Oil and the waters

Philippe Cousteau, Bill Koch and Delahunt's daughter

Providence Journal on Monday, October 17, 2005

There are many good sites for wind farms. Fortunately, the convincing logic of using wind power to generate electricity is bringing wind-farm proposals forward faster and faster as oil and gas prices soar.

Philippe Cousteau, president of EarthEcho International, a Washington, D.C.-based marine-science and environmental-preservation group, and grandson of Jacques Cousteau, the famed oceanographer, backs a proposal for a 40-wind-turbine electricity-generating facility four miles south of the western tip of Fire Island, off Long Island. The proposal, unlike the huge 130-turbine Cape Wind project sought for Nantucket Sound, is also backed by many of its region's major politicians.

The Long Island project would be a couple of miles closer to shore than the Cape Wind project would be to Osterville, Mass., where members of the exclusive and campaign-contributor-rife Wianno and Oyster Harbors clubs have been the major foes of the project. Such hyper-rich Osterville socialites as Rachel "Bunny" Mellon see the project as a presumptuous invasion of their summertime sound, and their money makes them used to getting their way!

But, "As we move into the 21st Century, our continued dependence on carbon-based energy is totally unacceptable," Mr. Cousteau said. "We owe it to ourselves and especially our childen to vigorously develop renewable energy sources such as offshore wind in the interest of national security, continued economic viability, public health and the environment."

Those are all solid reasons for the Long Island wind farm, which would produce some 140 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power 44,000 homes. FPL Energy, which would build the facility, would sell the power to the Long Island Power Authority. Over a 20-year period, the wind farm could offset the burning of 13.5 million barrels of fuel oil.

In other energy news, U.S. Rep. William Delahunt's daughter Kara, a young lobbyist for the D.C.-based firm of Powell Tate, registered July 16 to handle the account of the Saudi Economic and Development Co.

This has raised some eyebrows. Saudi money comes, of course, from oil. Mr. Delahunt's opposition to the Nantucket Sound wind farm is ferocious. His congressional district encompasses the Cape and Islands.

Then there are leading wind-farm foes William Koch and Doug Yearley, two moguls who summer in Osterville. The flamboyant Mr. Koch controls an energy company heavy into fossil fuels; the low-key Mr. Yearley used to run Phelps Dodge, the mining company, and is a director of Marathon Oil.

Anyway, Ms. Delahunt's role "raises the possible appearance of a conflict of interest," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. "The question that people always ask is -- is his opposition principled or is it practical."

"Did the daughter get the client in part based on who her father was? Was that part of the sealing of the service?" he asked. "That's been known to happen."

What exactly is the Saudi Economic and Development Co.? Its Web site says it helps Saudis invest in socially responsible ways, meaning, at least sometimes, that it helps investors comply with Shari'a law.

"It's certainly interesting that again his daughter's working for ultimately oil interests. That's where all the money in Saudi Arabia comes from, after all," says Bill Allison, spokesman for the Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan government-ethics watchdog organization. A May 2003 Boston Globe story pointed out that Kara Delahunt had lobbied for the government of Colombia while her father was aggressively supporting passage of Plan Colombia, a $1.3 billion U.S. aid package for that nation passed in July 2000.

In 2001, the Colombian president traveled to Washington and met with Congressman Delahunt, among other Washington officials. The Globe reported that Kara Delahunt said she had helped plan the visit, but had had nothing to do with arranging the meeting between the Colombian president and her father. Colombia has a lot of oil.

Oh well. Making money off family and political connections is more and more common in Washington, especially with congressional districts sogerrymandered to give members of Congress virtual lifetime tenure.

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