I appreciate your concerns and the elucidation of your well thought-out position on this matter. This is a multidimensional issue and you have obviously spent some time thinking about the stickiest parts of this issue.

Let me respond to your points in order:

1. I didn’t grow up on Cape Cod, but I feel like I did. See, my father was born and raised in Harwichport. His father (my Grandpa) was also born and raised in Harwhichport. Before that, my great-grandfather was one of the last sea captains to hold a license allowing him to captain any sea-going vessel. He was also born and raised on Cape Cod. I have very strong ties to the Cape and have lived there myself as recently as 2000. The only reason I am saying this, is that I feel like I can speak with some level authority about these ‘natural resources’ and ‘scenic vistas.’

2. The tourist trade is in no way threatened by the potential of Cape Wind. Just ask residents near the Middlegrunden offshore wind farm in Denmark where the turbines have actually increased tourism and created a cottage industry of their own. Coming from a guy who spent hours upon hours making sandcastles, flying kites, sailing his Sailfish (albeit, poorly), and swimming in the waters of Nantucket Sound, I would love to go back to my favorite beach today and catch a faint glimpse of Cape Wind on the horizon.

The impact on both tourism and fishing has been overblown by the project’s opponents. For now, I will not even go into the environmental impact 200+ years of trawling has had on the marine health of the Sound.

3. Your point that electricity from renewables is 2-3 times more expensive than conventional forms of electricity is a little wide of the mark. Maybe taken as a whole, but if you look at the cost of the energy produced by Cape Wind versus the cost of building any other new source of electricity on the Cape, you will see the difference is not as clear cut. Of course, this is also an apples to oranges comparison. The environmental costs (you might like to call them ‘externalities’) of operating coal-fired, oil-fired, or other fossil-fuel power plants has been thus far overlooked. Factor in an almost certain carbon tax and all of a sudden offshore wind will be a no-brainer.

4. I don’t really understand the line of questioning about what to do when Cape Wind fails like other proposed marine wind farms across the country, so I can’t really respond.

5. As far as No Man’s Land being a better site alternative, I can’t really comment, other than the issue you raised about that particular location costing more.

6. Finally, as a former registered voter in Massachusetts I think Ted Kennedy has been an excellent public servant for the people of Massachusetts, I just wish he would come around and see the issue as the vast majority of his constituents do.

-Tim