Notes From an Environmentalist.
With or Without Fireworks. The Salem Wind Terminal.
Chapter 5
With or Without Fireworks
The Groundbreaking
August 15, 2024
“The Climate Crisis is here. We know the sea can sink us. It can also save us.”
Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo
August 15, 2024
On August 15th state and local officials were on hand to break ground on the Salem Wind Terminal. When completed the terminal would help build wind farms off Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and potentially even construct a floating wind turbine system in the deep waters off Maine.
A company in Scotland had plans to build a similar array of floating wind turbines and use them to generate electricity, that would extract hydrogen from seawater. Then a volatile gas could be safely stored offshore where cargo ships could safely refuel with the emissions-free energy.
Of course, it was a little embarrassing to be breaking ground on a new wind terminal after construction of Vineyard Wind had been shut down because of its broken propeller blade.
But Massachusetts governor Maura Healey faced the problem straight on as she had as captain of her college basketball team when she was at Harvard.
“We’ve heard about setbacks and we’ve heard about people knocking this industry. But make no mistake. We are not going backwards. We are going forward and Massachusetts is going to lead.”
Lieutenant governor Kim Driscoll stood by her side. She had been the prime mover, bringing the Crowley Wind Company to Salem when she had been mayor of the “Witch City”.
She described the complicated history of the site going back to the Fifties:
“When the coal plant came to Salem it brought jobs. It also brought pollution, even if folks didn’t know it at the time. So, I can’t think of a better place to be the next epicenter of the Massachusetts clean energy industry.
Sitting Salem mayor Dominick Pangallo struck an equally eloquent note saying, “Our city’s legacy is a legacy of the sea. And being home to one of the primary launch sites of the industry will be part of the next chapter of that legacy.”
“The climate crisis is here. We know the sea can sink us. We also know it can save us.”
The ceremony capped a year of intensive negotiations. Back in February, Salem had started courting Crowley Wind, coming up with a Community Benefits Agreement that that put $4 million dollars toward education, $2.5 million for first responder training, $500,000 for climate abatement and $250,000 to support fireworks for community events!
So, while the offshore wind industry had local support within Democratically controlled Witch City, a group of Trump supporters in the neighboring “Fish City” of Gloucester were planning their own event, with or without fireworks.