December 7, 2005

Dear Fellow Boaters and Friends,

Sometimes in this youth-centered society we forget that old can be good.

This place  you and I love---Nantucket Sound---is old.

Its seafaring community is older than our nation.  Its unique biology is older than humanity itself.

Nantucket Sound is a national treasure.  And it's an endangered one.

As fellow boaters, we are writing today to ask your help and support to make sure our children and grandchildren enjoy the beauty and bounty of this place we love.

We urge you to become a member of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound by making a generous year-end donation today.  And, between now and December 31st, an anonymous donor will match your gift dollar-for-dollar, so your gift will go twice as far.

Here's what we plan to do with your help:

Priority Number One:  Stop once and for all the huge and risky Cape Wind industrial development in the middle of Nantucket Sound

We understand the importance of alternative energy; but this project is nothing more than an ecological wolf in sheep's clothing.  That's why opposition to the project has united business interests, environmentalists, hard-working fishermen, Republicans and Democrats.

What this committed, sensible and diverse alliance shares is a belief in balance between progress and preservation.  Today, Nantucket Sound drives our economy and nurtures our souls.  Sadly, this project threatens both our livelihoods and our landscape.

• The ecological benefits of the Cape Wind project are only modest.  It does not significantly aid efforts for oil independence or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.  You and I might save at best a dime a month on our electricity bills if the project is built.
  
  
• Its risks and dangers are all too real.  No one has built a facility like this ever before in U.S. waters.  Cape Wind has never built a wind power facility anywhere.
  
  
• The dredging and blasting of construction and ongoing operations of a facility this vast could take an enormous ecological toll on the birds, sea turtles, finfish, shellfish and the many other species which spawn and live in the shallow waters of the Shoal.  And near the proposed industrial zone, the critically endangered Northern Right Whale feeds with other whale and dolphin species---many of whom venture into the Sound.  Also nearby, active rookeries of grey seals could also be traumatized and in harm's way.
  
  
• The Massachusetts Fishermen's Partnership says Cape Wind would severely disrupt the commercial fishery at Horseshoe Shoal, where local fishermen find as much as 60% of their current catch.  No wonder that it is so strongly opposed by commercial fishing interests in the region.
  
  
• Cape Wind would literally fill the horizon.  An industrial zone the size of Manhattan will be built, supporting 130 towers each taller than the Bourne and Sagamore bridges at their rotating blade height; turning blades would have a diameter wider than a football field is long.  This vast forest of 400-foot towers would destroy the historic seascape and the very character of Cape Cod and the Islands.

Perhaps most importantly it is simply not the case that Cape Wind is critical to drive progress toward alternative energy in the region.  There are many projects in the works that will conserve more energy than Cape Wind can generate.  And, the wind energy industry is talking about deep water projects within five years---these will be much farther offshore and will not threaten cherished places like Nantucket Sound.

With such tenuous benefits and significant risks, Cape Wind simply makes no sense.

The Alliance has enjoyed notable successes in its four-year campaign to stop this project.

This past year, we successfully advocated for a "change of venue" for federal consideration of the project, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Minerals Management Services (MMS) within the Department of Interior.  While this seems like bureaucratic gamesmanship, it's actually a critical step---Interior has both the experience and expertise to fully evaluate Cape Wind, and to make sensible decisions while weighing all of the potential risks and benefits of near-shore wind power schemes like Cape Wind.

And, as we have since our founding, we have served as the nucleus for public education and mobilization to stop this wrong-headed and dangerous oceanic "land grab."

But the threat is far from over.  Frankly, there's too much money at stake for Cape Wind to go without a fight.

That's why we need every dollar we can raise -- to keep leading the opposition from the courtroom, to the statehouse to Capitol Hill.

And remember, thanks to an anonymous donor, your tax-deductible year-end gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar between now and December 31st!

Priority Two:  Gain Permanent Protected Status for Nantucket Sound

With your help, we'll stop Cape Wind, but what about the next scheme to industrialize the Sound, and the one after that?

