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<\/a><\/p>\nAlliance to Protect Nantucket Sound CEO Audra Parker<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In April, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will decide the fate of the most contentious green energy project in the U.S. \u2013 a 420-megawatt offshore wind farm in Massachusetts called Cape Wind<\/a>. It\u2019s Audra Parker\u2019s job to make sure the developers don’t plant 130 turbines five miles out in Nantucket Sound.<\/em><\/p>\n Parker leads\u00a0the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound<\/a>, which brings together homeowners, tourism organizations, local fishermen and native tribes that oppose the project. The groups say Cape Wind is sited beside key shipping and ferry routes, would disrupt wildlife in the area and would hinder tribal rituals that require unobstructed views of the sound. Cape Wind supporters,\u00a0including Greenpeace<\/a>, say the Alliance\u2019s stand is misguided and Business Insider recently called the group \u201cwine-sipping hypocrites<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Critics who say the Alliance is a \u201cNot In My Back Yard\u201d (NIMBY) group, Parker fires back, ignore legitimate concerns. She says the privately-held Cape Wind could win broad support by moving from the Horseshoe Shoal site to one \u00a0further offshore called South of Tuckernuck Island. GER caught up with Parker last week for our Cornerstone Conversations series.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Green Energy Reporter: <\/strong>How did you get involved in the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound?<\/p>\n Audra Parker:<\/strong> I started working at the Alliance in January 2003. I had grown up here in the summertime and I had moved here a couple of years beforehand. I heard about the Cape Wind project and it was really the first time that a [wind] project was being proposed offshore. It seemed that it was public trust land that belonged to everyone and it seemed in a variety of ways an inappropriate location for an industrial scale development.<\/p>\n GER: <\/strong>Who are your major backers?<\/p>\n AP:<\/strong> We\u2019re totally funded by private donations and we probably have 5,000-plus donors. They range from small donors to large donors. Over time, we\u2019ve raised over $20 million. It\u2019s fishermen, it\u2019s tribal members, it\u2019s wealthy people, it\u2019s everyone. Every affected stakeholder that wants to protect the sound knows that this is not the right location.<\/span><\/p>\n GER:<\/strong> How have you been able to marshal all of the various objectors into one cohesive group?<\/p>\n AP:<\/strong> We are an alliance of various stakeholders. The tribes will do their own thing. The fishermen will do their own thing. For the most part, everyone is on the same page but for different reasons. The airports are writing to the Federal Aviation Administration to say this is an aviation safety issue. The ferry lines are talking to the U.S. Coast Guard.<\/p>\n GER:<\/strong> Your Web site says there\u2019s still 45 days to make a difference in this eight-year fight against Cape Wind. Do you think authorities in Washington have already made a decision?<\/p>\n AP:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think there is a\u00a0decision made yet<\/a>. I think Interior Secretary [Ken] Salazar was genuine in saying he has three priorities: first, respect of tribal rights; second, promoting green energy; third, historic preservation.<\/p>\n The Advisory Council on Historic Properties [which will make the recommendation about Cape Wind to the Interior Department in April] is definitely sensitive to tribal issues. I\u2019m hopeful that they will recommend that Cape Wind be relocated or that it is denied and Secretary Salazar will accept their recommendation. Clearly this is a special place. It\u2019s not an issue of being opposed to renewable energy, it\u2019s not an issue of being NIMBY, it\u2019s an issue of being the wrong location for Cape Wind.<\/p>\n