Off the coasts of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket Island and Cape Cod, in the waters where the rich and the famous roam free, the government is considering a plan to build the world's largest offshore wind power plant. According to a recent article in the New York Times, 130 wind turbines would be scattered across a 24-square-mile area on the Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound.
Residents and business owners in the area are opposed to the planned construction; they worry that the huge turbines, which would stand 420 feet above water, would be a blemish on their breathtaking coasts. They argue that the area's main revenue source is tourism and that no one would want to come to a seashore pocked with turbines.
Environmentalists argue that the benefits of having a clean source of energy outweigh any possible aesthetic costs. The project, if completed, would begin generating power around 2007 and would generate enough power for about 75 percent of the local area.
Now I can understand that residents might have some reservations about the construction of a wind power plant right off their coasts. The idea of huge metal blades whirling less than a mile from my home would make me nervous too. But I feel that their arguments over the ugliness of the turbines come off as a bit shallow and short-sighted.
Don't get me wrong, there are legitimate drawbacks to wind power. Steady winds are needed to guarantee electricity, and a back-up system must be in place when winds die down. Also, the turbines would need to be able to withstand the famous nor'easter storm winds that were popularized in Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm," and the spinning blades might disrupt birds' migratory patterns.
The Army Corps of Engineers has addressed some of these concerns, claiming that water currents, fishing and sand movement would not be seriously affected. They also predict that one bird per day would probably die in the blades, but the losses would not be severe enough to seriously affect species populations.
The benefits from wind power are potentially so great that these losses might seem negligible. What the people of Nantucket and all Americans need to realize is that if we continue to burn fossil fuels the way we do now, if we don't invest in cleaner energy alternatives, the view from our pristine coasts is going to be obscured by more than just wind turbines. Haze in key cities across the world like Los Angeles and Beijing is already a very serious problem. If we do not reduce our sulfur and nitrogen emissions drastically, smog and visibility conditions are just going to worsen.
The only legitimate concern Nantucket residents are expressing is the loss of tourism revenue. Right now, the shoals where the turbines would be built are considered federal territory because they are offshore. This means that the companies planning to build on the site would not have to pay any money to the residents of Nantucket. But as these turbines might affect the businesses in the area, a reasonable compromise would be to provide the people of Nantucket with federal grants, subsidies or lease payments to compensate for whatever tourism revenues are lost.
As the Times article points out, the United States is behind when it comes to alternative sources of power. Denmark already gets 18 percent of its electricity from wind, and Germany plans to meet up to 25 percent of its electrical needs with wind power by 2025. Our government really needs to begin stressing both through education and finance the advantages to cleaner sources of energy.
Furthermore, Americans everywhere need to start reevaluating their priorities. Huge government subsidies and favorable wind patterns have so far spared most Americans from having to seriously face the consequences of their own energy use. But eventually, it will be our own skies that are too hazy to see through and our own lung health that is affected.
The question we need to ask ourselves is: Who would want to frolic in the sea when they can't even breathe the air?
Sarah Barry is a biweekly columnist.She can be reached at sbarry@cavalierdaily.com.
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