CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

I agree with Capri, Benny and vieopaul. I was happy to read about the most recent appointments and had a similar reaction -- good for him to appear willing to accept input from those on both sides of the debate, and to be open-minded about Cape Wind until he knows the facts. What seems to be assumed with regard the new governor by some pro-windustrialists is that he is the one that will "approve" the project. We all know he has no official governing power over it. Yes, he may be able to influence some people toward his position (whatever that may ultimately be), but he will not make the final decision one way or another. All in all, his apparent position is better news than I expected...

The jurors need to peel the onion, so to speak, when they try to assess this case. Start with a multi-layered gob of information, and end at the only known facts. McCowen knew Christa (by his own admission), he "put the boots to her" the day she died, his DNA was found inside her body, and she was killed within hours if not seconds of its deposition. That should be enough to prove his role in her death beyond REASONABLE doubt.

Good grief, The pro Cape Winders have really taken their argument (or lack thereof) to new lows. Clubbing baby seals? Cape Wind as a minor pin prick? Gerbils crawling up butts? These comments are yet more proof, heaped on an already very large pile, that those in favor of Cape Wind are the ones serving up the BS. As usual, those that oppose have made you all look like fools. And that's kind nice...

Nope capemom, they're not perfect, but from the tone of your posts, you think you are. As usual, like all of the other Cape Wind allstars that post on this website, you immediately have to make things personal -- it's the only tactic you all seem to be able to come up with. Your little rant about my kids is uncalled for. They're certainly alot nicer than you. Have a good day.

I knew I would regret mentioning my kids because there are some people that are simply rude. Contrary to your assumption capemom, my children are alot more savvy than you give them credit for. They don't ask for popsicles for dinner, nor do they whine about legos. And they wouldn't like you much either. As I said, their judgement is unclouded by greed and unjaded by the yahoo politics that many of you Cape Wind supporters tend to practice. And, Seneca (Speckerhead), whatever...

Look no further for children who think wind turbines in the middle of the ocean are ugly. My two children, ages 10 and 8, and my niece and nephew, ages 10 and 13, are all NOT HAPPY with the thought of an industrial wind farm in the middle of the sound that they love. In fact, my son wrote about it in a poem at school. This is really affecting many people, of all different ages and backgrounds. I am encouraging all of our kids to educate their peers, just as I do with mine. Kids often have better judgement than adults about things because they don't live their lives controlled by greed...

oops, their job...

Exactly -- he had way too much to say about the details of the crime for his confession to have been coerced. This was not a situation where he finally broke down after intense interrogation saying "OK, OK I did it". The fact that there wasn't a plea to a lesser charge tells me he wasn't offered one by the prosecution. IMO, they're confident they have a rock solid case, a good judge, and a jury that will do thier job responsibly and respectfully to deliver the proper verdict.

Capri,
Like Barbara, you have the good nature to suffer fools. Thanks for going to bat for us less patient types...Looking forward to the day that Cape Wind is defeated -- I think it is near...

Barbara,
You are a better person than me to even bother trying to have an intelligent discussion with lmco35 and croftsbs. At the risk of becoming personal, which I really don't like to do, the emptiness of lmco35's discourse is staggering. I hate to say it in these terms, but he's drinking the Cape Wind kool-aid. Keep doing what you do Barbara, you are far from alone...

I don't think anyone is suggesting that the noise pollution would reach the shore -- BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS. Cape Wind, conveniently, has not had to address this very important issue. Standing under one (smaller by the way) wind turbine as an indication of the noise levels that might be produced by a field of 130 larger turbines just doesn't cut it, sorry. Noise pollution is just another issue on a very long list that starts, in my opinion, with the fact that Jim Gordon doesn't own Nantucket Sound, it belongs to all of us. Hopefully, he'll regret trying to take a piece for himself...

Sorry, wish I could help with the emissions, but would have to leave that up to the experts. The canal stack is on private property vs. Cape Wind on federal property which belongs to all citizens, not Jim Gordon. I'm not sure what the noise pollution would be like from 130 whining turbines, but I'm sure (based on reading about the Danish plants) it would be far from pleasant. One man's air pollution is another man's noise pollution.

Since when can you arbitrarily (and significantly, IMO) change a proposal, and not have to resubmit the new plan for permitting? It's like asking for a permit to build a ten story. building, and then changing the plan to a twelve story building. As for the (one vs 130)canal stack, maybe it can be painted to match the scenery -- that's Cape Wind's answer to visual blight...

