Thursday, April 29, 2010

Cape Wind Clean Up

Nothing like what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico.

I broke down and watched CNN and Ali Velshi said there was third leak and the gushing is 5,000 barrels a day "leaking" and it is due to hit the Louisiana coast within the hour.

Related:
Gulf of Fire Can we call it a catastrophe now, government puke (as blog editor begins to well up with tears).

And it isn't just government liars and equivocators, it is the MSM giving the impression that, aw, heck, its being taken care of and isn't that big or bad a deal.

This is THE WORST OIL SPILL I HAVE EVER HEARD of in my ENTIRE LIFE, folks! This is a DISASTER of MAJOR PROPORTIONS!!

The capper was when BARBARA STARR reported from the Pentagon that they were looking at the assets whereby they could dump chemicals and such and "ESSENTIALLY BOMB the OIL out of EXISTENCE!"

My HEART SANK as my OUTRAGE ROSE.

Yeah, that is this damn government all over!!

Got a problem? BOMB IT OUT of EXISTENCE!

Well, I AM SO SICK of THAT SOLUTION, and I HAVE TO STOP TYPING NOW BECAUSE I CAN'T SEE THE KEYS!!

Of course, when I thought about I thought RATHER MILITARY DOWN THERE than BOMBING PEOPLE HALFWAY AROUND the WORLD that NEVER DID ANYTHING TO US! Once again I see
someone trying to make a point.

Oh, and for those who think I have no solutions WHAT I WOULD HAVE LIKED is for ALL THE MONEY SPENT on the WARS to have been spent DEVELOPING SOLAR TECHNOLOGY.

And I don't mean dumping it into
Evergreen so they can go to China and the rich can get taxpayer-check in return and some executive can loot the money-losing, venture capital enterprise.

I'm talking about TAKING TAXPAYER'S MONEY (or not, why not leave it with them?) and ENABLING SOLAR PANELS on homes (with a back-up generator) so they BE ENERGY INDEPENDENT.


But then no one would be able to charge you and their would be no profit$, huh?

And what fun is that in this world?


Have fun cleaning up that heartbreaking slick.


"First Wind moves toward becoming public firm; Facilities spreading across the country" by D.C. Denison, Globe Staff | March 30, 2010

Massachusetts wind farm developer First Wind Holdings Inc. took another step toward becoming a public company as it released year-end numbers showing operating losses of $57.1 million and assets of $1.7 billion, including facilities at seven wind farms across the country.

The company had revenues of $47.1 million in 2009, up from $28.8 million in 2008. First Wind also reported that the most significant chunk of its assets — $1.4 billion — is tied up in “property, plant, equipment, and construction in progress.’’

The company’s operating losses improved from $64.3 million in 2008.

They never make money, do they?

First Wind, which was founded in 2002, has a “develop-to-own’’ business model, which means it creates and then runs its own wind farms. Its current operations include wind farms in the northeastern and western regions of the United States, including one in Maine and one in Hawaii. By the end of 2010, the company said, it plans to have six more projects operating or under construction.

The company has said it chooses its markets because they are “characterized by relatively high electricity prices, a shortage of renewable energy, and sites with good wind resources that can be built in a cost effective manner.’’

First Wind first registered for an initial public offering in 2008. On Friday, it filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission that indicate progress toward that goal. The company announced the lead underwriters for its first stock offering: Credit Suisse Securities LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co., and Morgan Stanley & Co.

All of a sudden I'm SOURING on the WHOLE PROJECT!!

A spokesman for the company declined to comment, citing the mandatory quiet period before an IPO.

Related: Boston Has Office Space

First Wind, which has about 70 employees, moved its headquarters from Newton to Boston in October.

What economy could fail with their wind at your back, huh?

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It's going to be a gooooo....

"Cape Wind signs deal to buy offshore turbines; German supplier plans to set up shop in Boston" by D.C. Denison, Globe Staff | April 1, 2010

Cape Wind, the Boston company awaiting final approval of a federal permit to build a controversial offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound, said yesterday it has signed an agreement to buy 130 wind turbines for the project from Siemens Energy Inc.

