2nd Franklin District candidate Genevieve Fraser Testifies before Department of Public Utilities in Defense of Cape Wind

Fraser Testifies before Department of Public Utilities in Defense of Cape Wind

Genevieve Fraser, a Democratic candidate for state representative for the 2^nd Franklin District, recently testified before the Department of Public Utilities in Boston regarding the Cape Wind project.  Fraser, along with environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Environmental League of Massachusetts, focused on the benefits of Cape Wind versus the true cost of fossil fuels to the environment and public health,

Cape Wind is a 130 wind turbine electrical generation project proposed for Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, miles from the nearest shore.  It is projected to produce up to 420 megawatts of clean, renewable energy which will provide three quarters of the Cape and Islands electricity needs.

Though off-shore wind turbines are common in parts of Europe, if built, Cape Wind will be America’s first offshore wind farm. 

“Though some regard natural gas with its reduced CO2 content as the gold standard of fuels, they fail to measure its true cost – the environmental catastrophe to aquifers caused by fracking which can be likened to blowing up mountain tops to extract coal, or putting our oceans’ flora and fauna at risk through deep water drilling,” Fraser commented.  “Gas, coal, oil are all fossil fuels that generate global warming and climate change.  Their toxins are dead matter, EXCESS carbon exhumed from biomass created eons ago.  These toxins overload the atmosphere and cannot be successfully recaptured – though we are stressing our forests to the max attempting to do so.”

“Cape Wind, however, offers hope of a cleaner, healthier world.   The ocean’s wind currents, close to a land base, can harness energy that can be captured without destroying forests and farmlands so vitally needed for food and shelter and fiber-based products,” Fraser continued.  “Offshore wind farms harness more frequent and powerful winds than are available to land-based installations and have less visual impact.  By utilizing ocean borne wind energy - working in tandem with solar, geothermal, hydro and sustainably harvested biomass that recaptures its own gasses as it re-grows and regenerates itself as part of the natural cycle of life – we are using natural resources native to the atmosphere to help power our collective global civilizations.” 

“The crisp, pollution-free, off-shore Cape Wind, in conjunction with other renewables, can be harnessed to create bio-based fuels for transport and bio-based non-toxic products and chemicals that will produce jobs within the manufacturing, farming and forestry industry.  This, in turn, will help foster clean air, clean water and soil, as well as flourishing biodiversity amid flora and fauna as an overly mature forest is sustainably harvested and put less at risk for disease and fire,”

Genevieve Fraser is a former aide to retired state Senator Robert D. Wetmore and a recipient of a Massachusetts Environmental Commendation for her work on an Acid Rain awareness campaign.