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
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wind farm raises real concerns.
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