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An ambitious and controversial push to erect America's first offshore wind farm has been dealt what some call a potentially "fatal" blow after two utility companies pulled out of commitments to buy energy from the lagging operation. The $2.6 billion Cape Wind project, a private operation benefiting from millions in federal subsidies, is attempting to pioneer offshore wind energy in pursuit of an eco-friendly, sustainable energy supply. Wind turbines would be installed off the coast of Massachusetts' Cape Cod in Nantucket Sound. But Cape Wind is now in limbo after utility companies terminated huge purchase agreements. They pulled out after...

Energy: The government says wind power could supply the eastern half of the U.S. with a fifth of its electricity by 2024. Just don't try building wind farms where someone might see them. A claim is contained in a new study released by the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and technically it might be true. But we've heard these overblown predictions before, and experience around the world with heavily subsidized alternative energy has not worked out well. The area in question, called the Eastern Interconnection, is a grid extending roughly from the western borders of the Plains states through...

Ted Kennedy Dumps Fuel into Nantucket Sound Ted Kennedy has called Nantucket Sound near his Massachusetts estate “a national treasure” — but that didn’t stop the senator from having oil dumped from his yacht into its waters. A local photographer spotted an oil slick coming from Kennedy’s yacht Mya as Kennedy and his guests left the vessel in a launch following a race that ended in Hyannis, the Cape Cod Today newspaper reported. The lensman was so shocked that he rowed his dinghy out to question the crew member left aboard the yacht. He asked the crewman, “What the hell...

Ted Kennedy has called Nantucket Sound near his Massachusetts estate “a national treasure” — but that didn’t stop the senator from having oil dumped from his yacht into its waters. A local photographer spotted an oil slick coming from Kennedy’s yacht Mya as Kennedy and his guests left the vessel in a launch following a race that ended in Hyannis, the Cape Cod Today newspaper reported. The lensman was so shocked that he rowed his dinghy out to question the crew member left aboard the yacht. He asked the crewman, “What the hell are you doing?” The crewman said that...

The yacht Mya discharges oil into Sound after 2002 Figawi Race This photograph was taken from shore when the photographer saw Ted Kennedy (the larger shape in the Hyannisport Yacht Club Launch on right) leaving the yacht Mya while it was discharging oil into Nantucket Sound. Photos courtesy Peter Robbins Politician becomes polluter on "pristine Nantucket Sound" By now every Cape Codder has heard our senior US senator Ted Kennedy proclaiming his resistence to the Cape Wind project on Nantucket Sound because, as he said, "that's where I sail." He has called Nantucket Sound "a national treasure", but his love...

Newsmax.com Ted Kennedy Dumps Fuel into Nantucket Sound Friday, March 14, 2008 9:14 AM Ted Kennedy has called Nantucket Sound near his Massachusetts estate “a national treasure” — but that didn’t stop the senator from having oil dumped from his yacht into its waters. A local photographer spotted an oil slick coming from Kennedy’s yacht Mya as Kennedy and his guests left the vessel in a launch following a race that ended in Hyannis, the Cape Cod Today newspaper reported. The lensman was so shocked that he rowed his dinghy out to question the crew member left aboard the yacht....

Ted Kennedy has called Nantucket Sound near his Massachusetts estate “a national treasure” — but that didn’t stop the senator from having oil dumped from his yacht into its waters. A local photographer spotted an oil slick coming from Kennedy’s yacht Mya as Kennedy and his guests left the vessel in a launch following a race that ended in Hyannis, the Cape Cod Today newspaper reported. The lensman was so shocked that he rowed his dinghy out to question the crew member left aboard the yacht. He asked the crewman, “What the hell are you doing?” The crewman said that...

Really funny stuff. http://youtube.com/watch?v=LEaOkhWOZ1A

Fans of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy have long argued that he has fought the good fight ... But today, he is defending the indefensible: special interest legislation, tucked into a Coast Guard authorization bill, that would give Gov. Mitt Romney the power to veto the proposed Cape Wind energy project, even though it would be in federal waters. The project... more than five miles offshore of Cape Cod. The equivalent of burning 113 million barrels of oil per year. Proponents of Cape Wind say it is an important source of alternative, renewable energy, and it has the backing of such...

CRITICS OF PROPOSED US offshore wind farms have recently lauded efforts to develop deep-water offshore wind energy technologies that would allow wind farms to be built far from shore. They suggest that advances in research and development are proceeding at such a rapid pace that thousands of wind turbines could soon be operating off the northeast coast without encroaching on anyone's view or posing any threat to the environment. Clarification about the current state and potential of deep-water offshore wind energy appears timely. The US Department of Energy estimates the wind energy potential off the United States coast to be...