I know Stopcapewind -- it's pure lunacy. The people at Cape Wind (and their ilk) seem to think it's everyone else's responsibility to clear the way for their ludicrous scheme, and those that can't be bought, or deluded, should just shut up and go away. The DOD findings are just the latest in a long string or reasons why the wind farm is in the wrong place and should not be built. Who is Jim Gordon that anyone would or should be willing to make his plan easier? Someone PLEASE explain why this guy deserves anything, from anyone. Who IS he that some people are willing to set aside what is logical in order to support him? Like I said, crazy...

So, if there are issues with wind turbines interfering with our first line of radar defense the answer is simply to find ways to mitigate the effects? Who, pray tell, is supposed to formulate this plan? Who would fund the costly research and development that it would take to solve the problem of radar interference, because I can assure you, it will not come cheap? It seems a pretty pat response to the technical/national security issues that the DOD report has made very clear; find a way to change the pave paws system so that Jim Gordon can proceed on his merry way. Cape Wind, and no one else, should be required to foot the bill, hire the experts, run the tests, get the appropriate approvals, etc.

Then let those who want energy independence in the form of wind build a turbine on their own private property, not on the Sound. It belongs to all citizens, not just those who wish to degrade it with a windustrial plant. You remember the solar energy fad of the 1970's don't you? You know, all of those independent types who didn't want to pay for the high price of heating their homes? How many houses do you see with solar panels being built on them nowadays...Like wind, the availablility of solar energy can be unpredictable at best -- there is no guarantee that the sun will shine, or that the wind will blow. Cape Wind, just another high-priced fad...

ccguy, if you wouldn't mind, please elaborate on your statement that pave paws can be "aimed"...Is this done by human operators/technicians? How would they know where and at what to aim the radar? I am very good friends with someone who works in R&D of national and international security systems at Raytheon (the creators of pave paws). I'll be asking the next time I see him about the "aimability" of the system. By the way -- he's against Cape Wind as well...Yet another expert who opposes the windustrial plant.

Here comes the spin...

Wow, first the DOD report, then the AWEA comments, and now Deval "the fair weather wind farm supporter" putting his foot squarely in his mouth. It's been a blue ribbon day. The recent news has made me, and everyone I know (who also love the Sound), very happy. LET'S KEEP IT GOING!!! And thank you Barbara, Capri, Wolfram, Stopcapewind, Neil Good, Cliff Carroll, et al for fighting the good fight...

Barbara,
It shouldn't take too long for the spin -- hasn't this been one of their chief tactics all along? How else do you defend such a ludicrous project, other than to tell everyone who objects that they're wrong and that they're elitist nimbys, or stupid, etc? They can only keep their wind turbines above water for so long. The writing is on the wall...

I couldn't ask for better news to start the weekend. Yet again, the professionals/experts have illustrated the very real problems the windustrial plant would create. Keep 'em coming, the end may be near...

Capri,
I checked out the history of abusive behavior and comments for myself ("show all comments by this user") -- I am glad you are making the authorities aware of his behavior. The sad fact is that about one out of every twenty people has a personality disorder, some more serious than others. Interestingly, the accepted symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder are as follows:
Behavior or fantasy of grandiosity
A lack of empathy
A need to be admired by others
An inability to see the viewpoints of others and
Hypersensitivity to the opions of others.

Hmmm...

OK, this is starting to become scary. There is something terribly wrong with the personal nature of Mr. Peckham's interactions with Capri Barbara, and others. And now, you're driving by her house??? And, what was so tempting??? It sounds like a threat, to me. Mr. Peckham, there are laws in this state that define what you have been doing, on a consistent and long-standing basis on this website, as harassment/cyberstalking (not to mention now the physical stalking). This is not a joke. I would be very careful if I were you...As usual, you have taken what could and should be an intelligent and respectful discussion, and turned it into something disturbing. You are misogynistic, misinformed, and misguided. And, if you attempt to harass me, you will be sorry, I promise you.

MODERATOR -- please consider banning Mr. Peckham from posting here. He is clearly a menace.

CapeMom -- you claim some disbelief that a man would choose single fatherhood unless given no other alternative (abandonment or death of spouse). I agree with you. However, I think of the few who do choose, some of them do it to hurt and control their ex. I know a man who has also fought in court, also by accusing his ex of mental issues, for sole custody of his daughter. While he loves his child and is a great dad, it is also very clear to me and the rest of our family that this also about control, and about hurting and discrediting his ex. He and his new wife, through their comments and criticisms, have made this very clear. In fact, the similarities between the two cases is eerie.

