Revolution Wind, 15 miles off the coast of Rhode Island, began work two years ago and is on target to be finished and powering 350,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island by next year. Revolution has faced an onslaught of legal attacks from wealthy waterfront owners concerned about their ocean views. But at least for now, the project has been safe from Trump’s anti-wind attacks. And again, size and economic clout may have helped keep the project viable. Revolution has spent more than $100 million shoreside redeveloping waterfront in both Connecticut and Rhode Island and, by creating 1,500 jobs, has strong political and union support.
Finally, there is Vineyard Wind.
After a devastating turbine break stopped construction last July, Vineyard Wind has quietly – very quietly – managed to get back to work on its 806-megawatt project 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The project will power 400,000 homes in Massachusetts, revitalize the port of New Bedford, and generate 2,000 jobs. The project is now generating electricity from 10 of 62 planned turbines.
Each of these projects has – so far – survived in the face of relentless attacks from the Trump administration, fossil fuel proponents, and greenwashed fronts. Baseless charges that wind power kills whales; lawsuits targeting transmission cables, substations, and transmission cables; phony “grassroots” organizations bankrolled by waterfront homeowners and/or oil and gas companies; attacks by the Trump bureaucracy – all so far have failed.
Silence about success and ongoing work seems to be a part of the strategy for offshore wind developers – and maybe you can’t blame them.
In May, one of the directors of the Dominion project said that continued construction came from “keeping our head down” and keeping the project away from any fanfare. Dominion has also managed to keep working by touting offshore wind not as clean, green, or planet saving – which, of course, it is – but simply as homegrown American power.
Like federal biologists and health experts, offshore wind developers have learned not to bring the benefits of clean air and cuts to pollution into their conversations.
They can’t say it. But we can: When these four projects go on-line in the next three years, they will power two million homes while taking millions of tons of carbon pollution out of the air we breathe – the equivalent of taking 2.3 million cars off the road. That means less asthma, better heart health, and a planet moving further from a future marked by increasing heat and drought, flooding and erosion, real damage to marine life, and more houses being swallowed by a rising ocean.
Jobs, measurable economic impact, and the promise of reliable domestic power – these may be keeping offshore wind on track to survive the current headwinds and thrive when the coast is clear. But for now, just don’t say out loud that it could also help protect our health and save the planet.
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.