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Cape Wind falls short on too many promises
Credit: April 07, 2014 | www.southcoasttoday.com ~~
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Given Cape Wind’s promises to New Bedford, it’s no wonder that Matthew Morrissey from New Bedford’s Wind Energy Center is such an ardent supporter (“Guest View: Cape Wind opponents ignore too many facts,” March 26).
Unfortunately for New Bedford and Mr. Morrissey, Cape Wind’s commitment here is almost certainly just one more in a series of broken promises.
In 2010, the Patrick administration announced New Bedford would serve as the staging area for the massive offshore project. The problem is Cape Wind’s federal permits call for staging in Quonset, R.I., not New Bedford.
Cape Wind officials assured New Bedford they would officially file a project change. Three years later, has Cape Wind actually done this? Or is Cape Wind still telling Rhode Island that they are in fact going to be building the project in that state?
Shouldn’t Mr. Morrissey be asking these questions? Shouldn’t the state and federal governments seek a commitment from Cape Wind before continuing to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars?
New Bedford and Mr. Morrissey need to look at Cape Wind’s track record for promised jobs.
Middleboro’s Mass Tank company worked tirelessly for two years after Cape Wind promised them the job for turbine foundations. The result? Cape Wind spurned Mass Tank in favor of a European competitor based in Germany. Perhaps Mr. Morrissey should ask members of the National Electrical Contractors Association of Greater Boston how they feel about Cape Wind? After years of touting economic benefits for Massachusetts, Cape Wind signed a contract with a Maine-based company for an electrical service platform – breaking another promise and snubbing thousands of Massachusetts electricians and contractors.
We won’t get the jobs, but we will get the bills. Mr. Morrissey states: “Cape Wind’s power prices are known.” He is right; they are known to be high. Cape Wind’s contracted prices start at about 20 cents per kilowatt hour and are guaranteed to increase by 3.5 percent each year to reach well over 30 cents per kwh. That is three times the cost of competing land-based wind energy and $3 billion more than electricity bought at market rates.
For all of these reasons, it is becoming increasingly clear that Cape Wind shouldn’t be built – and after 13 years of broken promises, it won’t be.
Audra Parker
Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound
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