Call to Action: Today is email/call
Ted Kennedy day. It's an embarassment for prominent Dems to be standing in the way of a major renewable energy project for what are basically NIMBY reasons. The project isn't perfect and some of the criticisms are legitimate, but from a broad perspective of promoting renewable energy it sets a bad precedent if every major project is going to have to fight NIMBY concerns from wealthy Senators.
Grist has
the backstory:
The four-year-old battle started heating up last summer when Greenpeace USA staged a demonstration against well-known eco-activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's been an outspoken opponent of the proposal for a 130-turbine wind-power project in Horseshoe Shoal, a shallow portion of Nantucket Sound south of Cape Cod. Kennedy -- a senior attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council and a pioneer in the waterway-protection movement -- was on a sailboat for an event with the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which opposes the wind project. A Greenpeace vessel cruised up alongside with a banner that read, "Bobby, you're on the wrong boat" -- a stunt that was part of a larger Greenpeace campaign pressuring Kennedy to change his mind on the development. (Hear audio from the Greenpeace/Kennedy confrontation.)
Basically, RFK Jr. thinks that the local fishing industry and turning over public land set aside as wilderness for private use sets a dangerous precedent. Ted Kennedy criticized Cape Wind for being a "no-bid project." Fine. Those are legitimate issues, but they fail to see the big picture. We need the Democrats to take the initiative and push a comprehensive national energy plan with a real move from fossil fuels to renewables. We are losing the
renewables race and the Senator from Massachussettes is twiddling his thumbs at the starting line.
Yesterday's papers were full of stories about Bush supporting and long-time Democratic icon Ted Kennedy opposing renewable energy:
http://www.boston.com/...
http://www.nytimes.com/...
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
http://www.capecodonline.com/...
As to RFK Jr.'s conserns about setting a precedent of leasing public land, that's already happening for oil and natural gas exploration. What do we prefer, Cape Wind or drilling in ANWR? Even activist organizations like Greenpeace see the nead to make priorities to confront our challenges:
"I respect people who wage NIMBY battles -- the environmental movement was founded on people protecting their local, sacred areas. But today, solving the climate crisis has become so urgent that it trumps NIMBYism. It's as simple as that."
--John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA
The Green Party has endorsed the project:
http://www.gp.org/...
This is would be a humiliation for us if it gets blocked because of Ted Kennedy. Please recomend and let's flex some DKos muscle on Ted Kennedy today. If Kos's incessant whining about the Sierra Club is meaningful, it should mean that this community is able to exert some pressure on Dem Senators when they are wrong on environmental issues.
This diary from yesterday discusses the issue more.
I'm a DKos environmentalist