Danish Study Is Boost for Wind Farms
By IAN FEIN
In the most comprehensive scientific analysis on offshore wind farms to date, a Danish government report released last week found little or no environmental impacts from the world's two largest offshore projects.
The findings are significant for the Nantucket Sound wind farm proposal because they address many of the environmental concerns raised about Cape Wind - the first offshore project proposed in the United States.
Housing Bank Backers Renew Efforts to Pass Legislative Bill
By IAN FEIN
An ad-hoc group of Vineyard housing advocates have decided to continue their pursuit of controversial legislation that would tax Island real estate transactions to fund affordable housing projects.
Commission Review on Hospital Stalls in Procedural Tangle Over Parking Lot
By IAN FEIN
The Martha's Vineyard Commission this week put off its final vote on the Martha's Vineyard Hospital expansion project.
A decision had been scheduled for this coming Thursday, but the commission instead now plans to reopen the hospital public hearing the following week, on Dec. 14, to accept additional testimony on a proposed offsite staff parking lot that has emerged as a potential stumbling block for the $42 million project.
Energy Conservation Lagging on Vineyard
By IAN FEIN
Climate change has been at the top of nearly every political agenda this fall.
The greatest thing about the Vineyard for the Rev. Alden Besse is not the natural beauty - as much as he appreciates it - but the intimacy of the Island community.
As a longtime minister at Grace Episcopal Church in Vineyard Haven, and someone who is involved in numerous nonprofit organizations, he believes that people on the Vineyard have always taken care of one another.
Just over a decade ago, the Massachusetts state government cut funding for the Dukes County Cooperative Extension Service and forced closure of the popular Island program, which provided useful resources for Vineyard farmers.
Today, with a resurgence of small-scale agriculture spreading across the country and taking hold here on the Vineyard, the state is recommending the creation of another Island public agency to address farming interests.