First, the state Energy Facilities Siting Board approved a bundle of permits for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, overruling local concerns raised by Cape towns and the Cape Cod Commission. Opponents of the industrial-sized project called the board's decision a dangerous precedent that could erode local authority. Now a proposed bill that would streamline the permitting process for land-based wind turbines may give the state veto power over local zoning regulations.

The state of Massachusetts through the Green Communities Act is about to set standards for responsible development of land-based commercial wind turbines. The current standards for setbacks are the least protective in the world. Many of the communities south of Boston have seen concerned citizens' groups spring up in protest of the placement of commercial wind turbines too close to residential property.

Unfortunately, in our rush to stop the environmental impact, we are only replacing those negative effects from fossil fuels by another if we are not careful. The problem with the current wind turbine is the negative environmental impact. We hear of flicker, of vibration-hum and the visual impact of having a turbine so close to where people are living. If I lived in the Back Bay, I would be livid not just from the health hazards but from the loss of property value.

Last week, Ian Bowles, state secretary of energy and environmental affairs, urged Congress to carefully plan and manage the development of offshore renewable energy projects. ...After urging Congress to develop a comprehensive regulatory regime to plan and manage offshore energy projects, Bowles, with a straight face, last week called for the speedy approval of deeply flawed offshore renewable energy regulations now before the Secretary of Interior.

This project has been sold to the town as a way for our citizens to be "green." The real reason behind this project is to produce as much "green" as possible for CCI Energy. Mr. Paul Barry, the owner of the land where the turbines will be sited said at a recent Planning Board meeting that this project is not about the money. If this is true then I ask that CCI Energy, its lawyers and the special interests that support this outside firm to make arrangements with Cohasset to transfer 100 percent of the revenue that the turbines produce (after expenses) to our town.

We applied a couple of years ago, using a consultant, for a grant to help with the installation of solar panels on one of our buildings. ...After all of this preparation we were notified that the grant would not be given due to lack of funds. However, it was suggested that since there were few requests for wind turbines, we likely would get a grant.

So now the state would electrify our mountains and turn the Berkshires into the Land of the Giant Turbines -- likely for the benefit -- if any -- of communities in Boston or Central Mass. This is a bad idea at best, with so many arguments against it that it's hard to know where to begin, other than to suggest that state Sec. of Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles be run out of state on a high-speed rail.

Residents raised those exact concerns months ago before the turbine was built, but their worries were dismissed by a stack of reports and experts who said those problems, if they existed at all, would be so insignificant, that no one would notice. And what's troubling about all the experts and turbine proponents being so far off the mark on these issues is the fact that most were equally dismissive about concerns the neighbors have raised about safety.

The media have obscured the significant dangers of this irresponsibly sited project with careless generalizations and speculation. Headlines like "Key hurdles cleared" and "Cape Wind ready to rev up" would have us think that the construction barges and pile drivers are on their way. Suggestions that Cape Wind's approval for a federal lease is just two weeks away are far from the truth. Cape Wind is nowhere near a done deal - and the fight is far from over.

The protracted Cape Wind saga is attributable to its advance-absent rules that Congress directed Minerals Management Service to promulgate by 2006. Emotion has instead driven the Cape Wind review and debate. The world's largest, United States-precedent, developer-sited, offshore wind project is undergoing an ad hoc review due to MMS' failure to comply with a congressional mandate.

Green energy has been on the subsidy take for years, including in 2005 when Mr. Delahunt was calling for "an Apollo project for alternative energy sources, for hybrid engines, for biodiesel, for wind and solar and everything else." The reality is that all such projects are only commercially viable because of political patronage. Tufts economist Gilbert Metcalf ran the numbers and found that the effective tax rate for wind is minus-163.8%. In other words, every dollar a wind firm spends is subsidized to the tune of 64 cents from the government.

Advocates of wind power are likely jumping up and down after Gov. Deval Patrick set a goal on Tuesday of the state generating 2,000 megawatts of electricity by wind turbines by the year 2020, but they might want to curb their excitement. ...Gov. Patrick's goal of 2,000 megawatts by 2020 is laudable but simply unrealistic.

Something awful happened in a conference room at a hotel in Falmouth on Dec. 18. The U.S. Coast Guard revealed itself to be totally politicized in its review of radar and safety issues arising from the plan of a Boston energy entrepreneur (Jim Gordon) to build a wind farm covering 25 square miles of Nantucket Sound.

The "simulated images" of the wind farm project contained on Cape Wind's Web site show how the turbine forest might look to the casual observer driving by. ...Cape Wind is riding the "clean energy" bandwagon all the way to the bank, while we who live here will spend the rest of our summers staring at a colossal eyesore.

As flawed as this [balloon] test was, and maybe even misleading to many, it sent a clear message: turbines of this scale are not appropriate for Cohasset, and are not fair to impose on its citizens. Rather than asking the developer to spend more money proving his case, the planning board should first rule on all the fatal flaws of the project that by any objective measure would terminate it.

Let's look at Bird Island off the coast of Marion in the center of Buzzards Bay, and what towns around the bay have plans for commercial wind turbines. ...In several years, Bird Island, the largest nesting area of roseate terns in North America, will be surrounded by commercial wind turbines.

Coast Guard commander Raymond Perry should be ashamed of himself for his obvious bow to pressure from above ... He plainly contradicts himself by saying from one side of his mouth that the Cape Wind project is "doable" and proposes "no significant problem for marine radar" while saying from the other side that "it would be very difficult for one vessel to see another" while inside the 25-square-mile "farm." That sure sounds like a "significant problem" to me!

The tribes have voiced serious concerns that the construction of the 25-square-mile Cape Wind project would destroy ancient burial grounds on Horseshoe Shoal. ...Let's hope that the Obama administration, in its efforts to engender hope and change, will make a commitment to protect the sovereign interests of "The People of the First Light."

The US Fish and Wildlife Service just completed a 97-page "biological opinion" that the 130-wind turbine project off Cape Cod will not harm the Roseate Terns. ...In several years Bird Island, the largest nesting area of Rosate Terns in North America in Buzzards Bay, will be surrounded by commercial wind turbines.

Exactly what that 170 megawatts figure refers to is unclear. No businessman in his right mind would invest one billion dollars to get 170 megawatts of power a year. Cape Wind's web page says the 130 turbines "will produce up to 420 megawatts" of power. But that would require that all 130 turbines produce their maximum capacity at the very same moment. It's possible, but so is Kevin Yukilis batting 1.000 throughout a season. Wind turbines are lucky to produce 25 percent of their rated capacity over a year's time.