Why does the government need to get involved
* Two word answer: Cape Wind.
The name of the BOEM offshore leasing process is "Smart from the Start" - in other words, Cape Wind foundered
on the inability to reconcile private interests (mainly rich/selfish folks on the Cape) with a private development
project that had gotten all the necessary permits from the feds, but not the good will of all sectors of the
public. Hence their subsequent requirement to get the approval of state and local government folks, by way of a
task force/stakeholder process. |'m sure it's still an imperfect process, but better than "dog-eat-dog."
And from a more pragmatic/business point of view, NO developer (especially after the Cape Wind debacle) is
going to want to sink many Smillions into a offshore project without first getting the support of all levels of
government and most of the people potentially affected.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" -
Santayana
