Lt. Governor meets the enemy

MS Healey had to run a gauntlet of local protesters when she arrived at Beach Street in Hyannis today

It's a safe bet that Kerry Healey wishes she stayed in Boston today
Pros outnumbered Antis 5 to 1 at Sea Street Beach in Hyannis today

By Walter Brooks

The Lt. Governor's complete statement is reprinted below

When Republican gubernatorial candidate Kerry Healey arrived twenty minutes late to her scheduled press conference at Sea Street Beach in Hyannis this morning she was greeted by over thirty protesters and seven supporters plus a couple local GOP pols seeking seeking election this November.

The press was largely confused by her appearance since she had long ago echoed the Governor's anti-wind farm position, and local pundits said she had everything to lose and nothing to gain by restating her opposition.

A concerned Kerry Healey stands next to next to Will Crocker with Sam Barber's windmill over her shoulder on the beach below.

She had to run the gauntlet again as she left.

Friendly adversaries Cliff Carroll of WindStop.org and Barbara Hill of Clean Power Now at the Sea St. Beach parking lot.

Did MS Healey pick today's location because it's across Lewis Bay from Christy Mihos' home?

Most assume that Independent candidate for Governor, Christy Mihos, whose year round home on Great Island (see map) overlooks today's scene has already put all those votes in his pocket since he is also the head of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Boston media here en masse

The script which the Alliance apparently handed her to read today was the same one they handed her boss Mitt Romney the last time one of them spoke on a Cape Cod beach.  It was replete with the overused rhetoric of the past several years. 

When MS Healey intoned "Imagine 130 steel towers..." several in the audience yelled out "imagine clean air!" just as they did for her boss. The Lt. Governor used the term "pristine" as number of times, and even had the rostrum surrounded by the Alliance PR displays.

In addition to the protesters from Clean Power Now, the IBEW Local 223 sent 10 electricians to carry signs and the pile drivers and carpenters union was represented by 2 for a total of 32 Cape Wind supporters compared with the 8 from the Alliance who were all carrying Healey-Hillerman signs.

Jon Keller of Channel 4 kept challenging her figures of the cost to taxpayers, and despite repeated questions she was unable to quote any specific data to back up her claim that Cape Wind will cost taxpayers $70 million. (See and hear Keller's report here.)

Amelia Barreda from Channel 5 was as pressing with similar results. Cape Cod Times reporter David Schoetz was equally vigorous in his questions which MS Healey seemed largely unable to answer with specific. (See and hear Barreda's report here.)

This reporter asked the Lt. Governor where she got her figures demonstrating that wind farms hurt tourism when the European wind parks have increased tourism and the huge wind farm in Palm Springs CA is that destination's #2 attraction. Again, she failed to answer.

Mark Rodgers, the Cape Wind spokesman, said the Lt. Governor's specific words and quotes today were evidence of ties to the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. He said, ''It's unfortunate that where they're going for their information is the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and not their own agencies", referring to the state Energy Facilities Siting Board.

Will rely on Coast Guard to halt wind farm

Asked about the special interests groups like the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound working to kill Cape Wind Healey flatly denied any ties to her campaign. She replied, "There are no special interests that have influenced my position."''It's unfortunate that where they're (Healey's staff) going for their information is the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and not their own state agencies."
- Mark Rodgers

This was belied by the presence of the usual Alliance displays and over-sized photos of an imagined view from Craigville Beach and the photo of a huge offshore work platform featured in most Alliance newspaper ads and the Alliance web site.

If elected this November, she pledged to lobby the U.S. Coast Guard commandant, who in June was given the power to veto the project based on navigational risks.

MS Healey's major point seemed to be that the state and America should wait until the technology allowed wind turbines to be built in the deeper waters of the ocean, apparently unaware of how long that might take or at what cost to workers in that far more hostile environment.

One questioner asked her, "Isn't that like asking the Wright Brothers to put off the airplane until they had one which could fly across the Atlantic?"

For the interest of historians and political junkies, below this photo we reprint the entire Healey message as received from her campaign office today.

The scene behind the Lt. Governor today at the Sea Street Beach. That's the Kennedy Compound on the left and Sam Barber's windmill on the right.

(Healey Press Release)
PATRICK AND GABRIELI BLOW IT ON CAPE WIND
Healey says project will hurt small businesses, tourism, and fishing industry
HYANNIS – Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey and running mate Reed Hillman today criticized Democratic gubernatorial candidates Deval Patrick and Chris Gabrieli for supporting Cape Wind. Healey and Hillman oppose Cape Wind on the grounds that it will negatively impact the small businesses and tourism industry that depend on Nantucket Sound for their livelihoods. “Cape Wind is the wrong project in the wrong place, and both Patrick and Gabrieli are putting their short-term political goals ahead of what’s best for the long-term future of Massachusetts,” Healey said. “Their support for this project is as short-sighted as their plans to add billions of dollars in new spending that will no doubt require a tax increase.” 

The project would allow a private developer to install giant wind turbines across 24 square miles of Nantucket Sound. As governor, Healey said she will fight to defeat this attempt to allow a private company to essentially take over Horseshoe Shoals to erect a power plant. Earlier this month, Healey unveiled a comprehensive energy plan for Massachusetts that focused on energy efficiency, increased regional supplies and embraced new technologies – including hydropower and deep water wind turbines – to deliver additional energy without damaging the Commonwealth’s coastlines. “I don’t know how Deval Patrick and Chris Gabrieli can justify handing over a public resource like Horseshow (sic) Shoals to a private developer,” Hillman said. “They are ignoring the local families and businesses that have raised serious concerns about Cape Wind and the negative impact the project will have on their jobs and local economy.”

Among the groups facing the greatest threat is the Massachusetts fishing industry. Nantucket Sound has been used by generations of fishing families, and the installation of 130 wind turbines will impair the fleet’s ability to operate in an area that is proven to have consistent, sustainable fish stocks for both commercial and recreational fishermen. “I applaud Kerry Healey’s opposition to Cape Wind. She’s worked closely with the Massachusetts fishing industry and knows the challenges we face and the burdensome regulations we already endure,” said Ed Barrett, President of the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership. “Constructing Cape Wind and adding the navigation and access restrictions that are certain to follow will be the final nail in the coffin for a lot of fishing families who have been working on Nantucket Sound for generations.”