Mass. must not let its offshore lands be plundered
US push for Mass. wind power meets a current of resistance | The Boston Globe | April 17, 2018 | www.bostonglobe.com
US push for Mass. wind power meets a current of resistance | The Boston Globe | April 17, 2018 | www.bostonglobe.com
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s op-ed on Massachusetts’ future in wind power is propaganda. Treating our ocean as an empty platform waiting for development ignores the vital role of oceans in carbon storage, tourism, recreation, and scenery. Coal mining and wind farms make a strange partnership masked as environmentally wise development. Speedy permitting equals greedy permitting.
The astounding figure of 390,000 acres of “over-the-horizon” ocean at risk suggests that as long as we don’t see turbines, there is no damage. Note: Each turbine destroys an acre of seabed floor, plus trenching for transmission lines. Promising “best practices” is optimistic, since there are no best practices in wind development, especially offshore. The environmental cost in mortality of birds, bats, sea life, and whales as well as the destruction of a precious ecosystem is beyond comprehension.
The damage to our most vital resource will be permanent and economically reckless. Labeling wind power as a renewable energy source makes it seem benign, and thus it is supported by several reputable organizations in spite of reports of bird and bat mortality. The real cost of wind power has yet to be determined. Massachusetts must continue to think and act independently, refusing to allow our valuable offshore lands to be plundered.
Carolyn Bishop
Belmont
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/04/17/mass-must-not-let-its-offshore-lands-be-plundered/