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Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas is the focus of a Republican attack over health care overhaul legislation. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/ AP) |
Political Notebook
Although Representative Edward J. Markey is chairman of a congressional climate change panel and a coauthor of the global warming bill passed by the House in June, he had never explicitly come out in favor of the proposed Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound.
But yesterday, Markey wrote a strongly worded two-page letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar urging him to approve the Cape Wind project before next month’s international climate talks in Copenhagen to “send a strong message to international negotiators about the United States’ commitment to developing sources of clean energy and reducing global warming pollution.’’
Markey has long indicated support, but said he was waiting to give his blessing for the proposed 130-turbine wind farm until it went through a full environmental review. Eight years after the project was first proposed, that final, favorable review was issued by the US Minerals Management Service earlier this year. But Salazar has yet to issue the final permit.
So why did Markey write the letter now?
Environmentalists say he may have been motivated by a new delay to the project: a ruling by Massachusetts’ top historical officer that Nantucket Sound is eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Two Wampanoag tribes have called for the listing because they say their sun salutation would be disturbed by the spinning turbines.
Lastly, with the bill to reduce greenhouse gases stalled in Washington, observers say, there is a growing belief that the US delegation needs to attend the talks with some green promise in hand - even if it’s only approval to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm.
“We’re grateful,’’ said George Bachrach, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. “We think it’s an important step forward for Cape Wind.’’
On the other side, Audra Parker, a spokeswoman for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the main opposition group, said Markey’s timing “is odd,’’ given the ruling last week by the historical officer. -- ELIZABETH DALEY
GOP says Ark. senator plans health care ‘flip-flop’
Republicans are going aggressively after one of the key moderate Democrats who could decide the health care bill’s fate in the Senate, charging Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas with a “flip-flop’’ worthy of John F. Kerry.A Web video unveiled yesterday by the Republican National Committee slams Lincoln for a reported plan to vote for the bill to reach the Senate floor before voting against passage of the bill. Her vote could be crucial as Senate majority leader Harry Reid tries to round up 60 votes to overcome a GOP filibuster.
It repeatedly shows Kerry saying during his 2004 presidential campaign, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it.’’
He was explaining why he voted for an earlier version of an Iraq war appropriation because it would have repealed many of President George W. Bush’s tax cuts, before opposing the spending because he would not have gone to war without more international support. But Republicans used the clip to portray him as wishy-washy.
“Democrat leaders want Senator Blanche Lincoln to use the same tactic,’’ the announcer says in the Web video. “To pass President Obama’s government-run health care experiment with a vote to move a bill forward with tax increases, cuts to Medicare, and rising premiums. Then, once it comes up for a final vote, they will allow her to vote against it.’’
“But any vote to move the bill forward,’’ the announcer continues, “is a vote for Obama’s government-run health care experiment. . . . Americans don’t respect politicians who try to have it both ways. They want to know exactly where their leaders stand.’’ -- GLOBE STAFF 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
