Forget Going Green, We've Got Cultural Sensibilities to Worry About

For years now we've been inundated with the mantra of going green, but curiously many in Massachusetts have vociferously opposed the construction of wind farms in Nantucket Sound. Unable to come up with legitimate reasons to oppose the turbines, the anointed ones have come up with one of the more absurd rulings in memory.

The National Park Service has determined that Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing on the Register of National Historic Places because of its significance to Native Americans, dealing one of the most severe setbacks to the Cape Wind energy project in its nine years of regulatory review.

The highly unusual move does not place the 564-square-mile Sound on the Register, which affords heightened protection against development and is traditionally reserved for defined places, such as historical homes or known boundaries of ancient homes or graveyards. But it does start a process, which in many cases takes a year or more, to determine whether the property should be listed.

But within minutes of the announcement this afternoon, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar summoned the principal parties in the long-running dispute to a meeting next week to come up with a "common-sense agreement" by March 1 on ways to minimize the project's impact on the Sound's cultural and historic value. Barring an agreement, he said in a statement, "I will be prepared to take the steps necessary to bring the permit process to conclusion."

Translation: Kiss the wind farms goodbye, along with cheaper energy on Cape Cod. Sorry, suckers.

So what exactly is the cultural value?

The Wampanoag tribes of Aquinnah and Mashpee have said for several years that the proposed 130-turbine project in Nantucket Sound would disturb their spiritual sun greetings and submerged ancestral burying grounds. While the federal agency in charge of issuing permits for the wind farm had said the Sound was not eligible to be listed, the Massachusetts Historic Preservation Officer had decided otherwise, leaving the matter in the hands of the Park Service.

The National Park Service was widely expected to dismiss the Sound as ineligible for listing on the Historic Register because there was no specific property associated with the determination and the service itself says it discourages the nomination of natural bodies of water. Yet, in a seven-page explanation of its determination, service officials said Nantucket Sound was unusual because it was once dry land before being slowly covered with water after the last ice age, and it was clear that Native Americans had lived there.

So because perhaps thousand of years ago some "natives" may have lived in what is now part of the Atlantic ocean, then progress must be halted.

Wonderful.

Mere here.

The Wampanoag -- the tribe that welcomed the Pilgrims in the 17th century and is known as "the people of the first light" -- practice sacred rituals requiring an unblocked view of the sunrise. That view won't exist if the Cape Wind project's turbines, each over 400 feet tall, are built several miles from the Cape Cod shore. The turbines would be visible to Wampanoag in Mashpee and on Martha's Vineyard.

Tribal rituals, including dancing and chanting, take place at secret sacred sites around the sound at various times, such as the summer and winter solstices and when an elder passes.

The designation could add months to the approval process by forcing developers to comply with the designation's standards.

The decision is the latest twist in the long, bitter public fight over plans to build 130 wind turbines across a 25-square-mile swath of federal waters.

Cape Wind opponents say it would be a hazard to aviation, harm the environment including fish and bird life and mar historic vistas. The late Sen. Edward Kennedy, whose family compound would be in view of the project, fought the project until his death last summer, saying it was a triumph of special interests over state interests.

No statement so far from the Cape Wind folks.

Obama's Choice: The People Or Ted Kennedy

Barack Obama likes to talk the talk when it comes to the environment. But will he walk the walk when it comes to opposing one of his chief sponsors, Ted Kennedy?

For all his talk about saving the planet, does he have to stones to go up against Kennedy?

President Barack Obama's enthusiasm for alternative energy is being buffeted by two political forces on opposite sides of plans to build the nation's first offshore wind farm off Cape Cod.

A leading foe of the $1 billion project is Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., an early and influential backer of Obama's presidential bid. A strong proponent is Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a close friend of Obama and a source for some of his best campaign speech lines.

The plan to erect 130 giant turbines across 25 miles of federal waters in Nantucket Sound poses an early test of the president's energy policy, on stark display Monday with Obama's order to re-examine whether California and other states should be allowed to have tougher auto emission standards to combat a build up of greenhouse gases and his directive for the government to get moving on new fuel-efficiency guidelines for the auto industry.

In the final days of George W. Bush's tenure, the Minerals Management Service issued a report saying the wind farm project poses no major environmental problems, clearing the way for the Obama administration to make a final decision on whether to issue a lease for the project. Reviews by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Interior Department's inspector general are still pending.

As I spend time on Cape Cod, I've followed the Cape Wind project with some interest over the years. They claim there would be reduced energy costs for Cape residents and it enjoys fairly broad support. Though of course when it comes to the possibility of helping the residents, the Kennedys naturally crap all over the little people.

Kennedy has fought the Cape Wind project for eight years, arguing it would kill birds and endanger sea life while imperiling the scenic area's tourism and fishing industries. The turbines would stand 440 feet above sea level when the tallest blades are pointing straight up. The Kennedy family's oceanside Hyannis Port, Mass., compound would have a clear view of the project to be located 4.7 miles offshore, but Kennedy says it is not why he opposes the project.

"The interests of our state have been basically submerged to a special interest developer," Kennedy has said of the project.

Sure, nothing to do with his view.

I use the beaches on Nantucket Sound and it wouldn't bother me in the least. The turbines would barely be a blip that far out. The idea it would affect fishing and tourism is nonsense.

Still, I get the felling Obama will gladly throw Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick under the bus much faster than he would Kennedy, so expect some doubletalk from Obama about it affecting pristine waters or some such pap. Obama knows he can do whatever he pleases and the folks there will still overwhelmingly support him, even if it costs them money.

Project backers are wary of last-minute political meddling. They cite attempts in Congress over the years to derail it, including efforts by Kennedy.

"The opponents have proven to be very crafty and to embrace a scorched-earth approach to fighting this project," said Sue Reid of the Conservation Law Foundation, a conservation group supporting Cape Wind. "Of course we are going to be vigilant."

Prepare for a knife in the back, Ms. Reid.