Posted by Tina
Green industry has bumped up against another ethical problem. This time the sacred sun ritual of “The People of the First Light” on Nantucket Sound is in direct conflict with the push to build an alternative energy wind farm. Are the greens behind the industry willing to stomp on this tribe’s religious rights to build their farm? It has to be a tough call for left oriented people with only the best of intentions, I would think. Yet they are moving forward with their plans despite efforts to block the Cape Wind project. Chuckie Green is the spokesman for the two tribes, Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag:
“We, the Wampanoag people, who opened our arms and allowed people to come here for religious freedoms, are now being threatened with our religion being taken away for the profits of one single group of investors,” Green said. ** The Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag claim Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. The tribes say the designation, which would come with new regulations for activity on the sound, is needed to preserve not only their pristine views but ancestors’ remains buried on Horseshoe Shoal, where the turbines would be built.
Call me crazy but I can’t imagine Cape Wind will bow to the request of the tribes. The movement (and their investment?) is just too important. They see no alternatives to their alternative. The government agencies involved may not be sympathetic either. So in the end they will, more than likely, blow them off.