There was an Old Man of Nantucket
Who often set sail in a bucket
When faced with a Man
Who had a grand plan
Well, as for the Earth, he said __________.
Cape Wind, the hotly debated proposal to build a wind-turbine farm in Nantucket Sound, looks like a brilliant idea. Building wind turbines that took advantage of Cape Cod winds would relieve pressure on the electrical grid, generate clean energy, and help wean the United States off that addictive foreign oil. Even better, a private company offered to risk the money to build the turbines, so the taxpayers wouldn't be left holding the bag - or at least as much of the bag - if things didn't work out.
So, why aren't wind turbines churning away in Nantucket Sound, and why aren't Massachusetts leaders resting on their laurels, basking in the praise they would have received as innovators when it came to renewable energy?
Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb, authors of the new nonfiction work Cape Wind, might argue that it can all be summed up in the following statement from Massachusetts senior Senator Ted Kennedy: "But don't you realize, that's where I sail."
When businessman Jim Gordon first started pushing the idea of Cape Wind in 2001, he didn't realize that he would have to break through the thick Cape Cod Upper Crust, made up of some of the richest, most powerful people in the United States, to get the job done. Even though Ted Kennedy was fighting against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Robert Kennedy Jr. was spreading the good word of environmental causes, these leaders and their neighbors didn't want these turbines obstructing their expensive views or impeding their sailing excursions.
More of the review after the jump!
Using in-depth interviews with Jim Gordon's team, Cape Wind exposes the back-room machinations of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, composed of Cape Cod Upper Crust members and their employees. However, that's a weakness of the book - the reliance on interviews with Gordon's team make the book so clearly pro-Cape Wind that there's no view of the other side.
But the authors point out that the members of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound didn't speak with them, so they had to rely on research and observations. As a result, the story follows the basic good guys vs. bad guys plot, with Jim Gordon being such a good guy that it's tough not to imagine him in skintight superhero leotards, blasting away his opponents with wind power.
As the book progresses, it becomes easier to root for Gordon given the class conflict at the heart of the Cape Wind debate. The Cape Cod Upper Crust has the luxury of spending as much as it wants to keep wind turbines out of its watery backyard. The residents of New Bedford and Fall Creek are not as lucky, and they must cope with the consequences of the 2003 Buzzards Bay oil spill:
On the shorelines of Buzzards Bay sit two sizable cities with large numbers of people who live below the poverty line - New Bedford, known as "the City That Lit the World" because of its nineteenth-century whale-oil industry, and Fall River, known as "the Spindle City" because of textile mills that existed there long ago. Most of the residents of these cities are, horror of horrors, forced to summer where they winter.
The authors continue to satirize the class that uses "summer" as a verb. With great glee, they relay the story of Bunny Mellon calling a Cape Wind supporter a "traitor to your class." The authors quickly add the snarky comment that Ms. Mellon is the "granddaughter of a Midwestern mouthwash manufacturer," not a British blueblood.
Politicans also don't escape the book's wrath. The authors suggest that Mitt Romney didn't support Cape Wind because he didn't want to bite the hand that fed him, and they also describe an embarrassing episode in which former Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Tom Reilly shoved an Army Corps spokesman and hogged the microphone at a public hearing so he could hop on the anti-Cape Wind gravy train.
But not all the protagonists are that clear-cut. The authors spend time on Walter Cronkite, who publicly opposed the project at first, largely because he is such a close friend of the Kennedy family. As a newsman, it is surprising that he buys into the argument of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound so quickly, but he's also caught in a sticky social situation. Eventually, when he hears more about the project, he has a change of heart and withdraws that opposition.
As a satire of class conflict and the political system in general, Cape Wind is excellent. The authors find the juice in endless council meetings and lawsuits. Some of the real-life characters are reduced to cardboard cutouts to serve the author's purposes, but that doesn't mean the book isn't entertaining and informative. If anything, it should get you to learn more about the project and make up your own mind because the need for renewable energy is only going to grow.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
