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Who Could Have Guessed that the Nantucket Wind Farm Would Be a Disaster?
Hot Air ^ | August 01, 2025 | David Strom

Posted on 08/05/2025 3:45:16 AM PDT by george76

"Hindsight is 20/20," said Nantucket's lawyer.

Yeah, well, we told you so before you got into this mess.

...

The Nantucket City Council and Nantucket residents are suffering from buyer's remorse, like everybody who decided to buy a Yugo based on the marketing that it was a great car at an amazing price.

We told you so. It's as if liberals see common sense and choose to do the opposite of what it tells them. No amount of sage advice will dissuade them because some "expert" with dollar signs in their eyes can talk them into anything as long as they whisper magic words like "renewable energy."

If they could go back in time, officials in Nantucket, Massachusetts, wouldn't sign the legal agreement that helped bring the nation's first large-scale offshore wind farm 15 miles from the island town's picturesque shoreline.

That was the common sentiment expressed during a Nantucket select board meeting this week about the August 2020 community benefit agreement the town entered into with developers of the Vineyard Wind project, which is currently under construction. "These wind turbines are bigger, brighter, and much more impactful than we ever thought—and not to mention the environmental hazards from failures," said Dawn Hill, the chairwoman of the select board, which serves as the town's executive body.

The agreement represented Nantucket's formal endorsement of the project and satisfied Vineyard Wind's legal responsibility to consult with the town. Because Nantucket is a federally designated national historic district, regulators and developers must consult with the town on new projects that may threaten its protected status.

"Hindsight is 20/20," added Greg Werkheiser, an attorney who represents Nantucket. "Every lawyer in the world wishes 5 or 10 years into a negotiated contract that they could take the knowledge they have, fly back in time, and renegotiate—but communities make the choices they have with the information they have at the time."

WE told you so. They had the information if they cared to look. They saw it and rejected it because they believed they were smarter than everybody else. They are the good people. Virtuous. Want to save Gaia, if not the whales. So they bought into a lie.

Hill, Werkheiser, and the other officials present accused Vineyard Wind of cutting off communications with the town, failing to reduce light pollution emitted by its turbines, slow-walking reports on environmental impacts of the project, failing to disclose construction delays, and failing to work with officials on a plan for emergency scenarios—all of which they said are violations of the 2020 agreement. The Nantucket officials then directed 15 public demands at Vineyard Wind.

The issue is a microcosm of the resistance offshore wind projects have faced in coastal communities along the East Coast and could serve as a warning for communities where developers are considering future projects. But while communities in Delaware, New Jersey, and New York have successfully stymied offshore wind development, Nantucket's options are more limited—Vineyard Wind is permitted, already under construction, and expected to begin operations by the end of the year.

We told them so. But this is Nantucket, where all the beautiful people know so much more than we do. They are the good people who look down their noses at us, sure in the knowledge that they will do well by doing good. Wind power! It must be great!

Newsflash: it's not great. And it's not even as if the ocean is just a nice view getting ruined by the turbines. For many, it is their livelihood, and these clean energy vultures are utterly indifferent to that. Not only do people work on the ocean, but tourism also drives the economy.

Tensions between Nantucket and Vineyard Wind reached a boiling point in July 2024 after a football field-sized blade on one of its wind towers fell apart during construction, sending 50 tons of fiberglass and industrial-grade foam into the ocean, forcing the island's beaches to close. Project developers waited until debris washed ashore three days following the failure before they informed Nantucket about the incident, sparking fury from officials, businesses, and residents.

In the 12 months since the blade failure, the developers haven't provided the town with information about changes to the construction timeline or the progress of environmental reviews related to the blade failure. As of this week, Vineyard Wind's leadership remains in "hiding," according to Mohr. Alas, Vineyard Wind issued its most recent press release in October, and its only public update this year appears to have come during an earnings call held last week by one of its developers, the Spain-based energy firm Iberdrola.

"They were not uninformed. Local groups were informing them five years ago that they should not do this deal and gave them all the reasons why they now regret it," said Dave Stevenson, the director of the Center for Energy Competitiveness at the right-leaning Caesar Rodney Institute. "The folks in the town didn't fight, they didn't look at all the negatives, they just didn't listen."

This is a pattern that, by now, we have all seen except the liberals who keep making the same mistakes over and over again. It's not just "clean energy"-it's everything. It's the homeless problem, defund the police, and every damn thing you can imagine. We warn them, but they know better.

And then disaster strikes, and they claim they didn't have any way to know.

Yeah, well, we told them so.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: disaster; marthasvineyard; massachusetts; nantucket; offshore; offshorewindfarms; vineyard; vineyardwind; wind; windfarm; windfarms
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1 posted on 08/05/2025 3:45:16 AM PDT by george76
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To: george76

FAFO


2 posted on 08/05/2025 3:50:46 AM PDT by Don@VB (THE NEW GREEN DEAL IS JUST THE OLD RED DEAL)
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To: george76

Selling snake oil and pipe dreams to those with little common sense and lots of magical thinking.


