If it is successful, the Cape Cod wind project would be the nation's first-ever offshore wind farm and its largest renewable energy installation. At maximum production, the farm would be capable of generating a whopping 420 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply three-quarters of the average total power demand of Cape Cod and two islands off its shores, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Although power generated by the so-called wind park would be funneled into the New England electricity grid (and wouldn't technically supply Cape Cod alone), the project would still prove to the rest of the nation that a community like the one in question, which has 250,000 residents, can theoretically be nearly energy-independent -- no small feat at a time when global oil supplies are seriously threatened. "This project addresses the biggest problems of our time: global warming and America's crippling dependence on foreign oil," says Jim Gordon, head of Cape Wind Associates.
But here's the snag: The wind farm would be located within 13 miles of the shores of two of the most coveted and environmentally protected resort islands in the nation. These shores happen to be the summer playgrounds of the rich and famous, many of whom are wealthy Democrats who donate large sums to environmental organizations. A number of areas within Cape Cod and the islands have some of the most rigorous local development codes and habitat protections in the nation, and the people there -- locals and summer visitors alike -- share a deeply rooted environmental ethos.
friggin hypocrite.
