Swimmer
05-15-2006, 10:34 AM
by Jay Fitzgerald....Boston Herald
TAXPAYER TO FUND WINDFALL...............
The controversial cape wind project on Nantucket Shoals would net developers $139 million in profitsdue largely to huge taxpayer supported subsidies, according to a new study that came under immediate criticism for apparent contradictions and the authors past financial support from anti-wind farm forces.
Suffolk University's Beacon Hill Institute, which released a study two years ago that was also critical of the Cape Wind project, said the proposed 130 giant wind turbines wouldn't be built by private developers if it weren't for hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal tax credits that make it financially feasible.
As a result of the tax subsidies and high energy cost, that study said, Cape Wind Associates could expect to receive a 25 % return on equity, or $139 million, over the decades-long life of the project.
Davd c. Tuerck, executive director of the institute, said the latest study was not paid for by the Egan Foundation whose family members are rpominent oponents of the Cape Wind project and contributed about $125,000 for a 2004 study that found the Cape Wind project not to be economically feasible.
The first study's conclusion seem to contradict the latest study's findings that the proposed project would be a lucrative windfall for developers.
But Tuerck, who said members of the Egan family never interfered with its research and findings, noted much has changed since the 2004 study, including higher energy prices that could change calculations.
The second study was conducted without financial support from the Egan Foundation and is meant to explore a legitimate public issue about tax credits that are needed to make Cape Wind financially viable, he said.
Jim Gordan, president of Cape Wind, countered that the institute's findings are "fraught with errors" and "tainted" by the institute's past funding by wind-farm opponents.
"This seems to be more like a propanda report than a serious economic analysis," said Gordan. "It's filled with outlandish assumptions."
Gordan said one federal tax credit, worth a potential $180 million to the project is set to expire at the end of 2007 and there are no guarantees it will be renewed. Meanwhile, the institute bases its calculations on long-term electric rates that "no one can really know," he said.
The proposed project, which could cost close to $900 million if it's ever built off the coast of Cape Cod, is now the center of intense debate locally and nationally.
I find it ironic that given the current climate in world fuel prices that the individuals behind the Cape Wind project aren't just more of the same, like Exxon-Mobil and Chevron, looking to gouge us with the high electricty rates that are similar to the high rates per gallon we are paying at the pump. They are not doing us a favor. They are looking to line thier pockets with green, our green. We will not only build it for them with our financing, (see tax credits), we will also pay off thier loans through the high cost of energy. The salt in the air and water will destroy whatever mechanisms they use to make the windmills function and twenty years after thier built I will be willing to wager they will be useless. Then twenty years or more from now, someone who is now in the 8th grade, will be charged with the responsibilty as a state rep or senator elect with suing the then defunct/bankrupt company that built the windmills to get the structures dismantled, at least above water. I know this seems a little over the top, but the study has credibiloty and seems reasonable. The tax credit received is essentially the amount of money in interest that the loan would cost. If the loan doesn't cost any money other than paying the principle back to the institution that lent it to you why wouldn't Cape Wind try to push the project through. And no one, no one, has said anything about that area being close to boating/fishing.
TAXPAYER TO FUND WINDFALL...............
The controversial cape wind project on Nantucket Shoals would net developers $139 million in profitsdue largely to huge taxpayer supported subsidies, according to a new study that came under immediate criticism for apparent contradictions and the authors past financial support from anti-wind farm forces.
Suffolk University's Beacon Hill Institute, which released a study two years ago that was also critical of the Cape Wind project, said the proposed 130 giant wind turbines wouldn't be built by private developers if it weren't for hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal tax credits that make it financially feasible.
As a result of the tax subsidies and high energy cost, that study said, Cape Wind Associates could expect to receive a 25 % return on equity, or $139 million, over the decades-long life of the project.
Davd c. Tuerck, executive director of the institute, said the latest study was not paid for by the Egan Foundation whose family members are rpominent oponents of the Cape Wind project and contributed about $125,000 for a 2004 study that found the Cape Wind project not to be economically feasible.
The first study's conclusion seem to contradict the latest study's findings that the proposed project would be a lucrative windfall for developers.
But Tuerck, who said members of the Egan family never interfered with its research and findings, noted much has changed since the 2004 study, including higher energy prices that could change calculations.
The second study was conducted without financial support from the Egan Foundation and is meant to explore a legitimate public issue about tax credits that are needed to make Cape Wind financially viable, he said.
Jim Gordan, president of Cape Wind, countered that the institute's findings are "fraught with errors" and "tainted" by the institute's past funding by wind-farm opponents.
"This seems to be more like a propanda report than a serious economic analysis," said Gordan. "It's filled with outlandish assumptions."
Gordan said one federal tax credit, worth a potential $180 million to the project is set to expire at the end of 2007 and there are no guarantees it will be renewed. Meanwhile, the institute bases its calculations on long-term electric rates that "no one can really know," he said.
The proposed project, which could cost close to $900 million if it's ever built off the coast of Cape Cod, is now the center of intense debate locally and nationally.
I find it ironic that given the current climate in world fuel prices that the individuals behind the Cape Wind project aren't just more of the same, like Exxon-Mobil and Chevron, looking to gouge us with the high electricty rates that are similar to the high rates per gallon we are paying at the pump. They are not doing us a favor. They are looking to line thier pockets with green, our green. We will not only build it for them with our financing, (see tax credits), we will also pay off thier loans through the high cost of energy. The salt in the air and water will destroy whatever mechanisms they use to make the windmills function and twenty years after thier built I will be willing to wager they will be useless. Then twenty years or more from now, someone who is now in the 8th grade, will be charged with the responsibilty as a state rep or senator elect with suing the then defunct/bankrupt company that built the windmills to get the structures dismantled, at least above water. I know this seems a little over the top, but the study has credibiloty and seems reasonable. The tax credit received is essentially the amount of money in interest that the loan would cost. If the loan doesn't cost any money other than paying the principle back to the institution that lent it to you why wouldn't Cape Wind try to push the project through. And no one, no one, has said anything about that area being close to boating/fishing.