Cape & Islands News

Alliance stripped of Soundkeeper designation

National group removes designation for cause
Felt Alliance was a single focus group devoted to stopping the wind farm

By Walter Brooks

 What is a Waterkeeper?

Waterkeeper Alliance connects and supports local Waterkeeper programs to provide a voice for waterways and their communities worldwide.
   To champion clean water and strong communities, Waterkeeper Alliance:
1. Supports and empowers member Waterkeeper organizations to protect communities, ecosystems and water quality;
2. Promotes the Waterkeeper model for watershed protection worldwide; and
3. Advocates for issues common to Waterkeeper programs.
   Each Waterkeeper program reflects the needs of the waterbody and community it represents. The common thread for each Waterkeeper program is a full-time person who serves as the Waterkeeper, the public advocate for that body of water. Source.

The national organization which had designated the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound as its local Waterkeeper has removed that right after numerous complains and an internal investigation.

Alex Matthiessen of Riverkeepers, a board member of the parent organization, confirmed today that they had removed their aegis after deciding that The Alliance was a single focus group and the focus wasn't saving the Sound but simply stopping the wind farm proposed for the Sound.

Ken & Barbie in Atlantic City

Ironically today was the first public hearing on the Interior Department's plans for  renewable energy for America, this one in Atlantic City.

Secretary Ken Salazar was there along with Barbara Hill of Clean Power Now, Mark Rodgers of Cape Wind and Glenn Wattley of The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Reached on his cellphone returning from the meeting, Mr. Wattley agreed with Alex Matthiessen's description saying that The Alliance is at present focused exclusively  on stopping what he called "the industrialization of the Sound," or at least a few dozen acres of the Sound.

Another Alliance source told CapeCodToday.com that "the Alliance had to make a decision to renew our commitment, but the Board felt overwhelmingly that this (the effort to stop Cape Wind) was now a legal issue to the finish. We sought other stakeholders who had a long-term commitment to the Sound. We will be raising money to support the Soundkeeper and feel we did a great job supporting the effort. Like the pro-Cape Wind forces we are doing all we can to win this. That's just how it is."

Despite Mr. Mattiessen's insistence that the license had not been given to any other group, Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Assoc. was awarded the license last month

Confusion in the water

However, despite Mr. Mattiessen's insistence on Monday that the license had not been given to any other local group, the Cape Cod Times reported today that the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association was awarded the license last month to be the Nantucket Sound Soundkeeper. The designation was made by an international coalition of environmental groups, according to Sue Nickerson, executive director of the North Chatham association. The association she now heads is a commercial one who interests could easily be contrary to the stated mission  of the Waterkeepers, and the group is a long-time opponent to the Cape Wind farm in the Sound.

When asked whether he was aware that Oxbow Energy Chairman Bill Koch, whose company is one of the largest privately held coal and Petroleum Coke suppliers in America, was Chairman of the Alliance for whom Susan Nickerson worked until very recently, and whether that and other connections to fossil fuel executives had any bearing on the decision to drop the Alliance, Mr. Matthiessen denied any knowledge of this. He insisted that the Waterkeeper had NOT yet awarded the license to anyone else.

What are they looking for?

When asked if waterkeepers had named another group to replace The Alliance, he demurred saying "not yet, although we expect one to apply soon but I am not at liberty of naming them until they apply."

When asked if that group was the Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association of Cape Cod now headed by former Alliance Executive Director Susan Nickerson, Mr. Matthiessen agreed that he had heard that.

When asked if the organization had looked at other better focused groups like Clean Power Now or the Coalition for Buzzards Bay, he said no, but the procedure was for groups to contact the Waterkeepers.

Since an organization's website is an accurate mirror into that group's focus and purpose, we offer the half dozen below to help the Waterkeepers and our readers to decide which is the most appropriate.

• A typical Soundkeeper website looks like this.
• Coalition for Buzzards Bay website looks like this.
• Clean Power Now website looks like this.
• The Commercial Hook Fishermen's website looks like this.
• The single focus Alliance site looks like this.
• The Waterkeeper website looks like this.