At the same time, Siemens said it will open an office in Boston for US offshore wind projects.

Somehow the "GREEN" effort is benefiting all these RAPACIOUS CAPITALIST CONGLOMERATES?

They HAVE a CHANGE of HEART on our WELFARE in the last 24-48 hours or.... ????

The agreement with Siemens depends on final US approval of the project, said Mark Rodgers, a Cape Wind spokesman. Asked why Cape Wind made the agreement now, before the federal government’s permitting decision, Rodgers said, “We’ve been working hard for the last year to make our selection, and now that we’ve made it, we thought, why wait?’’

Don't worry, that is coming up quick.

Siemens Energy’s parent company, Siemens AG, based in Munich, has a US headquarters in Orlando, Fla. The company’s US Wind Power division has grown from one employee in December 2004 to more than 1,000 employees today, spokeswoman Monika Wood said.

The Boston office will open on June 1 with just a few employees, Wood said. But she added that Siemens plans to double the number of US Wind Power employees in the next two to three years. Randy Zwirn, chief executive of Siemens Energy, said in a statement that an office here will allow the company to be closer to its US customers.

Ian A. Bowles, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said a Siemens office in Boston will help the state’s efforts to grow an alternative energy industry. “Europe is 20 years ahead of us in wind energy, and there’s a lot we can learn from them,’’ Bowles said.

You know, I really want to believe him -- however, he will RUIN the FAITH a bit later.

Specifically, Bowles said that Siemens has experience with a scale of wind development that will allow Massachusetts to become a national leader in offshore wind energy.

Governor Deval Patrick praised the development.

“The opening of a local Siemens offshore wind energy office is another significant step forward for the clean energy industry we have growing in Massachusetts,’’ Patrick said in a statement....

Why do I feel like taxpayer wallets have just taken a hit?

Globally, Siemens commands more than 50 percent of the world’s offshore wind market. Nearly three of every four European offshore wind turbines installed in 2009 were from Siemens, according to a recent European Wind Energy Association’s report.

Yeah, they are doing it for good, not for profit or anything.

Considering the oil slick maybe this is a better way.

--more--"

Massachusetts is giving $3 million in grants and loans to FloDesign Wind Turbine Corp. of Wilbraham to keep the company here after several other states tried to lure it away.

Isn't that a form of EXTORTION?!

Why do we have to GIVE TAX LOOT to GOOD CORPORATE BUSINESSES to DO the RIGHT THING?

And when you think of the INCREASED TAXES and DECREASED SERVICES in return!!

Yup, this is what your tax dollars are going for, dear fellow resident.

As you know, followers, I find this ALL SO SAD!!

In return, FloDesign has promised to relocate its headquarters to Waltham and hire more than 100 people.

Yes, and the corporations seldom live up to their promises.

Governor Deval Patrick revealed the incentives at Logan International Airport yesterday, during a presentation highlighting FloDesign’s technology, which applies jet engine manufacturing methods to make high-efficiency wind turbines.

The financial support from the state factored into the firm’s decision to stay local, said Stanley Kowalski III, a founder of FloDesign.

Translation: No one else was stoo-pid enough to outbid us.

“Oh yeah, the green tech market is a hot one, and the states are all looking to claim it as their own,’’ Kowalski said. “It turns out the Commonwealth was the smartest path forward . . . it was financially attractive and, my god, the source for intellectual capital.’’

Especially when you are getting $3m in tax loot.

--more--"

Related: Earth Day: Cape Cuts Wind

I will hold my breath as long as I can.

Ironically, it IS WINDY HERE today.

"Six governors urge approval of wind farm; See Cape project setting precedent" by Beth Daley and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff | April 24, 2010

Six East Coast governors sent a letter to US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar yesterday informing him that if he denies the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm because of its visual harm to historic sites, he would be endangering renewable energy efforts up and down the East Coast....

Several days earlier, US Senator Scott Brown and US Representative William D. Delahunt of Massachusetts wrote a letter to Salazar urging him to gather all parties involved in the wind farm dispute to forge a “consensus decision’’ instead of an up or down vote. Both have expressed concern about building a wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

Proponents of the project had dismissed Native Americans’ concerns until last year, when the Massachusetts historic preservation officer and then the National Park Service agreed that all of Nantucket Sound was eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the first time a piece of open ocean was determined to be eligible.

