticipate something historic is about to take place: the first permitting of an offshore wind farm in the United States.