An attempt to dupe the general public

John Donelan of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound decries forward thinking renewable energy initiates such as Cape Wind as nothing more than predatory attempts to deny a select few Cape Codders the exclusive use of public resources in a way that they deem appropriate (Windpower Monthly letters, November 2003). Donelan proudly labels himself as a Cape Codder, as though our environmental microcosm has been immune to the ravages of conventional electric generation. Quite the opposite is in fact true. We have a oil burning power plant contributing to the worst air quality in the state and a recent barge load of oil for the plant ran aground last year, fouling our beaches, killing our wildlife and threatening the tourism season.

As we careen headlong into the economic, environmental and geopolitical ramifications of our dependence on fossil fuels, Alliance members proudly wraps themselves in the moniker of environmentalism in an attempt to dupe the general public into falling lockstep behind their efforts.

The majority of Cape Coders resent the provincial point of view adopted by this select minority as an attempt to force their colonial visions of the proper use of public resources on the majority of us who are demanding a cleaner environment.

Most amusing is Donelan's call for your publication to present his side of the argument. To do so would be to distort the size and visual affects of wind farms, to spread misinformation about wind turbine technology or employ any other use of propaganda to thwart renewable energy. The current battle cry of the Alliance is to label the Marine Sanctuaries Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, referred to as the Magna Carta of environmental regulations, as inadequate to protect their playground.

The truth is, the Alliance doesn't object to the process, the project, the technology or the concept; it's the location of Cape Wind in "their front yard."