Why not? We always have.

There are liking we don't finish the job of annihilating them, right?

Sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh.

At the time, Ian Bowles, the state secretary of energy and environmental affairs, raised concern that the listing — which does not prohibit development or industry but would probably require a stricter review — would do “profound’’ harm to future activities in the sound, such as ferry service or even aquaculture projects.

That guy has a great quote coming up if you can hang on, readers.

Now, other states are seeing it the same way....

But (clink) Audra Parker — president and chief executive of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which has battled the Cape Wind proposal — slammed the letter, saying the governors “don’t truly understand the concerns of the people in Massachusetts.’’ She said the chosen site would “destroy a national treasure and benefit a private developer.’’

Hey, GOVERNMENT caring what the PEOPLE THINK over the MONEY?

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!

Where?

The nine-year regulatory battle over the nation’s first proposed offshore wind farm is expected to end this week, when US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar plans to issue a final federal decision on whether to permit 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound.

But some opponents of the wind farm are making it clear that if Salazar approves the project, they will go to court....

That is where EVERYTHING ENDS UP over here in "FREE" AmeriKa!

Are you NOT GLAD we are EXPORTING OUR BRAND of "DEMOCRACY" and RULE of LAW (that's a laugh) to YOUR NATION, world?

Wind energy advocates are also worried that if Salazar denies the project over the concerns of the tribes, other Native American groups — or owners of historic properties — will be emboldened in their efforts to quash proposed wind farms elsewhere.

Last week, six East Coast governors sent a letter to Salazar arguing that if he denies the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm because of the potential visual harm to historic sites, he would be endangering renewable energy efforts up and down the East Coast. Indeed....

--more--"

And the winner is....

US Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar yesterday approved the nation’s first offshore wind farm, the controversial Cape Wind project first proposed nine years ago in the beloved waters of Nantucket Sound, and proclaimed the dawn of a new era of clean energy in the United States.

“This will be the first of many projects up and down the Atlantic Coast,’’ Salazar said at a State House press conference with Governor Deval Patrick at his side.

Cape Wind Associates, the developer, said it planned to begin construction of the 130 turbines about 5 miles off Cape Cod by the end of the year, even as the main opposition group announced that it would immediately file a lawsuit in an effort to block the $1 billion project.

Proposed at a time of increasing awareness of the threat of manmade global warming, Cape Wind became a cause célèbre for politicians and environmentalists who want the United States to move away from its reliance on fossil fuels for electricity.

Related: April Fools Day

That is what I think of them now, yeah.

But (clink) the project drew just as passionate opposition from many residents of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, some of them moneyed and influential, who do not want their pristine views disturbed.

Notice the agenda-pushing paper mentions the money and influence when a richer stands against it?

Big names, from Senator Edward M. Kennedy (against) to Walter Cronkite (against, then for) joined in the long battle. Neither man lived to see its resolution.

“America needs offshore wind power, and with this project Massachusetts will lead the nation,’’ Patrick said, adding that Cape Wind will create 1,000 construction jobs and help the state in its goal to be a national clean energy leader.

The project is also a critical milestone for President Obama, who pledged during his election campaign to make America a leader in clean energy but then failed to broker an international climate deal in Copenhagen last year. So far, the president has also been unable to sign an energy and climate bill into law. Even as the federal government developed offshore energy rules and as a suite of other projects were proposed off the East Coast in recent years, the Cape Wind decision loomed as a test of what kind of energy future the country would choose.

Yeah, turns out this is ALL ONCE AGAIN about POLITICS and SOMEONE'S POLITICAL FORTUNES!

It may be the right thing, but they are not listening to residents and not really doing it for them either!

Salazar’s decision, first expected a year ago, was delayed because of complaints from two Wampanoag Native American tribes that the turbines, which would stand more than 400 feet above the ocean surface, would disturb spiritual sun greetings and possibly ancestral artifacts and burial grounds on the seabed. Nantucket Sound was once exposed land before the sea level rose thousands of years ago....

