Finally, the national news reports on Rhode Island without the obligatory handcuffed politician getting frogmarched into the courthouse. The CBS Evening News recently covered the new wind farm off the coast of Block Island — “Rhode Island offshore wind farm, first in the U.S., to power thousands of homes.”
Legal battles over environmental issues (with a little help from the fossil fuel interests) have delayed wind projects in the U.S. for years. Ocean abutters have also expressed concerns that turbines would ruin their view. (Compare and contrast: The joys of living near a fracking field.) Said one island resident,
Other projects are in the works, potentially bringing 200 more wind turbines to the area within the next 10 years. [Block Island business owner Steve] Draper expects people will get used to the new scenery.
“We all got used to telephone poles and telephone wires in our views and they’re not beautiful,” he said.