The Select Board Must Step Up On Offshore Wind

(This letter was originally sent to the Nantucket Select Board)

To the editor: The tone of the forum last night was clear. On multiple occasions you mentioned “mitigation” yet you fail to acknowledge that it was mitigation itself that has put us in this position.

Mitigation presupposes the development of these wind turbines as acceptable and wanted by the community. The overwhelming majority, the over 155 businesses and 2,000 people signed on to Keep Nantucket Wild, Ack for Whales, numerous speakers last night, and many many more residents and visitors have voiced their opinion that this is not welcome off our shores.

We agree that these developments are being forced down our throats by state and (past) federal administrations, and it is difficult as a local board to feel powerless. But this is 2024 - a day and age where local reporting on a single (albeit catastrophic) blade failure can gain viral, global headlines overnight. The real travesty in that event was that mitigation had already bought your silence. The Good Neighbor Agreement forbade the town from saying ANYTHING publicly against Vineyard Wind at that time. Your lips were sealed when the town needed you the most. You had the ability to capitalize on that momentum, band together with neighboring communities, and make OUR disdain for the industrialization of our waters heard, yet you remained handcuffed by your $16 million deal. That is the exact definition of hush money.

If we must answer BOEM in a matter of weeks and endure their circus act, then I suggest to you propose the following “mitigation” actions:

• • Two billion dollars into a view shed/ environmental damages fund paid in full prior to construction
  • No construction until prior leases are complete and their effect on whales, birds, vessel navigation, SAR, and the environment is known/ studied/ quantified as ZERO
  • Revocation of all Incidental Take Permits, especially NARWs
  • No construction until ALDS systems are active and functional offshore
  • No additional turbines visible from Nantucket
  • No construction until wind farms can cite net positive contribution to climate change reduction goals
  • No construction until all wind farm support vessels/ crew comply with the Jones Act
  • No construction until guarantees are made that Nantucket will receive a portion of electricity generated AT NO INCREASED COSTS PER KWH

Your constituents stood up last night and made their voices known. The answer is clear that no amount of money can buy our approval. We need you to be a leader and the most vocal, outspoken critic of these projects. This is your duty, and a fight you need to engage in. We cannot isolate SouthCoast from Vineyard Wind, nor any of the other future lease areas. We cannot enter any agreement that limits our voice, and we cannot accept these developments as fact. The new administration is not likely to continue existing federal subsidies, and we must play to that.

It's time for you to stand up and do something.

And for the love of God, NEVER pay the lawyers based on settlements.

Tom Harty
Wauwinet