Salazar also said in federal filings that his agency wanted to consult with the tribes to determine any financial compensation for impacts on cultural resources. One possibility, he said, would be for Cape Wind to give the tribes $200,000 annually for the life of the 21-year project. In addition, the tribes could receive some of the $3.5 million the state of Massachusetts has set aside from Cape Wind to address impacts on historical and cultural resources.

Is the BRIBE going to be ENOUGH?

Oh, POOR, BUTT-POUNDED TAXPAYERS of AmeriKa!!

Why does YOUR GOVERNMENT have to BUY ITS WILL EVERYWHERE?

I thought we were the ones with the IDEAS!!

I guess Goldman Sachs kind of ruined that, huh?

Mashpee Wampanoag tribal chairman Cedric Cromwell said he was pleased Salazar would reopen government-to-government consultation, but said, “No amount of mitigation will change the fact that this is a site of great historical and cultural significance for our tribe.’’

Translation: THEY WANT MORE MONEY!!!!

The Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe on Martha’s Vineyard posted a short statement on its website saying it was disheartened and indicated it would probably go to court to stop the project.

Good luck! Hope you have some money stashed away for lawyers.

The main opposition group, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, wasted little time in launching the next salvo, vowing to seek an injunction in court to prevent construction while the case is played out.

“We will win in the courts based on fact, not politics,’’ Audra Parker of the alliance said angrily, shortly after Salazar’s announcement.

Yet (I'm taking that as a nickel deposit in the but cup, clink) for Jim Gordon, the often unemotional president of Cape Wind, the day unfolded like a dream....

The project has undergone years of environmental review and been the subject of intense political maneuvering, including formidable opposition from Kennedy, whose Hyannis Port family compound overlooks Nantucket Sound. While opponents’ main concern is aesthetics — the turbines would be visible on the horizon off Cape Cod — the battle was fought by raising other issues, including possible effects on property values and harm to birds, fishing, aviation, and historic and cultural sites.

Oh, then PUT 'EM UP by all means!

Paul Kirk, a close friend of the late Senator Kennedy’s who served as interim senator after Kennedy’s death, said the veteran lawmaker would have been profoundly upset at yesterday’s announcement. “He would have been gravely disappointed,’’ Kirk said....

You get used to it from this government after a while.

In fact, I think I would turn into a pumpkin if they DID NOT disappoint.

Yesterday, Senator John F. Kerry said he was convinced any concerns have been dealt with.

Then I'm sold.

“I believe the future of wind power in the Massachusetts and the United States will be stronger knowing that the process was exhaustive,’’ Kerry said in a statement. “This is jobs and clean energy for Massachusetts.’’

I'm sick of politicians and their bullshit promises.

--more--"

And that is what it is ALWAYS ABOUT when you get to the BOTTOM!

"Passage is political victory for Patrick; Opponents may find support in project’s critics" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | April 29, 2010

Federal approval of Cape Wind means different things to different people: fishermen, Cape Cod homeowners, and energy consumers, to name a few.

To Governor Deval Patrick, a long-time champion of the project who is waging a tough reelection campaign, it means a political victory, bolstering his argument that his administration is pioneering efforts to promote clean and renewable energy.

Patrick’s strong support stands in contrast with his two main opponents in the governor’s race....

The governor has been pushing for Cape Wind since 2006, and he was beaming yesterday as he stood with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, lauding what he sees as the project’s benefits: 1,000 new construction jobs and enough energy to power 75 percent of the Cape and Islands.

Hours later, the governor’s campaign blasted out a fund-raising e-mail asking his supporters to donate $50 to his reelection effort because his support for Cape Wind “offers another example of the clear choice that the people of Massachusetts face in November.’’

Have you no shame, sir?

And I'm seeing that ballot crystal clear: it has an X next to Baker.

************

The politics of the project are complicated, however.

Yeah, they DO SEEM to F*** UP everything.