The Alliance urgently supports and will lead the fight for permanent protected status for the unique and productive waters of the Sound.  Our vision is for Nantucket Sound to be held as a public trust -- both to protect fragile offshore habitats and to ensure continued sustainable use of the Sound's rich resources, including commercial fishing and recreation.

Nantucket Sound has been designated as a state marine reserve since the seventies and proposed as a National Marine Sanctuary on two different occasions in the past 20 years.  That designation will represent an important cornerstone in creating a permanent conservation framework, and we'll be pursuing this diligently in the months and years ahead.

To help achieve our long-term vision, we've been designated as the official "Nantucket Soundkeeper" by the global Waterkeeper Alliance.  Founded by Robert Kennedy, Jr., Waterkeepers is a network of local and regional grassroots organizations pledged to conserve many of the world's spectacular and vulnerable, water bodies.  Through this designation, Nantucket Sound joins Cape Hatteras, the Central Coast of California, the Hudson River, and San Francisco Bay as one of nearly "150 keepers."

As life-long mariners, we have had the privilege of sailing and fishing some of the country's most extraordinary coastal and marine destinations.  We can tell you from firsthand experience that Nantucket Sound justly deserves to be protected as one of the earth's coastal crown jewels.

With your help, we can spend more time enjoying this old place we love, rather than fighting to protect it.

Working together, we can bring about a balanced and sustainable future for Nantucket Sound---one that is as diverse, as bounteous, and as splendid as its past.  Together we can work toward a region that conserves energy, develops smart energy alternatives and manages land and aquatic resources wisely for future generations.  With your help, we will continue to sustain the harmony shared in Nantucket Sound for centuries between man and nature.

Please help today.

Wishing you a prosperous and joyous New Year.

Sincerely,

George Basset                        Gregory Egan                      Wayne Kurker
Nantucket Boat Basin           Crosby Yacht Yard             Hyannis Marina

November 15, 2004

To All Interested Boaters:

The battle continues with all efforts to prevent the industrial wind plant from being built in Nantucket Sound.

I have written to you several times over the past 3 years with updates on the wind farm. The current issue before us is the Army Corps of Engineers recent release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. This document represents the official position of the Army Corps and is the basis for which public comment will be received.

This document which is over 4,000 pages and weighs 20 pounds was paid for by a consultant hired by project proponent Cape Wind of Boston. We find the standard 60 day comment period to be far too brief for a document this size and for a project of this scope and nature. Accordingly, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound is coordinating a grass roots effort to request that the Army Corps extend this review period to 180 days.  In that light, I enclose the accompanying post card in the hope that you will fill it out and mail it at your earliest convenience.

The staying power of this proposed project amazes all of us involved in the effort to preserve Nantucket Sound.  There is a broad range of cooperation amongst political, business, civic and environmental groups to defeat this wind factory.  Even with the support of all the towns on Cape Cod, our U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor Romney and Massachusetts Attorney General the developer still has momentum.  We will prevail, but only with your help.

Please call if you have any questions and also check out www.saveoursound.org for a complete list of alliances and efforts to date to protect Nantucket Sound for the long term.

Should you be interested in making a donation to the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound please go online or call development director Pam Danforth at 508-775-9767.

All the best.

Gregory R. Egan
Vice President

PS. Please mark these Public Hearing dates on your calendar & plan to participate in at least one!

12/6 Martha’s Vineyard High School -- 6PM
12/7 Mattacheese Middle School, West Yarmouth -- 7PM
12/8 Nantucket Community School -- 6PM
12/16 MIT, Cambridge, Building #10 -- 7PM

January 17, 2003

Urgent Message to Boaters,

I imagine that you have heard about the proposed offshore industrial power plant that would occupy 28 square miles of the waters surrounding Horseshoe Shoals. If permitted, this project would have a devastating impact on the world famous cruising and fishing grounds of Nantucket Sound and would create a dangerous series of hazards to navigation. This project is proposed to be built in deep navigable areas, not only on the shallows.  It is interesting to note that less than one square mile of the 28 square mile area is actually very shallow and unnavigable.