IMO, KB (unlike AB)has demonstrated honesty in a public forum, intelligence in her postings, and an honest effort at financial support (c'mon AB get a job and help) and a willingness to put her child's and her parent's feelings ahead of her own.

As a mom yourself, I guess I'm surprised at the harshness of your criticisms. KB needs a good lawyer, now.

Barbara,
Your observation about scale is right on -- and I'm sure Jim Gordon knows it. Why else would he push to permit and build the whole farm? It would seem infinitely more logical (not that I want it to happen) to build a few towers first, as a test if you will. However, there is no way he is willing to risk what, IMO, would be the inevitable and overwhelming conclusion. If 10 towers, for example, are this huge, and ugly, and enviromentally damaging (and probably ineffective), the public outcry would no doubt quash the remainder of the project.

"U.S. wind farms are typically owned and
developed by utilities or large, private
developers who can be perceived as
"outsiders" trying to exploit local resources. Denmark cleverly avoided this by promoting wind turbine ownership by cooperatives, requiring that the members/owners live within a certain distance of the site. At one time, nearly 100,000 Danish families owned wind turbines or shares in wind cooperatives"

A quote from Sparling Engineering (Washington State)-- and one reason the Danes are OK with wind energy, and we are not. Jim Gordon should not personally benefit from grabbing a piece of our national resource.

Just one of the problems with Cape Wind...

Yep, and according to you 72 turbines is similar in size to the 130 Cape Wind wants to build...whatever capecodguy

Actually, Jim Gordon will not pay through the nose to use a public resource that belongs to all of us -- he will pay next to nothing, AND collect taxes and subsidies.

Anyone can do a google search and cut and paste a few articles about wind farms on other parts of the world -- this does not mean that you know the facts any more than the next guy.

And, by the way -- I think we'd all be alot more agreeable to a wind farm that was sited 10-13 kilometers from shore (re: Nysted). If I'm not mistaken, some of them actually pay for their use of the ocean, specifically to the communities most affected. Why should we do what Denmark does anyway? I'm sure it's a lovely place, but what makes that country so great that we should emulate them?

Calculating the number of birds that may be killed by Cape Wind with second grade mathematics is pointless (and by the way, chickens are raised on farms, under controlled circumstances, for human consumption, and no other reason)-Nantucket Sound is not Smolna; different site, different set of circumstances. Nothing on the scale of the proposed wind farm has ever been built, and any attempt by a layperson or yes, even the "experts" at Mass Audubon, to predict what could happen is pointless, too. NOBODY can possibly know what will really happen.

What I do know is this -- The Audubon Society will continue to recruit volunteers to pound stakes and fencing into the sand, and count endangered birds on the beaches of the Cape for no pay, while they line their non-profit bank account with Cape Wind's money. I know, because I did it in college. What a bunch of hypocrites, very sad...

YoungCaper,
I thank you as well for your take on the presentation last night, and on the resulting posts on this website. I could not attend as I live off Cape.

I thought I smelled a rat when I read the opening sentence stating that it was "enlightening and convincing". With all due respect to this website (which for the most part I enjoy), if it's not slanted and partial journalism, then I don't know what is. I am not a journalist, but I know several, and they would never lower themselves.

The overarching theme here is money. Cape Wind is attempting to build a wind farm to theoretically makes lots of money (there is no other reason IMO), this website reports favorably on Cape Wind because they make money on their advertising, and the Mass Audubon Society endorses Cape Wind because they will get the monitoring contract.

I would venture to guess that Cape Wind paid (maybe in part or indirectly) for the Danish contingent to travel, stay, and present favorably on wind energy.

Just my two cents...

Barbara and Capri,
the gaping hole in zoning regs of the OCS is indeed the crux of the debate, IMO. Who is Jim Gordon? Why should he be afforded the priviledge to use what belongs to all of us for his own personal gain? Do I oppose wind power? Not necessarily, particularly if well-sited, intelligently engineered and tested, and responsibly maintained (and dismantled if necessary).

Do I oppose one guy trying to grab and deface a chunk of the ocean that belongs to us all, essentially for free, so that he may generate multi millions of dollars for himself and his cronies, ABSOLUTELY.

And by the way, as it stands now, he can walk away if it doesn't work, and the rest of us will pay (and pay) to have his twisted vision dismantled...

Barbara, you are not a shill. Windsmart, let's leave the name-calling on the playground and be a little more mature. Trust me, there are many, many people who oppose Cape Wind, regardless of where they live or who they know.

