Op-Ed

The sky is falling, the sky is falling, windmills in the briny !

Blimey, that's BIG;
100 turbines the same distance from shore as the Cape Wind

Those who can't stand the thought of 130 turbines turning out on Horseshoe Shoals, making pollution-free affordable electricity for us all to use had better cancel their plans to travel to Great Britain.  With the lure of history, literary sites, theatre, museums, refined  
architecture, and hospitable natives, it will soon be too painful for those whose blood pressure rises at the prospect of windmills in the briny.

Londoners will benefit from the recently approved pair of windfarms in the Thames Estuary. The smaller one, the Thanet Project, will have 100 turbines the same distance from shore as the Cape Wind  will be. The larger one makes Jim Gordon's plan look miniature. The London Array will have 341 turbines a bit further out, occupying 144 square miles. That one alone will produce 1% of all the electricity  used in all of the United Kingdom. It will create 900 jobs.

Tony Blair, like Arnold Schwartzenegger, Al Gore, Deval Patrick, and an ever growing number of political figures everywhere are aware it is imperative toswitch from fossils to wind and solar. Our own  chance to be leaders in the inevitable changeover has been delayed, or even sacrificed, by a few rich, powerful, and shortsighted NIMBYs, and by an administration in Washington that is headed by oilmen who are deaf to scientists.

All the world over, when a windfarm is proposed, the very same imaginative anti-wind arguments surface. Then when approvals are granted and construction takes place, the populace discovers those  worries, promoted by the obstructurists, were as baseless as Chicken Little's fear of the sky falling.

Richard C. Bartlett, Cotuit
P.O. Box 163,   Cotuit, MA 02635-0163   (508) 428-7911
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Editor's Note: An Estuary of National Importance:

The Thames Estuary is recognised as a unique waterway of national and international importance, combining a diverse range of habitats and wildlife, a rich historical and cultural resource; and a major focus for industry, commerce, transport and recreation.

It is home to 4 World Heritage Sites, 4 National Nature Reserves, 29 Yacht Clubs, over 70 wharves, terminals and port facilities, as well as being the setting for national regeneration initiatives associated with the Thames Gateway, the London Olympics and now an offshore wind farm. See Map below.