Wind farm raises real concerns
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The wind farm issue is far less simplistic than
Joshua Zaffos would have us believe (HCN, 3/7/05: Easterners tilt
at windmills while Westerners joust with a real foe).
Yes, there are wealthy people on Nantucket just as there are wealthy people in the West, but they are not the majority. The greater number of people on Cape Cod, Nantucket and the other islands are middle- and lower-class, many of them dependent on fishing for their living. No one knows what short- and long-term impacts the proposed wind farm might have on already-troubled ocean waters and depleted stocks of many species of fish.
People on Cape Cod and the islands whose livelihood depends on tourism are worried about the impacts of the construction stage of the proposed wind farm and the infrastructure necessary for the harvesting of wind energy. Environmentalists — a category that crosses all economic lines — are concerned as well about the possible effects on birds and their migration patterns.
Members of all of these groups are asking hard questions, as well they should. There are no definitive answers because there are no precedents. No project of this magnitude in a location this sensitive exists anywhere in the world.
Karen Morey Kennedy
Marlborough, Massachusetts
Yes, there are wealthy people on Nantucket just as there are wealthy people in the West, but they are not the majority. The greater number of people on Cape Cod, Nantucket and the other islands are middle- and lower-class, many of them dependent on fishing for their living. No one knows what short- and long-term impacts the proposed wind farm might have on already-troubled ocean waters and depleted stocks of many species of fish.
People on Cape Cod and the islands whose livelihood depends on tourism are worried about the impacts of the construction stage of the proposed wind farm and the infrastructure necessary for the harvesting of wind energy. Environmentalists — a category that crosses all economic lines — are concerned as well about the possible effects on birds and their migration patterns.
Members of all of these groups are asking hard questions, as well they should. There are no definitive answers because there are no precedents. No project of this magnitude in a location this sensitive exists anywhere in the world.
Karen Morey Kennedy
Marlborough, Massachusetts
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