Cape makes news

Reporter Patrick Cassidy began the week with the even-handed article in the Cape Cod Times on the DEP/DPH health study and our call for a moratorium : Statewide coalition urges moratorium on wind turbines. In the article, Cassidy reviews the status of wind siting and notes that pending legislation to speed up project approval–The Wind Energy Siting Reform Act–will be on the legislative agenda in the fall. According to state Rep. David Vieira, R-Falmouth, the legislators are hearing from constituents, raising concerns about the bill (which narrowly failed to pass in the last session).

Later in the week Cassidy reported that the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates voted to investigate questions raised about the Cape Light Compact and the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative. Both agencies have been active in trying to site turbines. He writes, “Cape Light Compact and the cooperative have come under fire from critics of land-based wind turbines who question the transfer of funds between the organizations and whether there is proper oversight of the agencies’ activities.”

Meanwhile the Bournedale project received a jolt on Monday when the Fletchers, who own Grazing Fields Farm, testified at the Cape Cod Commission’s Monday afternoon hearing in Bourne. Besides equestrian-trainers Kathryn and Michael Fletcher, the Bourne Courier‘s article on the Wicked Local website quotes many opponents of the scaled-down project, including James Potter, head of Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy, and Pilgrim Pines developer Mark Hebb.