Walter Cronkite and the Wind Farm

July 18, 2009

Walter Cronkite, the great journalist who passed away on Friday at 92, had actually been involved in some environmental controversy on Martha's Vineyard.

Curious as to where the legendary news anchor stood on the environment, I did some research and learned that after his retirement to the Vineyard, he sided with vocal opponents to a proposed offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound. "It sounded like such a ghastly invasion," Cronkite told the Boston Globe in 2003. But when he began to learn more about the proposal to put 130 turbines in a shallow 24-square-mile section of the sound, he started to change his mind. "I did not do my own homework as I should have before making the statements," he confessed to the Globe.

The contentious Cape Wind Associates project, which is vying with several other proposals to become America's first offshore wind farm, would produce three quarters of the power needed for the Cape and the islands. In May the state gave it a regulatory green light but the project still needs federal approval and it faces significant legal and financial challenges. Back on land, a recent U.S. government report says that the country is a global leader in wind power investment for the fourth year in a row.

And that's the way the wind is blowing.

Photo: Walter Cronkite on Martha's Vineyard with Barbara Walters a few years after his retirement. Credit: Ronni Bennett.

Comments

[global warming trivia]

Nice post about Ol' Cronkite