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.

How Many Jobs Does This Create, Barry?

The president in training pants is at the helm of a train that is taking the express route to hell and taking this country with it, and he just keeps on pouring on the coal. I don't think any president has done so much to hurt this country in such a short period of time.

To his list of shameful acts in regards to Gitmo and the handling of the terrorists housed there, and his unbelievably socialistic spending program, add backtracking on exploring and tapping our own natural resources.

Just earlier today he told his adoring masses that he wanted to wean us off of our dependence on foreign oil. Well, apparently he wants to get us off of domestic oil too.

This is San Fran Nan's response to Barry O rolling back the order that President Bush had approved for exploring off shore oil reserves.

"Today, Interior Secretary Salazar unveiled a new approach to reviewing the energy potential of the Outer Continental Shelf. With this announcement, the Obama Administration has taken a critical step toward a comprehensive energy policy.

"From beginning to end, the Bush Administration maintained a single-minded focus on oil and gas drilling above all other forms of energy -- releasing a draft plan to vastly expand offshore drilling just four days before President Obama's inauguration.

"The new Administration is stopping this headlong rush to open new offshore areas of drilling, calling for a thorough review, with much greater public participation. And Secretary Salazar is wisely initiating a review of the potential for offshore renewable energy, and moving forward with long-stalled rules to ensure that offshore renewable energy projects can proceed in an environmentally-responsible manner.

"We cannot drill our way to energy independence. But by harnessing all of our domestic energy resources, and aggressively pursuing new technology to unleash them, we move a giant step closer toward energy independence."

Earlier this month Salazar had removed 77 tracts of land in Utah from the bidding process for oil exploration.

So just where are all these jobs he is promising going to come from, and even if he creates them how are the people supposed to get to them with an ever shrinking oil and gas reserves?

Cross posted over at my place.

No, No, No, You Can't Drill Here No Mo'

Hey Nancy, how many jobs does this cost us?

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce today that 77 parcels of land which were up for lease in Utah to oil companies for exploration will be withdrawn.

This follows the usual storyline. President Bush opened up the area for exploration, the environmental groups swooped in and started filing lawsuits, finally found a sympathetic judge, and now 110,000 acres are once again off limits.

The Bush administration conducted the lease sale in December, but environmental groups went to court to block the winning bids encompassing roughly 110,000 acres near pristine areas such as Nine Mile Canyon, Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument.

Just before Bush left office last month, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina issued a restraining order on the lease sales, postponing the final transactions until he could hear arguments on the merits of the case.

You do understand that the Democrat approach to America's energy problems is not to make us energy independent, but rather it is to reduce us to a zero energy consumption country. They are going to do this by passing ridiculous legislation in congress which will impose impossible emission standards on businesses and power manufacturing plants along with autos, draconian so-called CAFE standards, using their proxies in the courts and in the environmental movement to tie up any attempts to conduct exploration and recovery of any fossil fuels as well as blocking the construction of nuclear and coal power plants.

I long for the day when other states quit selling energy to California so that a permanent blackout descends upon the state and maybe, finally, those ignorant dunces in Hollyweird, along with their environmental goofballs who all worship at the Temple of the Goracle, will finally get a clue.