No punches were pulled at a town meeting on wind power.
Jay S. Polachek is managing editor of Public Utilities Fortnightly.
The Constitution of the United States provides for citizens to both gather, and speak freely, without fear of persecution. This vision was in clear practice on April 11, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a town meeting in Barnstable, Massachusetts-the hub of activity and controversy over a proposed offshore wind farm project on Cape Cod.
The sole purpose of this meeting was to gather public comments on an application submitted by Cape Wind Associates to construct a single tower on Horseshoe Shoal in order to gather wind, current, and atmospheric data. From the outset, the moderator of the meeting made it very clear that this meeting was not about the wind farm itself-it was simply to get public opinion on a single structure. However, as is usually the case, emotions ran high, and the focus quickly veered to the wind farm project itself.
As one might imagine, the Cape Codders are very passionate about this issue. On this night, nearly 200 people packed the auditorium in the Barnstable Town Hall. Two uniformed police officers stood by, in case things got out of hand. A large "traffic light" was set up in front of the speaker's podium, so there would be no running over the allotted three-minute time period for comments. It was obvious the Corps of Engineers knew what they were doing, and were ready to run a tight meeting.
Once the opening remarks were made, Cape Wind Associates made a short presentation, and the meeting moved right into public comments. For nearly three hours, citizens of the Cape spoke up, and spoke with feeling. Many were against the project-vehemently against it-and, as was to be expected, many were for it. Following are just a few excerpts from people opposed to the project: