January 12, 2012
Massachusetts

Energy Office social media back online after shutdown

By Jason Graziadei, I&M Senior Writer, www.ack.net 12 January 2012

Less than 24 hours after the Board of Selectmen’s critical vote to send the Madaket wind turbine project to Town Meeting last week, part of the Nantucket Energy Office’s public outreach on the issue – its Facebook page and Twitter account – vanished from cyberspace.

Concerned that the Energy Office had strayed from simply providing information about the project to a more aggressive advocacy approach in favor of the turbine, selectmen Rick Atherton and Bob DeCosta questioned the office’s use of social media, and the town administration responded by requesting that the Facebook page and Twitter account be taken down.

After continued debate last night, however, the full board reversed course and voted 4-1, with DeCosta dissenting, to reinstate the social-media outreach effort with certain disclaimers and monitoring for profanity.

Up until last Thursday, the town Energy Office was the only municipal government agency on Nantucket using social media for public outreach.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/12/energy-office-social-media-back-online-after-shutdown/