1. A giant offshore wind project in NY would substantially increase the region's carbon-free energy, relieve grid congestion, & lower prices. It's being blocked by NIMBYs. Specifically, the wealthy residents of Wainscott, NY have formed Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott.
2. Wainscott is an exclusive coastal enclave with some of the most expensive property in the world. Its population was 650, as of the 2010 census. Basically, it's a small cluster of millionaires. Why do they oppose this project, which would help so many people?
3. It's not the turbines. It's the cable that would bring the turbines' energy to shore. Is it unsightly? No -- the project developers have agreed to underground it. After it's done, it will quite literally be invisible to residents. It will simply pass beneath their enclave.
4. No, the residents simply object to the *construction* involved in burying the cable. They say it would ruin their bucolic landscape & (I'm not kidding) disrupt traffic. For a few weeks. And that's intolerable. So, sorry, no clean energy or cheaper power or improved resilience.
5. The group "has also claimed the cable could exacerbate chemical contamination associated with a nearby airport, though a team of water engineers hired by the developers recently dismissed that idea, saying there are 'no foreseeable conditions' in which that could occur."
6. This is all despite the developers agreeing to a $29 million bribe ... er, "agreement" with the town of East Hampton, which contains Wainscott. They're paying the town $29 million to put up with an invisible cable, but a cluster of the richest residents is blocking it anyway.
7. The rich people of Wainscott are at pains to emphasize (stop me if this sounds familiar) that they don't oppose offshore wind, or even this particular project. Heavens no! They just oppose any inconvenience to themselves, however mild or temporary.
8. Michael McKeon, a spokesperson for the wealthy NIMBYs, says, "We're going to continue to oppose the cable at every turn." Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of dollars of public benefit go unrealized.
9. In conclusion, fuck this nonsense. Eat the rich & bulldoze the NIMBYs. eenews.net/energywire/202…
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