The only reason Jim Gordon is so doggedly pursuing this project (at great expense) is because he presumes it will make him alot of money. He is not, I am quite sure, doing it for the greater good; to decrease pollution, to offer an alternative energy source, or to benefit the public with lower electric bills. The fact that he has proposed the construction of a fossil fuel burning facility elsewhere in the state exposes him from behind his green mask.

"Tilting at Windmills", the Bill Koch article that Barbara cites is a source I refer people to when they ask about why I oppose Cape Wind. His firm exhaustively researched the project years ago, when approached as a potential investor and I trust their findings. I'll take Koch vs. Gordon any day of the week...

I don't hold Cape Wind to any standard of safety yet-- it's way too early for that. Like I said, let's see if the thing gets built first. I say it won't, or at the very least at great expense to Cape Wind.

As for the aesthetic argument -- I will repeat -- it is only one issue on a long list, plain and simple. It is an easy, over-used label to slap on those who are anti-Cape Wind, that much is obvious.

Finally, I apologize, but I am not following the logic with the traffic fatiality analogy. People driving their cars, sometimes irresponsibly, has what to do with operating a wind farm?

We'll see if the wind farm is ever built -- it's not a sure bet yet. What you can be sure of is that there will be alot of lawyers making alot of money while this project is litigated in court, at every level, for years to come.

The "visible to the Kennedys" mantra is getting very old. The visual blight, which is just one of many issues this project has, will affect each and every person who visits the Sound, by land, sea, or air. Yes, even us middle class folk can appreciate and want to protect an unbroken ocean vista whether we can see it from our living room window or not.

As for things falling from the sky...I'm not worried about acorns. Epoxy covered bolts, ice chunks from wind towers, dead birds, maybe.

Barbara,
The Cape Wind project is flawed/questionable/spurious etc on so many levels that it is mind boggling to me that anyone can support it in good faith. What do they suppose they stand to gain? What is the perceived benefit to them? Clean power, I must say, is a good thing, but not when it is supplied by a massive, for-profit experiment in Nantucket Sound. Show me a well-sited, carefully thought out, financially beneficial plan, and I will probably be on board. As an aside, I spoke with the publisher of a west coast clean energy periodical earlier this summer and asked him, point blank, what he thought of Cape Wind. Without hesitation, he claimed that the concept was not bad, but it was very poorly sited.

Exactly,
We trusted the inexperienced once; the big dig was the first of its kind, a model for urban beautification and renewal, with the added benefit of jobs, and increased tourism, convention attendance etc. And, look what happened. If we trust in a similar scenario, "the first of its kind" and empty promises, shame on those who let it happen...

I know Jay Cashman, a major Big Dig subcontractor, has expressed an interest in building the wind farm. A somewhat alarming coincidence. Hopefully we'll never have to go there...

It is a fact that ferry service has been conducted in the Sound for many years without incident using their current instrumentation (whether considered up to date or not, it works). To suggest that they update, I assume at their considerable expense, their perfectly adequate instruments so that they might operate safely should their marine landscape be changed by Cape Wind, is ridiculous.

lmco35, it is not my goal to prove that Cape Wind will be a navigational hazard, and I don't expect anyone including you to prove that it won't be. Why? Because as laypeople, we can't prove it either way. There is simply no way to know because nothing like Cape Wind exists, anywhere in the world. Therefore, the next best thing is to consult the best available experts. If I am not mistaken, the vast majority, if not all, of those agencies that use the Sound on a professional level, have spoken against this project. As far as I am concerned, this enough said on the navigation front.

IMO, The Steamship Authority, Hyline Cruises, etc. have every right to define the wind farm as a possible hazard. Do any of us captain a ferry boat? NO. The bottom line is, there will be 130 towers in their field of operation where once there was not. To deny that there isn't a potential for hazard is illogical; anything new added to the navigation horizon in the Sound is without question a possible problem. Also, let's assume lmco35 is correct, that the ferry industry's real motivation to oppose Cape Wind is financial. Do they not have a right to fight against something that will cost them money??? Since when is protecting your profit base a bad thing? It is absolutely the right and correct thing for them to do. As a pre-existing business/industry that could potentially be affected financially by a new, for profit business, I would venture to guess that they have a legal angle that should be explored.

I have been following this blog for the past few weeks -- lots of passion, lots of opinions. It's been great to get a feel for what people are thinking about Cape Wind. With all due respect to those in favor of Cape Wind (wind power definitely has it's merits and should be a part of our future)I am vehemently opposed to
the project as planned. I wanted to tip my hat to BarbaraDurkin, Capri, and others for their defense of the sound, for so intelligently stating their case, and for exposing Cape Wind for what it is, a wolf in green clothing. Keep up the good work and thank you.