Cape Wind | Testimony on MMS DEIS West Yarmouth
Testimony before the U.S. Minerals Management Service, March 10, 2008
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Cape Wind Project. My name is Kristen Graf, and I am an Energy Researcher in the Clean Energy program of the Union of Concerned Scientists, the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world.
UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
Cape Wind must be viewed within the context of our growing and solid understanding of the significant challenge that global warming poses to this region and our nation. Last July, UCS, in collaboration with over 50 scientists and economists, released a report entitled Confronting Climate Change in the US Northeast. This report synthesized the most current research on the science of climate change and the impacts to the Northeast under higher and lower emissions scenarios for heat-trapping gases.
Findings of particular concern for the Cape Cod region under a higher emissions scenario include
- Increased frequency and severity of storm surges and coastal flooding – we are already seeing property insurers backing out of the region
- Warmer winters that do not provide the minimum chilling requirements for important fruit and berry crops including cranberries
- Cod and lobster populations in significant decline due to warming waters - with cod disappearing completely from the waters south of Cape Cod during this century
The report also shows that the majority of the consequences are avoidable; we have a choice in the emissions path we take, and in the extent and effect of climate change. "Taken together, the Northeast's nine states (from Pennsylvania to Maine) ranked as the world's seventh highest emitter of carbon dioxide compared with entire nations in 2001, just behind India and Germany and ahead of Canada." As a region, we are a significant piece of the climate challenge but also potentially a significant player in addressing it.
The proper and timely implementation of projects like Cape Wind is an important piece of the path to a more stable climate, part of a broad array of solutions from many sectors, including energy efficiency. No single solution alone will get us there, but each piece will get us closer.
As part of a broader cap and trade scheme where a cap on carbon dioxide emissions is set and then decreased over time and emissions reductions can be traded, Cape Wind can play an important role in getting us to those reduction targets. It is significant that this one project alone would reduce New England carbon-dioxide emissions from the electricity sector by 880,000 tons, or 1% overall. This is roughly equivalent to taking 130,000 cars off the road. This represents some of the greatest supply-side emissions reductions yet proposed from a single project.
Projects like Cape Wind also offer significant potential financial benefits to our region. Like other renewable energy projects with no fuel costs, Cape Wind will be accepted first to cover hourly electricity demand. In supplying approximately 1600 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year into New England's electricity spot market, Cape Wind will push more expensive sources out of the picture, directly reducing emissions from those other sources while at the same time reducing our energy bills and providing a hedge against rising natural gas prices.
UCS maintains that wind projects, including offshore projects like Cape Wind, should be built if rigorous review and study shows that there will be no significant environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated and that outweigh project benefits. With proper siting, careful design, comprehensive study, monitoring, and mitigation, wind power can and must play a significant role in meeting New England's electricity needs.
We are extremely encouraged that the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) shows, as have the long string of reviews that have preceded it, that the vast majority of effects from Cape Wind will be minor, negligible, or even positive, and finds no significant lasting negative impact.
We urge the Minerals Management Service (MMS) to continue toward the final review without any further delays and to take into consideration the conclusion of the Northeast Climate Impact Assessment, which says:
"Global warming represents an enormous challenge, but we can meet this challenge if we act swiftly. The emissions choices we make today in Massachusetts, the Northeast, and globally will shape the climate our children and grandchildren inherit. The time to act is now."
Thank you to MMS for your hard work on the DEIS and congratulations on its completion. And thank you again for this opportunity to appear before you tonight.
