Free Republic

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...

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."

Even for Greenpeace, a group known for turning high-seas drama into political statement, the foray into the Nantucket Sound wind farm debate has played like perfect theater. Take, for instance, the picture-postcard morning of Aug. 17, when a pair of Greenpeace motorboats surrounded a schooner crammed with wind farm opponents, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It was a made-for-TV face-off that, indeed, was reported on the national news that night. But for Greenpeace, a $360 million organization that spends about $3.3 million each year on U.S. campaigns, ongoing efforts for the Cape Wind project transcend interrupting a Kennedy sail. Today,...

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who in recent weeks has emerged as the wind energy industry's public enemy No. 1, is also a Nantucket property owner. Alexander, who last month filed legislation that could hobble the emerging wind industry - including the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm - bought a seaside plot on the eastern edge of Nantucket four years ago for $800,000. Alexander and his wife own the half-acre property in Siasconset through a trust, according to a recent Senate filing. They have not built there and today the property is worth $1.25 million, according to the island's tax...

The U.S. Department of Energy has praised the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm as an important first step, and perhaps the foundation, of a more focused American wind energy industry. In a letter sent March 31 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - the principal reviewer of the ambitious Cape Wind plan - an energy official predicts the local review process will provide helpful guidance in future wind energy development. David K. Garman, assistant secretary to the office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, suggests the project responds to federal policy that makes alternative energy a priority. Though the...

A report released yesterday by opponents of the proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound claims that nearly 80 percent of the 130 turbines would be in water deep enough to be vulnerable to a strike by a tanker. The result, the group says, could be a spill severely affecting the Nantucket Sound ecosystem. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound commissioned an oil-spill assessment in response to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Cape Wind Energy Project that was released last November. The oil-spill assessment was conducted by Lighthouse Technical Consultants and The McGowan Group. The public and other interested...

Blue-collar General Electric workers in Lynn have launched a campaign to support a planned Nantucket Sound wind farm project vehemently opposed by many of the rich and famous residents of Cape Cod and the islands. Leaders of the IUE-CWA Local 201, which represents 2,500 workers at GE's Riverworks plant, are passing out petitions and meeting with lawmakers in an effort to promote wind energy and possibly create hundreds of manufacturing jobs in Lynn. GE, via its wind-energy unit, is in line to land the more-than-$200 million contract to build the 130 giant wind turbines for the proposed project, spearheaded by...