3 posted on 08/05/2025 3:52:34 AM PDT by yldstrk
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To: george76

AFAIC, they can turn Nantucket into a bulk caro terminal. Phuque a bunch of libtards.


4 posted on 08/05/2025 3:55:14 AM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and don't wish to smile.)
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To: george76

The uber-wealthy libs of Martha’s Vineyard were smart and had the political pull to keep out proposed offshore windfarms for many years....But now one is getting built offshore. Danish tech I believe.

BTW The Danish have get 59% of their electricity from offshore and onshore wind. They are world leaders in this technology, which is very difficult due to the corrosive nature of salt water.


5 posted on 08/05/2025 3:59:04 AM PDT by dennisw (There is no limit to human stupidity)
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To: george76

Wait until another hurricane hits New England. They do every other decade or so.


6 posted on 08/05/2025 4:00:37 AM PDT by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”)
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To: george76

Anyone who has ever lived near an ocean should know offshore wind is even crazier than onshore projects. The salt in the air is extremely corrosive. What’s the lifespan of these turbines? How will they be maintained and removed or replaced when they fail? They’re mechanical monsters, so they will fail and probably much sooner than inland ones.


7 posted on 08/05/2025 4:04:10 AM PDT by CitizenUSA (Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.)
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To: george76

I feel sorry for these Vineyard-Nantucket liberal schmucks, hoisted on their own wind-powered petard.

Anyone have a good Nantucket limerick for this situation? As in Nantucket rhymes with ...


8 posted on 08/05/2025 4:05:33 AM PDT by dennisw (There is no limit to human stupidity)
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To: dennisw

No limerick but ive got this:

https://youtu.be/JBysEkQHr2Y?si=hq_RkdtNxNHJPQo0

L


9 posted on 08/05/2025 4:23:33 AM PDT by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: Lurker

I am familiar with Mountain - Leslie West. That cut sounds done live in the recording studio.


10 posted on 08/05/2025 4:36:09 AM PDT by dennisw (There is no limit to human stupidity)
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To: george76

A bit of poetic justice for the Left Loonies, and it would be awesome to witness, except for the long lasting repercussions that everyone has to endure from their unthinking decisions.


11 posted on 08/05/2025 4:38:56 AM PDT by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: Lurker
"..They are world leaders in this technology, which is very difficult due to the corrosive nature of salt water.."

When I moved to the coast back in the early 2k's one of the first things I was told was that there's only 2 things saltwater doesn't screw up.
Fish and saltwater..

Me personally I'd add sand to that list to make it 3.
But I can't swear it doesn't affect it somehow. d;^)

12 posted on 08/05/2025 4:44:10 AM PDT by CopperTop (Outside the wire it's just us chickens. Dig?)
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To: george76
Who could have guessed?

Anybody with an IQ higher than room temperature who took the time to look at the actual results of wind power, not the propaganda put out by the greenies.

13 posted on 08/05/2025 4:48:00 AM PDT by nuke_road_warrior (Making the world safe for nuclear power for over 20 years)
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To: george76

They are VISUAL POLLUTION!!!


14 posted on 08/05/2025 4:50:06 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion.....the HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: george76

That is where all the rich liberals live, so they could pay the company to STOP constructing and go away. They are also dumb as rocks and will let it continue with all the disasters ahead which in the long run will cost them much more. I feel sorry for the whales.


15 posted on 08/05/2025 4:52:19 AM PDT by mistfree (Fear Destroys Freedom)
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To: george76

We camped a couple of years ago in a park in the middle of Kansas. Super super dark sky except that there were dozens of wind turbines, all flashing red at the same time. Horrible.


16 posted on 08/05/2025 4:52:38 AM PDT by Mercat
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To: dennisw
Limerick? That's easy!

There once was a man from Nantucket.
Who built a wind farm with the citizen's ducats.
The whole thing had failed,
And the man simply bailed.
"I should have built it in Phuket."

17 posted on 08/05/2025 4:56:18 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Perfection is impossible. But if you pursue perfection...you may achieve excellence.)
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To: george76
Height: The turbines stand 853 feet (260 meters) tall, measured from the sea surface to the tip of the blade, according to the Nantucket Current.

Blade Length: Each blade is 107 meters (351 feet) long, roughly the length of a football field.

I wonder what the effect of salt water will have on these things....

18 posted on 08/05/2025 4:59:40 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Why can't you tickle yourself?)
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To: george76

I wonder what the payoff was to the city council members who approved it?


19 posted on 08/05/2025 5:03:21 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Why can't you tickle yourself?)
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To: dennisw
Yea, but at what cost?

https://www.google.com/search?q=denmark+wind+turbines&client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=16656ab4fac410c3&udm=2&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwib79yy0POOAxWKIkQIHeDCJcIQnN8JKAN6BAgLEAc&biw=1536&bih=739&dpr=1.25

20 posted on 08/05/2025 5:06:05 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Why can't you tickle yourself?)
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