Polls have suggested that support for the project among Cape residents has grown, but that fears have remained about its effect on energy prices. And there is still plenty of opposition, especially on the Cape, which has a swath of conservative towns where state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, an independent who called the federal decision yesterday a mistake, and Republican Charles D. Baker, who expresses deep skepticism about Cape Wind.

Baker, in a written statement yesterday: “I believe that renewable energy is important to our future, but at the same time the state has to be smart about how it invests in clean energy. We can’t support projects that are going to increase the cost of electricity to people and businesses in Massachusetts, and I have yet to see proof that Cape Wind will lower energy costs for Bay State families and businesses.’’

SAY WHAT?

Cahill said in a statement that the wind farm “will have a limited net effect and could actually drive up the cost of utilities for electricity rate payers, creating an additional burden for middle class homeowners and small businesses.’’ He added that he was also concerned about the impact on tourism.

Hey, what is one more straw on that bowed back, Massachusetts resident?

Patrick’s energy and environmental affairs secretary, Ian A. Bowles, said yesterday that it is “more likely than not that the project will save money for Massachusetts ratepayers’’ by taking them off the “fossil-fuel roller coaster where prices go up and down’’ according to the volatile global energy markets.

Yeah, as EVERYONE KNOWS, the WIND NEVER DIES DOWN!!!

So WHAT is with the IDIOTIC STATE PUKE, huh?

Does he SEE the SHIT as it COMES OUT HIS MOUTH, or does he just NOT SMELL IT when it HITS the FLOOR!!!

WHATEVER is NEEDED at the TIME to SELL whatever you are SELLING, 'eh, government?

And YOU WONDER WHY WE DO NOT BELIEVE in YOU or YOUR INTENTIONS after READING SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!!

Then YOU GUYS are DUMBER than I THOUGHT or you just DON'T CARE (and I THINK it is the SECOND ONE)!!!!

--more--"

So CUI BONO?

"Decision puts the state at the forefront of wind industry, business leaders say" by Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff | April 29, 2010

With federal approval yesterday of the Cape Wind project, Massachusetts stands at the nexus of the nation’s growing offshore wind power industry, state and business officials said. And that means jobs: engineering jobs, construction jobs, technical service jobs.

“It spans the spectrum from blue collar to white collar,’’ said Roger Freeman of the advocacy group Progressive Business Leaders Network, which has supported Cape Wind. “It’s boatmen taking boats out there. It’s blue-collar workers turning the wrenches. It helps build Massachusetts as a cluster and a center for renewable energy.’’

And who could possibly be against that?

************

Investors and wind energy manufacturers have long looked toward the United States as a market with rich potential.

Yes, ONCE AGAIN it is INVESTORS FIRST in line, American.

But this is all for your good!

But (clink) most have hesitated to invest here without clear government support.

Guess whose TAX DOLLARS are the $UPPORT, taxpayer$!

Btw, readers, I CAN USE that word because I AM DOING ANALYSIS, not a "report."

The federal endorsement of Cape Wind is probably what they have been waiting for, said Jim Lanard, managing director at Deepwater Wind, an offshore wind developer with projects in the Northeast. “Now we’ve got the signal that the US is willing to permit offshore wind facilities, and I think you are going to see some greater movement with other offshore wind projects in the near future,’’ Lanard said....

Wow, a whole coast line with 'em stretching thousands of miles?

But.... (cup getting awfully full and I just started)

At Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, business manager Michael Monahan said Cape Wind is going to put members to work. One of the next steps for Cape Wind will be to finalize an agreement with National Grid to purchase electricity generated by the project. Tom King, president of National Grid’s US operations, called Salazar’s approval of Cape Wind a huge milestone.

Shouldn't that be mile$tone?

--more--"

Well, let the COURT FIGHT BEGIN!

"Litigation is likely to result in delay only, specialists say" by Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | April 29, 2010

But (clink) legal specialists say that it is highly unlikely that legal challenges would ultimately succeed, given precedents set by previous federal court rulings and the extraordinary regulatory hurdles that the project has cleared over the past decade.

At most, litigation could delay completion of the 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound for a couple of years, said Patrick A. Parenteau, a professor of environmental law at Vermont Law School. But the chances of getting a federal court order to prevent construction from even starting are almost nil, he said.

