The Editorial Page of the Boston Globe (reg req’d) is in delusional mode today over the potential cancellation of the Cape Wind Project.
 FOR A textbook case of why the public holds Congress is such low esteem, look no further than the way an Alaska congressman is short-circuiting the legislative process to sabotage the Cape Wind project off the coast of Cape Cod. Representative Don Young is trying to tack an amendment banning the project onto a bill to authorize funding for the Coast Guard. The stealth amendment has not been debated by any committee of Congress.
The best hope for heading this off rests with Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, who is said to be working with other senators on the conference committee to respond to Young’s attack. If Snowe and the others do not succeed in removing Young’s language from the final bill, they will share blame for killing one of the country’s most important renewable energy initiatives. Cape Wind would generate enough electricity to supply three-quarters of the power needs of Cape Cod and the islands without emitting any greenhouse gases.
The Young amendment would ban offshore wind turbines within 1.5 nautical miles of navigation channels or ferry routes. This would stop construction of Cape Wind’s 130 turbines, some of which are as close as 1,500 feet to shipping lanes. Young’s measure is opposed by the Coast Guard, which doesn’t want to lose authority over approving turbine sites. Offshore oil rigs are permitted within 500 feet of shipping channels. In Copenhagen harbor, wind turbines are within a quarter mile of shipping lanes that get far more traffic than the Cape Wind site.
And what asses is Young kissing on this? The Cape Wind Project states:
 Rep. Don Young has stepped into a raging Nor’easter over a proposed wind farm off Cape Cod, and now he is tossing in an ocean of ironies that has him on the same side of the feud as two renowned liberals — Sen. Ted Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
We wouldn’t want to block the view for these Limousine Liberals, would we? You remember Robert F. Kennedy Jr, don’t you? He is that staunch advocate for the environment. Well, usually. But not in this case. And, of course, the Kennedy Compound would have a clear view of the windmills.
 They know that the issue has never been navigational safety; the issue has always been that the rich and famous who live and/or play on Martha’s Vineyard and the surrounding areas don’t want the turbines to block their spectacular views of the coast and ocean. They don’t want to have grubby windmills in sight that replace all of the electricity that they eat up on their vacations. They don’t want to sacrifice anything for clean energy, but they want the rest of the country to pay through the nose for it.
Liberals can claim they are for the working man, but how many of the peons have “compounds?”
