Machiavelli would be proud

Calling in the foxes to guard the chickens

By Jack Coleman

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound really, really wants you to attend a public forum on Tuesday night at the Barnstable senior center.

The Hyannis-based group is spreading the word out for its members to "mark your calendars" and turn out for the event.

Which is odd, because the Alliance's sole reason for existence is to oppose Cape Wind Associates' proposal to build the nation's first offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

But the Cape Wind project "has nothing to do with the forum," or so the forum's organizers would have you believe.

Sen. O'Leary's rumored bid for statewide office may suffer when he counts the voters statewide who want the wind farm

No, we're told, the event is being held for a panel discussion on a report from the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown titled "Toward An Ocean Vision for the Nantucket Shelf Region."

Taking part as panelists will be Peter Borrelli, the center's executive director; State Sen. Robert O'Leary, State Rep. Demetrius Atsalis, Greg Watson of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and Jo Ann Muramoto of the Horsley Witten Group consulting firm in Sandwich.

But here's where the Center for Coastal Studies' elephant-in-the-room myopia about the Cape Wind project leaves its motives a little suspect.

Where are the chickens?

Both O'Leary and Atsalis are adamantly opposed to the Cape Wind project. Watson works for a quasi-public state agency that promotes renewable energy but remains neutral on the wind farm. Muramoto works for a consulting firm that prepared the report for the center - a consulting firm that enjoys a cozy relationship with the Alliance that can hardly be described as arm's length. Unless one works for the Alliance, or Horsley Witten, or the Center for Coastal Studies.

It's true the forum isn't about the wind farm per se - it's about ways to keep the wind farm from getting built.

In fact, Cape Wind attorney Dennis Duffy called the center and asked to participate at the forum as a panelist, only to be rebuffed and told that the event - you know the drill - "has nothing to do with the wind farm."

Also not invited, despite his keen interest in the subject, was State Rep. Matthew Patrick of Falmouth, who supports the Cape Wind project - while two of his legislative colleagues who oppose it were invited.

In a thread-the-needle kind of way, it's true the forum isn't about the wind farm per se - it's about ways to keep the wind farm from getting built.

Enter the puppeteer

All of which begs the question: why is the Center for Coastal Studies, a disinterested environmental non-profit presumably acting in good faith, so keen on excluding panelists who might utter a kind word about the Cape Wind project?

Simply put, because the Alliance and Congressman Bill Delahunt, an anti-wind farm soul mate, don't want them there.

Since the Alliance took shape three years ago, its members have repeatedly described the vigorous, costly and time-consuming permitting process that Cape Wind must undergo as "developer driven."

That's because numerous studies of potential impacts from the project included in the 3,800-page draft environmental impact statement were prepared by consultants hired by Cape Wind.

But what wind farm opponents consistently fail to mention is that these studies must be vetted by experts in 17 federal, state, regional and local agencies, a process akin to peer-review of an article in a medical journal. It is this very process that has led the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department to criticize the initial environmental report, as did several wildlife groups, citing what they viewed as deficiencies and shortcomings.

Compare this to the lighter-than-air vetting taking place for the report from the Center for Coastal Studies. It must pass muster with just the Alliance, which can hardly be described as objective, and Delahunt, for whom the center depends on federal largess for its survival.

The fox's den

And when one sees the connections linking Horsley Witten and the Alliance, a perception of the center's report and upcoming forum as "Alliance driven" are difficult to ignore.

Susan Nickerson's ability to influence the associations she works with is clearly one of her strong points

For example, Alliance executive director Susan Nickerson is thoroughly familiar with Horsley Witten - it's where she worked before joining the Alliance as "environmental coordinator" in the summer of 2003. A few months later, Nickerson was named the Alliance's head honcho, replacing Isaac Rosen, a hired flack who was fast on his feet but lacking in environmental credentials.

And how's this for a coincidence - not only did Nickerson work at Horsley Witten Group just before she came to the Alliance, she's on the board of directors of the Center for Coastal Studies, according to the center's web site. We could be taking a leap here, but perhaps this had something to do with Horsley Witten preparing the Nantucket Shelf Region report for the center.

But wait, the cross-pollination doesn't end there. According to the center's Form 990 financial records filed with the IRS for 2003, Alliance board member Barbara Birdsey donated $6,500 to the center. The Pegasus Foundation, which Birdsey founded in 1996, donated $5,000 to the center that year.

And in case you're still not sure you're being manipulated

Nickerson, not so incidentally, is a longtime friend of O'Leary's, having served in an informal capacity as a campaign adviser when O'Leary first ran for the state senate in 2000 - as did Nickerson's predecessor, Isaac Rosen.

All of which helps explain why the Alliance is so anxious to spread the word about Tuesday's forum. Even if it's not - wink, wink - about the wind farm.