The infamous environmental group Greenpeace is targeting Sen. Ted Kennedy for opposing a wind farm in the Nantucket Sound because it would interfere with the view from his Hyannisport mansion. Greenpeace is launching a nationwide TV ad campaign against Kennedy, with spots that portray the Massachusetts Democrat as Godzilla. The Cape Cod Times reports: "In the 30-second spot, a cartoon Kennedy looms over the water like a Japanese movie monster, pounding wind turbines as they sprout from the water, and barks, 'I might see them from my mansion on the Cape.'" Kennedy's nephew, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a leading...

Opponents of a plan to build the first offshore U.S. wind farm in Nantucket Sound off Massachusetts were a step closer on Friday to blocking the $900 million project. Negotiators in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate agreed late on Thursday to give Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney the power to block a plan by Cape Wind Associates LLC to put 130 giant wind turbines near the resort islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Backers say the project could generate enough electricity for most of Cape Cod and nearby islands. Opponents include wealthy residents with yachts and shorefront property near...

Given to environmentalist lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose fight for "green" energy apparently stops as soon as the results might spoil his view. Kennedy penned an irate New York Times op-ed in December, condemning the proposed building of wind turbines around the Nantucket Sound. While Kennedy criss-crosses the country in his jet-fuel-burning private plane stumping for alternative energy sources, he wants an exception for his own backyard. Greenpeace spokesman Chris Miller was not pleased, saying: "It's about a vision for healthy oceans, not the view from the Kennedy compound."

Within the space of a single week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Sen. Edward Kennedy have managed to mangle reality with op-ed pieces in two of the nation's leading newspapers. ''As an environmentalist, I support wind power,'' began RFK Jr.'s op-ed piece in the New York Times, ... Then he proceeded to once again propagate the inaccuracies repeated like mantras by those opposed to the Nantucket Sound wind farm. ''The noise of the turbines will be audible onshore. A transformer substation would house...40,000 gallons of potentially hazardous oil... The Humane Society estimates the whirling turbines could every year kill thousands...

A plan to build what could become the first large offshore wind farm in the United States would be effectively killed by a proposed amendment to a Coast Guard budget bill now making its way through Congress, people on both sides of the issue say. The amendment, offered by Representative Don Young, Republican of Alaska, would prohibit new offshore wind facilities within 1.5 nautical miles of a shipping lane or a ferry route. That would rule out construction of the installation, proposed for Nantucket Sound. The budget bill awaits action in a House-Senate conference committee. The developer, a private company...

The senior senator from Massachussetts, Edward Kennedy now finds himself in something of a political dilemma. At stake is a proposal to build a massive wind turbine farm - right in the middle of historic Nantucket Sound near Cape Cod, the so-called `Cape Wind' project. As usual, such a project will bring ruination to the landscape and the seascape but this is the logical outcome arising from the pro-Kyoto policies that Kennedy himself has promoted. So first, Kennedy the environmentalist speaks - "I strongly support renewable energy, including wind energy as a means of reducing our dependence on foreign oil...

Cronkite pulls plug on fight against giant wind farm By Marcus Warren in Hyannis, Cape Cod (Filed: 02/09/2003) An alliance of East Coast liberals opposed to the building of the world's largest wind farm within sight of their holiday homes has been shaken by the defection of "the most trusted man in America".(sic) The change of heart by Walter Cronkite, the legendary broadcaster, deprives the campaign of its front man and most revered supporter. Other opponents of the project include the Kennedy clan and its patriarch, Senator Edward Kennedy, and the historian David McCullough, but none can compete for authority...

(CNSNews.com) - One of the nation's most beautiful seaside resorts is the site of a battle over a wind power project that has drawn opposition from famous liberals like Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy and former CBS news anchorman Walter Cronkite. They oppose the project even though it espouses one of their favorite goals - renewable energy alternatives. Although the New England energy company Cape Wind Associates has won an important victory in federal court on the controversy, a group devoted to preserving the Nantucket Island landscape near Cape Cod, Mass., has a pending lawsuit challenging the Army Corps of Engineers'...

Mass. Wind Farm Foes Face Legal Setback Thursday August 21, 2003 10:59 AM BOSTON (AP) - Opponents of a proposed power-generating wind farm in Nantucket Sound were dealt a legal setback when a federal judge ruled that the state had no authority to stop construction of a test tower currently operating there. Opponents of the proposed $700 million wind farm had filed suit against the developers, claiming the company needed a state permit to build the 197-foot tower, which measures environmental conditions. The tower, which has been operational since the spring, was built in federal waters more than three miles...

Judge: State Can't Prevent Wind Power Test Tower POSTED: 4:55 p.m. EDT August 21, 2003 UPDATED: 5:01 p.m. EDT August 21, 2003 BOSTON -- A federal judge in Boston has ruled against an effort to halt a proposed offshore wind farm on Nantucket Sound that proponents say could supply nearly three-quarters of the electricity used on Cape Cod and the Islands. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro said the state had no authority to stop the construction of a test tower currently operating in the sound. Wind farm opponents said they will appeal Tauro's decision. Developer Cape Wind Associates...