We’ve lost the plot, and there is no better day than Earth Day to remind us what really matters among the contentious legal battles around Vineyard Wind. What really matters is how offshore wind can serve us all as a tool for the climate crisis and the imminent energy crisis.
There’s just too much focus, on the part of both offshore wind developers and news organizations, on the numerous courtroom dramas brought on by the federal government, multinational corporations, and contractors on the project. None of us can seem to remember why efforts to put 800-foot turbines in the seabed started in the first place.
Amid all of the billable hours, the unpredictable politics of the Trump administration, the lack of transparency by Vineyard Wind, and the pass-the-buck approach of the GE contractor, we want to make sure we see that offshore wind is all about how renewable energy can help the planet. No matter how one feels about Vineyard Wind, we need to support renewable energy and wean ourselves off the use of fossil fuels. We need to rely rather on power from sources like wind, solar, and hydro, that replenish faster than they are consumed.
In a courtroom in Boston last Thursday, a superior court judge, after arguments between attorneys from Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova, which manufactured and installed the blades on the project and now wants to leave the contract, said, “Let’s not miss the big elephant in the room.”
For the judge, associate justice of the Suffolk County Superior Court Peter B. Krupp, the elephant in the room was how much money Vineyard Wind believes GE Vernova owes it (as much as $850 million) because of a two-year delay caused by the blade failure in 2024.
But that’s not the real elephant in the room. It’s not the millions of dollars that one wealthy company thinks the other owes. The elephant in the room is that every day, temperatures and sea levels rise and weather becomes more extreme, as people pollute the Earth and expend more and more of our finite resources.
Earth Day, which took place on Wednesday, April 22, was established in 1970 to demonstrate support for environmental protection, and we’d like to highlight the efforts of Islanders to make a difference, even a small one, here on the ground.
This past weekend, locals of all ages rolled up their sleeves, donned gloves, and carried trash bags to clean beaches across the Island as part of a coordinated effort by the Vineyard Conservation Society. At Eastville Beach in Vineyard Haven on Saturday, the shore was littered with containers, cigarette butts, wood planks with rusted nails, and bright balloon strings, all of which were picked up by a small army of volunteers.
At the Edgartown School, art teacher Nicole Shank marked Earth Day and helped students make posters depicting different ways they could take care of the Earth. That work now hangs around the school’s hallways.
“We want students to understand the importance and value of taking care of our school, our town, our Island, and the Earth’s environment,” Kate Campbell, principal of the Edgartown School, said.
The Island is known for its fierce spirit of conservation, and these are but a few examples of this tradition. We hope that even amid the polarization of the times we live in and the seemingly endless legal battles surrounding the offshore wind industry, we remember that the Earth belongs to all of us, and we need to take care of it.