New England Neighbors Shoot (For) the Breeze

It's reassuring to see that some of President Obama's green energy policies are making some headway, and a small source of pride to see two New England states leading the charge.

According to the New York Times, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are neck and neck in the battle to become the first state to host an offshore wind farm to generate electricity.  The rivalry of the two neighbors has meant progress has been reasonably swift for both states.

But I hope Rhode Island's approach to establishing the wind farm is the one that prevails in the long run.

Massachusetts has put site surveying and development plans all in the hands of a private developer, Cape Wind, while R.I. has taken a more scientific approach, commissioning a three-year study of all of the waters 30 miles off the coast.

By studying the potential impacts to bird migrations, marine mammal environments, fisheries, and Native American heritage sites, R.I. is avoiding all of the bickering that's been going on to the north.  The Massachusetts plans have been under fire from residents, environmental groups, the developer, and business interests, and may ultimately be rejected by interior secretary Ken Salazar.

I hope this race proves once and for all that taking a methodical, scientific approach to a massive engineering project like a wind farm is the one that provides the smartest, most robust solution at the lowest long term cost (both monetary and planetary).  Engineering should be left to engineers, not businessmen and politicians.

Go Rhode Island!