Can we dispense with the name-calling and silliness, for a minute? Yes, there is almost certainly a fair portion of NIMBY at work, here. But, there are some genuinely valid concerns and arguments against locating the wind farm there, as well.
For one thing, while the Cape certainly is NOT pristine, the waters off the Cape are in pretty good shape, and it would be nice to keep them that way. Not that I think oil leaks are a major concern, but because the Cape’s inherent worth is in it’s visual beauty. No offence to anyone in Kansas, or wherever, but, if people aren’t flocking to your area for their vacations, then, yes, that would be a better place to put the windmills. The Cape’s entire economy depends on that tourist income. If they start ruining the ocean views, people will stop coming, and the Cape will suffer greatly.
Five miles is not much distance, when you’re looking across water. They would be easily visible from shore. Even the Cape Wind folks who want to build the wind farm admit that. Here’s a link to their artist’s rendition of what it would look like. The windmills are quite visible in some of the shots. (And, might be in all of them, if I had a better monitor.)
And, let’s not forget, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are islands. Very few people fly there. The proposed site is such that it would be an eyesore to people taking the ferries to and from the islands, as well. It’s smack in the middle of the two ferry routes that run out of Hyannis.
I’m very much a proponent of environmentally sound, renewable energy sources. And, I don’t live on the Cape, or even visit it, very often. But, I don’t think this is such a great idea, either. I don’t see why they can’t put them someplace that won’t suffer economically from it. Sounds like Toronto has the right idea; put them in urban areas, where there is no natural beauty left to destroy. Or, here in Boston, there are a bunch of islands in the harbor aren’t really used for anything. Why not put them there? Hell, why not build a line of them on the median strips of every divided highway in the metro-Boston area?