Wind farms vs. neighbors - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 25

be the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States, supplying
about 75 percent of the power needs in and around Nantucket, Martha's
Vineyard, and Cape Cod. 29
The only major downside of the Cape Wind project is its proximity to
several affluent residential areas. Anticipating aesthetic objections to the
project from the residents of these communities, Cape Wind's developer
proposed to paint the project's turbine towers to blend in with the
surroundings and to install its turbines at least five miles away from shore
so that they would appear no taller than a half inch from the shoreline. 30
Unfortunately, the developer's proposed visual mitigation measures
were not nearly enough to appease the majority of residents of this region,
which has been described as the home to “some of the wealthiest and most
powerful families in the United States.” 31 Concerned primarily about Cape
Wind's potential impacts on their beachfront views and on the value of
their homes, opponents of the project employed a wide variety of strategies
for more than a decade to slow its progress. Opponents challenged the
jurisdiction of agencies that purportedly approved certain aspects of the
project. 32 They disputed the FAA's determination that the project would
not create hazards for aviation. 33 They even asserted that the project lacked
a necessary state fishing permit . 34 Although construction on Cape Wind
is scheduled to finally begin in 2014, 35 the developer has lost millions of
dollars because of challenges that seem ultimately rooted in concerns about
the project's perceived impacts on ocean views and local property values.
For obvious reasons, offshore wind energy projects are particularly
vulnerable to aesthetics-based opposition. People throughout the world
have long prized the uniquely untouched, calm nature of high-quality beach-
front views. Many home buyers are willing to pay extra for homes that have
views, too—nearly 60 percent more than for homes without ocean views,
according to one popular study. 36 It is thus hardly surprising that owners of
beachfront homes are less than enthusiastic when a new offshore wind farm
threatens to degrade these views, even if the degradation is slight.
In an attempt to address conflicts over the aesthetic impacts of offshore
wind energy, the governments of Germany and The Netherlands have
enacted laws prohibiting the siting of offshore wind farms within 12 miles
of the shore. 37 Even on the clearest days, turbines sited that far out at sea
are likely to be undetectable with human eyes from the beach. The laws of
these countries avoid conflicts between offshore wind energy and views, but
they do so at a hefty price, effectively preventing the development of vast
amounts of valuable wind resources.
There is reason to believe that there are better ways of dealing with these
conflicts than to simply prohibit any offshore wind development across
huge stretches of coastal waters. More efficient policies in this context seek
to balance the competing interests of beach view protection and offshore
wind development through marine spatial planning and related programs.
These programs, which are comparable to zoning laws for land, use maps