The Kennedy family will need to put up with looking at new offshore wind turbines
The hypocritical and short-sighted Kennedy family will just need to get used to the view, for the common good. As reported by Discover Magazine.
The U.S. Interior Department announced new rules today that will allow the first offshore wind turbines to go up along the Atlantic Coast, including the site near Cape Cod that the Kennedy family famously opposed.
image by Martin Pettitt at Flick (Creative Commons)
This was a chance for the Kennedys to step up and do the right thing, but they blew it for years and years. Now the federal government is forcing it on them and I’m glad.
Consider what a tiny burden this was on them to look at those admittedly huge turbines in the distance. It’s no worse a burden than for any of us to have to look at the gaudy Kennedy compound from a distance. The turbines will be about 8 miles from Kennedy’s trophy house in Hyannis Port. In clear conditions, the wind turbines will appear one half-inch above the horizon. They will look like this from the Kennedy compound.
We’re going to all have to make some sacrifices for the common good if we want to maintain some semblance of our lifestyle. It has continually amazed me that the wealthy Kennedys couldn’t have made a good example of themselves by advocating, not stifling, this worthy wind project.
How much energy will it produce? Cape Wind’s website provides the answer:
Cape Wind will be rated to produce up to 468 megawatts of wind power as each wind turbine will produce up to 3.6 megawatts. Maximum expected production will be 454 megawatts. Average expected production will be 170 megawatts which is almost 75% of the 230 megawatt average electricity demand for Cape Cod and the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
Where do the Kennedys think they will get their energy if they don’t get it from clean wind? In my mind this is a classic case of compartmentalized thinking all bound up in status-seeking power.
Great news, and about bloody time!
As Denmark has shown, wind power is a fabulous near-shore application - it doesn’t take up any real estate, it’s safe from petty vandalism, and it’s one of the most reliable locales for wind power due to simple dynamics (reliable on-shore/off-shore winds)