Greenpeace Video and Others Slam RFK Jr.'s Uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, over Cape Wind Hypocrisy
This advertisement exposes the gross hypocrisy of Senator Ted Kennedy, uncle of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in regards to the senator’s opposition to Cape Wind. On account of his stance, Senator Kennedy has been protested by environmentalists. Recently Senator Kennedy generated a furor of criticism when he contrived with anti-environmental Alaskan senators to arrange for a secret amendment to a Coast Guard budget bill. This amendment would have given the governor of Massachusetts the power to veto the Cape Wind project, thereby essentially killing the project as Governor Mitt Romney opposes Cape Wind. Originally Senator Kennedy claimed that he had been informed of the amendment, as if he had not worked closely with the Alaskan senators to bring it about. Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby’s slammed Kennedy for this maneuver, writing that,
Kennedy’s antipathy to furtive rules changes and backroom power plays stops at the water’s edge—specifically, the waters of Nantucket Sound, which separates Cape Cod (where the Kennedy family has an oceanfront compound in Hyannis Port) from the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard . . . if Kennedy gets his way, all of Cape Wind’s time, money, and effort will have been for naught—crushed in a naked abuse of political power. And it isn’t only a Nantucket wind farm that will be dead, but a little more of the public’s faith that the men and women it elects to office can be trusted to do the right thing.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) Betrays Effort Against Global Warming: Please call RFK Jr. and tell him to stop opposing wind mills
New York environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is unfortunately undermining the cause of developing renewable energy and addressing global warming by his prominent opposition to the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts. Recently Kennedy’s uncle Senator Ted Kennedy secretly contrived with anti-environmental Alaskan senators to facilitate the project’s demise. This wind turbine development is supported by Greenpeace and many leading environmentalists, including acclaimed environmental writer Bill McKibben, author of the End of Nature, who has written that Kennedy “hadn’t quite understood just how critical the need to get the U.S. off fossil fuels really is.” Eminent global warming writer Ross Gelbspan, author of the books Boiling Point and The Heat is On, has argued that “this landmark project would offset approximately 880,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, the equivalent of keeping over 150,000 vehicles off the road. What’s more, it would create between 600 and 1,000 new jobs, and be a crucial springboard for fast-tracking renewable-energy development in America.” A letter signed by 150 environmentalists stated that, “We are, simply put, in a state of ecological emergency . . . Constructing windmills six miles from Cape Cod, where they will be visible as half-inch dots on the horizon, is the least that we can do,” and asked Kennedy to halt his opposition. According to the Climate Crisis Coalition, over 2000 climate activists have signed onto the letter. Enviro advocates Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus have called for Kennedy to resign from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The Sierra Club and Massachusetts Audubon Society have given the project conditional support; Sierra Club’s leader Carl Pope called the Kennedy family’s opposition “hypocritical” and noted that “the big bucks behind the opposition [to Cape Wind] come from some of the most anti-environmental forces in the oil industry.” Kennedy has joined with oil and coal billionaire William Koch who has given over $500,000 to defeat Cape Wind; according to Sourcewatch, Koch’s family oil money have been major underwriters of the Competitive Enterprise Institute which is running advertisements against Inconvenient Truth.
Please call the below numbers and register your concerns with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Call RFK Jr. at his offices at Pace Law School – (914) 422-4343 – and Riverkeeper that he heads – 1-800-21-RIVER (1-800-217-4837); express your concern about his opposition to Cape Wind. Also call NRDC – (212) 727-2700; complement NRDC for its support of Cape Wind but express your concern that their high profile senior attorney RFK Jr. opposes Cape Wind.