Chris Perry Column: The Nantucket Community's Right To Know

Tomorrow, most eyes will be focused on Nantucket’s Special Town Meeting and the short-term rental debate. But for me, Town Meeting will have added meaning as I will be watching to see if the Select Board will be able to run out the clock.

In a nod to legendary UNC basketball coach, Dean Smith, the Select Board, the Maria Mitchell Association, and the Nantucket Preservation Trust have been implementing Smith’s “Four Corner” offense flawlessly. With a game plan of spreading out the players, passing the ball around, and looking to run out the clock, the co-signers of the Good Neighbor Agreement have the Nantucket community on the brink of the final horn.

If tomorrow’s Town Meeting ends without the members of the Select Board opting to officially update the community on their recent actions taken with regard to the Good Neighbor Agreement as outlined by the successful passage of Article 78 at the last Town Meeting, then it’s symbolically game over for the Nantucket community’s right to know.

This potentially uncooperative move would continue a vexing trend. As the summer moved along and more troubling details of the Good Neighbor Agreement started bubbling to the surface regarding its negative impact on the Nantucket community, calls for public debate fell on deaf ears as the Select Board, the Maria Mitchell Association and the Nantucket Preservation Trust refused to engage.

Even though the dynamics of the game changed dramatically on July 13th with GE Vernova’s turbine blade failure creating an “environmental disaster,” the three co-signers of the GNA defiantly stuck to their game plan despite heightened scrutiny.

Thankfully for the Maria Mitchell Association and the Nantucket Preservation Trust, their “game” ended about two weeks ago when Labor Day weekend came and went. With the traditional mass exodus of summer visitors heading off-island, so did boatloads of critical eyes watching and waiting for the two non-profits to respond to criticism of openly supporting Vineyard Wind’s agenda and their planned 166,000-acre wind farm off Nantucket’s coast. Clearly, their respective mission statements share nothing in common with the Vineyard Wind scheme yet their signatures on the 2020 agreement and $600,000 each have produced growing consternation within the Nantucket community only exacerbated by their shared silence.

But let’s give credit where credit is due.

The Maria Mitchell Association and the Nantucket Preservation Trust have played Coach Smith’s strategy and the Nantucket community to perfection. In light of the negative impact on Nantucket from the blade failure, one would think a public comment would be forthcoming from either one of the non-profits who are a party to an agreement with Vineyard Wind to “support and promote the parties’ mutual interests…”

Nevertheless, the Maria Mitchell Association and the Nantucket Preservation Trust have remained silent. Instead, they successfully held their annual charity events - survived until Labor Day - and ran out the clock. All the while, both the Maria Mitchell Association and the Nantucket Preservation Trust have been spotlighted as “Stakeholders” with the non-profit Save Our Sound (S.O.S.) whose “alliance was formed in 2002 in response to Cape Wind’s proposal to build a 25 square mile wind energy project in the Nantucket Sound…”

So…it is not OK to build a wind farm in Nantucket Sound but it is OK to build a massive one off Surfside Beach?

I am not so sure their silence is golden as these unanswered questions coupled with their respective inability to reconcile their mission statements with Vineyard Wind’s agenda will undoubtedly haunt both non-profits well after the final horn of the Labor Day game was sounded.

Luckily, the Select Board’s “game” has gone into overtime.

With the special Town Meeting scheduled for tomorrow evening, they have bought some additional time to assess their strategy.

Initially, the Select Board survived the full court pressure from the fallout from the blade failure. Secondly, they shrewdly passed the ball around and changed the narrative from the Good Neighbor Agreement to GE Vernova, fundamental design flaws, material deviation, gigawatts, Klaus Moeller, root-cause analysis, and non-toxic fiberglass.

And finally, they have milked the clock up to tomorrow’s Town Meeting by pushing the Nantucket community’s focus to FAQs posted on the town’s website. However, since those answers are being crafted almost exclusively by Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova, it sounds more like a rebranding of their agenda.

But, the clock is ticking and time is running out faster than State Senator Julian Cyr’s hasty exit from a recent Select Board meeting.

The Nantucket community doesn’t care about Dogger Bank or a manufacturing plant in Canada or France. The Nantucket community cares about what’s happening right here at home. And it starts with an answer to one simple question that’s been on the table for months:

Why is the town of Nantucket still an active member of the existing Good Neighbor Agreement?

In light of the successful passage of Article 78 at the last Town Meeting which asks for “authorization by vote of Town Meeting if any funds or mitigation from offshore wind companies are involved” and the ongoing discussions regarding the renegotiation of the Good Neighbor Agreement, the Select Board has an ideal opportunity to update the voters and answer the very question that the Nantucket community has been asking all summer long. In an auditorium filled with concerned citizens, the Select Board can show its leadership skills to the very constituency that put them in office by fulfilling the will of the voters.

Clearly, some discussions have taken place as recently posted Select Board agendas have listed numerous executive sessions to “discuss recovery and/or injunctive relief associated with the turbine failure”. However, when chairperson Mohr announced that the Select Board is “renegotiating” the existing Good Neighbor Agreement versus exiting from it, it led me to believe that Nantucket will continue to be required to promote Vineyard Wind’s agenda.

Moreover, when figures of "$36 million" are introduced and terms such as “present-day value of money” are added to the conversation, I am skeptical of the motive.

Don’t be fooled.

As a community, we should not take our eyes off the prize which is exiting from the existing Good Neighbor Agreement. Any ongoing discussions or “renegotiating” that requires Nantucket to continue to be part of Vineyard Wind’s propaganda machine should be a non-starter.

The Maria Mitchell Association and the Nantucket Preservation Trust got off easily. They made it to the final horn of the summer and now they will drift off into the offseason like a fading Nantucket sunset. For those of you who endorsed their participation in the Good Neighbor Agreement and can sleep soundly tonight knowing it is impossible to reconcile that stance with their respective mission statements, more power to you.

But, for the Select Board, you should have a higher threshold. It comes with the territory and as elected officials, it is your responsibility to listen to the overwhelming majority of Nantucket citizens who want you to unwind the GNA mistake.

Tomorrow night is your time to shine.

With the Select Board’s recent announcement honoring a non-binding citizen’s article related to the African Meeting House, the precedent has been set for you to honor Article 78.

The days of trying to convince the public that you got the best deal possible or that any negative public statements regarding the GNA could hurt future negotiations or that “we” did not have any say on the turbines’ final location are over.

At this point, it sounds defensive; and instead of showing strength as the injured party due significant monetary compensation, it shows signs of desperation with whatever legal strategy is being pushed by Cultural Heritage Partners, the town’s special counsel for wind energy matters that continues to reap huge financial benefits from this disaster and the Good Neighbor Agreement.

As Magic Johnson used to say, “It’s showtime…”

Tomorrow night, instead of passing the ball and trying to run out the clock, it’s time to play ball and update the Nantucket community before the final horn sounds signaling the end of Town Meeting and the community’s emblematic right to know.

If not, then The Wizard of Id in 1964 was right when he proclaimed: “Whoever has the gold makes the rules…”