Maureen,
Your trip so far sounds great. Until recently I have always been a supporter of Greenpeace. Unfortunately, Greenpeace has recently chosen to join forces with the Industrial Wind Plant know as Cape Wind. Good Idea - Wrong Place. Because of that and the following reasons which you may not beaware of, I can no longer support your orginization. Cape Wind is proposed in an ecosystem which has twice been nominated as a National Marine Sanctuary. Nantucket Sound is where the cool North Atlantic currents meet the warm Gulf currents creating a habitat like no other in the world. As part of this private industrial plant which will be 43 stories tall and the size of the island of Manhattan New York, the private developer will be putting a never talked about 100 foot tall, 200 foot wide, 43,000 gallon oil filled transformer station just off our beaches in the middle of our rich fishing grounds. See pictures at www.windstop.org. Because of the layout of the turbines, these fishing grounds will be closed to our fisherman whose families total over 450 people. The local fishing industry recently had a financial disaster when the red tide closed down fishing for three weeks. An oil spill from this offshore transformer will shut down our fishing and tourism industry for years. Surely Greenpeace should be on our side on this one. In addition to that, they are proposing over 580 lights which will make our famous views look like Laguardia airport. There is very strong evidence from Britain showing massive radar interference to planes and shipping. These are only some of the reasons that this project is opposed by our Gov, Senator, Congressmen, State Reps and Attorney General. Please have your supiriors at Greenpeace look into the effects that a 43,000 gallon spill of NYNAS X10 transformer oil would have on our fragile ecosystem. When you sail into Hyannisport you will see that Nantucket Sound is essentially a bowl. You will also see why it is considered a National Treasure worth protecting. The developer has refused to provide the data safety sheets on the transformer oil. I am sure that this transformer oil has never been mentioned to Greenpeace. The people and towns of the Cape and Islands are fully aware of the oil threat. Every coastal town on Nantucket Sound demanded an oil spill fatality chart be done a year ago, the developer has still not stepped up with it. Perhaps Greenpeace should take a better look at the eco disaster that this project presents before getting further involved with a private developer that is about to destroy some of the most pristine ecosystems in the world. After all, what is so clean about 43,000 gallons of oil parked in the middle of our fishing grounds just off our virgin beaches? I believe Greenpeace will soon lose many financial backers from the Cape and Islands if they continue to ignore the real facts about the destructive aspects of this so called clean project.

Respectfully,

Cliff

Hello!!!

Glad to see the ship back in the US, and glad the good work continues!

Special hellos to Gionni and Erkut, who may remember me from Louisiana.

My heart is breaking over what happened there during and after Katrina. Not enough vocabulary to express what I feel about it.

I hope to see y'all in NY. I'll bring papers and mags.

xoxoxo,
Amy

Cliff:

The offshore wind project, located in Nantucket Sound, will provide 75 percent of Cape Cod’s energy needs with clean and safe wind power. Imagine clean power reducing the need for the Cape’s current oil and gas burning power plant, which caused a major oil spill in Buzzard’s Bay in 2003, dumping 100,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil into the bay.

The wind farms will use a small amount of basically mineral oil in the project’s transformer. This is more like the oil you use around your house than the oil that was spilled in Buzzard’s Bay. In the example of the Cape Cod project, the oil will be stationary, there won’t be ships coming and going to replace it and it will be triple protected against spill.

The wind farm will not be off limits to fishing and given the relatively small area of sea-bed that is required there is no evidence to suggest that total fish catch will decline; if anything the opposite is more likely to be the case.

For further information see
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/copy-of-wind-power

Dear Greenpeace,
First of all, I am not against wind power. Second of all the Long Island Power Wind Farm will be the first American offshore wind farm. They will not generate 75% of the Capes electricity. And the back up power which has to stay on line will INCREASE the amount of pollution from the Cape Cod Canal power plant. Even the EPA does not buy the stats created by Cape Wind.
Obviuosly you have been misinformed by Cape Winds.
The EPA considers any kind of oil in the ocean a hazardous material. 43,000 gallons is not a small amount. There is one mineral filled transformer fire a day in the US.
Obviously you are playing the same game as Cape Wind.
DO NOT TRY TO DOWN PLAY WHAT TYPE OF OIL IS IN THE TRANSFORMER.
THE DEVELOPER HAS REFUSED TO DISCLOSE THE TYPE AND MANUFACTURER. THE OLD GREENPEACE WOULD HAVE FORCED THE ISSUE.
Get the real facts before you come to Cape Cod and promote something that Greenpeace knows nothing about.
FISHING- The Mass Fishermans Partnership has told Jim Gordan to his face that they will not be able to continue the type of fishing that now takes place in Nantucket Sound. Has Greenpeace checked with them?
It sounds to me like Greenpeace has been bought and can no longer be trusted to protect our ocean sanctuary.
It is a very sad day for Greenpeace in an otherwise proud history.

Radar, navigation, closing fishing grounds, light and sound pollution, oil pollution.

It is Greenpeace that is now on the wrong boat!

Cliff

Hi, I am somehow part of greenpeace being an activist for quite a while and I am very interested in discussions like the one Cliff started. Is there a chance to continue the constructive argument in public so that we all can follow it? That would be great cause greenpeace never claimed to be without mistakes, but also is known (from my part) as being very carefull with decisions about what or who to support.
It is a chance to show the world that we play an open game. Something, certain people say we do not.
I say hello to those on board that I know, take good care and keep on changing the world :-) nena

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