Let's see how much money they are willing to waste.

“People have been poring over this project with a fine-tooth comb for so long that my litigator’s instinct tells me it’s going to be very hard to find a fatal flaw in what they’ve done,’’ he said.

If opponents have deep pockets, said Zygmunt J.B. Plater, who teaches environmental law at Boston College Law School, “there are ways to string this out’’ through litigation. “But what we’re talking about is delay,’’ he said....

Is an if worth a nickel contribution?

Last month, a coalition of environmental groups filed a 60-day notice with the Interior Department and with Secretary of State William F. Galvin, stating that they intended to sue in federal court if the project won approval. Opponents include environmental groups worried about the potential effects of turbines more than 400 feet tall on endangered migratory birds, homeowners on the Cape and Islands upset about turbines spoiling views from shore, and the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe on Martha’s Vineyard. The Indians contend that the project would disturb spiritual sun greetings and threaten ancestral artifacts on a seabed that was once exposed land.

Would you rather oil fill the Sound?

But (clink) specialists in Native American law and environmental law say legal challenges are likely to fail. In a landmark case in 1988, the US Supreme Court ruled that federal law and the Constitution do not protect the rights of American Indians to practice their religions on federal land off reservations. Parenteau said environmental groups have traditionally had a tough time obtaining preliminary injunctions to block projects because they must prove that even starting construction would cause irreparable harm. In recent years, he said, the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., has made it even harder to get such court orders.

Although litigation could make it harder for the project to obtain financing, Parenteau said, “I don’t see a showstopper here in any of the legal cases.’’

No showstopper.

That's all everything is, isn't it? A show.

HYANNIS — David Eldridge Jr., a fisherman and floorer with centuries-old ties to Cape Cod, cried yesterday after he heard that 130 wind turbines had been approved for nearby Nantucket Sound.

I understand the feeling.

“How can this happen in America?’’ said Eldridge, 46, whose phone began ringing with like-minded callers five minutes after the noon announcement. “It’s a sad day, man, I’m telling you. A big section of our backyard has been stolen from us.’’

Where have you been the last 50 years?

From Eldridge’s 190-year-old home in West Hyannisport to the decks of the small Hyannis fishing fleet to a coffee shop near the ferry docks, many Cape Codders reacted with resigned dismay when they learned that the wind farm had received a federal go-ahead.

But (another nickel, clink) a few residents felt otherwise, arguing that the nation’s first offshore wind farm will be a small but important step toward energy independence and a cleaner environment.

Globe ALWAYS find the FEW AGENDA-PUSHERS that agree with them, don't they?

“Everything we can do to reduce our dependence on foreign oil is a good thing,’’ said Laurence Green, a Rochester, N.Y., resident who owns a summer home on Nantucket. “It’s not that I don’t understand the concerns of the opposition, but wind turbines don’t seem to be too big a price in aesthetics to solve part of that.’’

Screw foreign oil; that stuff seems safe enough.

I'm more worried Obama wanting to drill while the Gulf of Mexico becomes the Gulf of Oil.

The decision, announced in Boston, left some on the Cape wondering about the future.

“This directly affects me, and now I don’t know if I want to remain in this community,’’ said Eldridge, who lashed out at Cape Wind, the turbine developer, with a spray-painted obscenity that he displayed on a piece of plywood.

Then he is a TERRORIST, isn't he?

Other fishermen predicted more restrictions on their livelihood, landlubbers talked about a threat to aesthetics, and many asked why a natural treasure should be used if electricity bills are not expected to decrease.

MSM reporters are so witty, huh?

And WHAT DO YOU MEAN ELECTRIC RATES are going UP?

Put it in the Berkshires; you can’t give away land up there,’’ said Peter Scalatta, owner of the Coffee Table Cafe on Hyannis Harbor....

Oh, THANKS for the INSULT, you elitist PoS!

All I have to say now is BUILD, BABY, BUILD!!!!

--more--"

Not feeling that sad for them, not after being insulted.

Related: Globe Editorial Make clean energy a reality; approve Cape Wind now

Globe got what it wanted.