Turbine Plan Near Kennedy Home Puts Obama in a Bind

Cape Wind has minimal environmental impact, but is opposed by Mass. Sen.

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 26, 2009 7:38 PM CST

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Turbine Plan Near Kennedy Home Puts Obama in a Bind — Wind turbines from the Maple Ridge Wind Farm tower over a farm in Lowville, N.Y., Monday, Aug. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Ted Kennedy's desire for a sweet Cape Cod view will test Obama’s commitment to green energy, Jim Geraghty writes for the National Review. Kennedy has been trying to stop Cape Wind, a plan to install turbines near the Kennedy compound. An Interior Department review approved the project, but admitted that it will "have an adverse visual impact on 28 historic properties including the Kennedy compound."

Kennedy has already criticized the Interior report and promised “years of contentious litigation," despite Cape Wind support from Greenpeace and other environmental groups. If Obama backs Kennedy, Geraghty writes, the president will have to explain why his lofty inauguration pledge to “harness the sun and the winds fuel our cars and run our factories” doesn’t apply in Cape Cod.
(More President Obama stories.)

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