Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound
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The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit self-styled environmental organization dedicated to the opposition of the Cape Wind project[1] and to the long-term preservation of Nantucket Sound.[2] Alliance membership and allies include wealthy residents of Cape Cod, executives in fossil fuel industries, some local towns, Chambers of Commerce, several environmental groups, many fishing and recreation groups, and public figures including billionaire oil heir William Koch, former mining executive Doug Yearley, current candidate for U.S. President and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, Attorney General Tom Reilly, and Congressman Bill Delahunt.[1][3][4] Its current president is Charles McLaughlin of Harwich. Among its directors have been Dan Wolf, President and CEO of airline Cape Air, along with former candidate for Massachusetts governor and convenience store baron Christy Mihos (source: public records at the Massachusetts Division of Corporations).
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[edit] History
The Alliance was formed in 2001 to oppose a proposal to build a 130 turbine renewable energy wind farm in Nantucket Sound called Cape Wind. It suffered a setback in 2003 when its spokesperson, retired news anchor Walter Cronkite in a change of heart, requested that all of his ads in support of The Alliance be pulled, and said he would withhold further judgement until an environmental impact statement is complete.[5]
[edit] Position
The stated goal of the Alliance is to protect Nantucket Sound in perpetuity through conservation, environmental action, and opposition to inappropriate industrial or commercial development that would threaten or negatively alter the coastal ecosystem. The Alliance supports formal designation of Nantucket Sound as a marine protected area.[citation needed] In a candid moment, however, Alliance sponsor Bill Koch confided "I was telling one of my guys when this [wind farm] first came up, 'I wish I'd thought of this!' But as a businessman, I said I wouldn't have put it in my backyard -- I would have put it in someone else's backyard!"[6]
The Alliance supports wind power as an energy source, and promotes many forms of renewables. However, the organization is opposed the proposed wind power plant in Nantucket Sound due to potential adverse economic, environmental, and visual impacts (the turbines would be easily seen from most Alliance members' residences), as well as the lack of an appropriate review and permitting process and the absence of federal guidelines for offshore wind energy development.[citation needed]
[edit] Criticism
While The Alliance to protect Nantucket sound is an environmental organization, some note that its co-chairman Bill Koch has a business empire based on oil refining.[1] Some of the other members have coastal properties with a direct view of Cape Wind's future site and consider the windmills an eyesore. That has led at least one environmental group, Greenpeace (which supports the project), to believe that the Alliance to protect Nantucket sound is just a front group for wealthy landowners who don’t care about environmental issues and do not want to have to look at windmills from their houses on Martha’s Vineyard.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Sheppard, Kate (2010-01-06), "Cape Wind Delay a Big Win for Dirty Energy Interests", Mother Jones, http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/01/cape-wind-delay-big-win-dirty-energy-interests
- ^ Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, About Us, http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6891/content_item/aboutus, retrieved 2011-01-25
- ^ Edward M. McNamara, Patrick George Derr (2003). Case Studies in Environmental Ethics. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 78. ISBN 0-7425-3137-6.
- ^ Doyle, Tim (2006-09-21), "Koch's New Fight", Forbes magazine, http://www.forbes.com/2006/09/21/koch-gordon-nantucket-biz_cz_td_06rich400_0921nantucket.html
- ^ Ebbert, Stephanie (2003-08-29), "Cronkite urges full review of wind farm proposal", Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/08/29/cronkite_urges_full_review_of_wind_farm_proposal/
- ^ Blanchard, Jeff (2005-09-15). "Blanchard on Koch". Cape Cod Today. http://www.capecodtoday.com/news232.htm.
[edit] External links
- Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound
- Cape Wind Project Page
- Draft Environmental Impact Statement - Produced by the US Army Corps of Engineers
- Comments on the DEIS - Nearly 5,000 Written Comments
- Windstop.org anti-wind project group
- Clean power Now pro-wind project group
- OffshoreWind.net- Offshore Wind energy information
- Wind Over Water - a documentary film about the Cape Wind Project by Ole Tangen Jr.
