USA: Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound Reports Strong Fundraising

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound (APNS) has reported continued strong fundraising for this past year. According to APNS in 2012 a revenue of nearly $2.1 million was reported. Read the APNS results below:

Revenue of nearly $2.1 million was reported in 2012, stable with 2011 levels and up 17 percent since 2010. Of the vast majority of the Alliance’s donations – 82% came from small donors in amounts less than $500.

“The strong support we continue to receive illustrates the major concerns residents and business leaders throughout the Commonwealth have about Cape Wind’s exorbitant financial and environmental costs,” said Audra Parker, president and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. “Residents and ratepayers simply do not want to bear the enormous financial burden for this outdated and overpriced project.”

NStar and National Grid’s contracts with Cape Wind call for a minimum starting price of 19 cents per kilowatt hour and climb an additional 3.5 percent every year to reach over 35 cents per kilowatt hour – costs passed onto the consumer.  At an average cost of 25 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh), Cape Wind is three times more than the price Massachusetts utilities recently agreed to pay in contracts with land based wind projects in Maine and New Hampshire.

Cape Wind faces a number of critical end-of-year deadlines to begin construction. The massive wind turbine project is in danger of losing hundreds of millions in federal subsidies and a $200 million conditional commitment from a Danish pension fund.

Robert Rio, the Senior Vice President of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, recently estimated that the average price of Cape Wind will increase even further.  Without the soon-to-expire federal tax credit, the average 25 cents per kwh cost will rise to over 28 cents. Additionally, if the project is scaled back because of continued failure to sell 100% of its power, the cost will continue to climb to over 29 cents kwh.

“Since 2005, Cape Wind has stated that construction will begin ‘next year,” added Parker. “Nearly a decade later, developers are still making the same dubious claim. The market has passed Cape Wind by and the project makes no sense to build.”

Cape Wind currently faces five federal lawsuits, has yet to meet numerous preconstruction requirements and faces strong opposition by some of Massachusetts’ most influential business leaders.

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Press release, November 22, 2013; Image: APNS