Beyond Cape Wind: The Challenge of Siting Renewable Energy Facilities

Presenter:
Robert Whitcomb: Vice President and Editorial Page Editor, Providence Journal and Goldring Family Distinguished Visiting Lecturer

With Commentary by:
Matthew Wagner: Manager, Wind Site Development, Detroit Edison

Sally Churchill: Vice President and Secretary of the University of Michigan

Mr. Whitcomb, co-author of the book 'Cape Wind: Celebrity, Energy, Class Politics, and a Valiant Battle for Unobstructed Ocean Views on Nantucket Sound' will discuss the controversial 'Cape Wind' off-shore wind farm project in Nantucket Sound. Discussants, Matthew Wagner and Sally Churchill will follow up by discussing the challenges of siting wind turbine facilities in Michigan. Lessons learned by the Cape Wind project can help our efforts to increase the use of wind energy as an alternate energy source in Michigan.

Robert Whitcomb is vice president and editorial-page editor of The Providence Journal. Before joining The Providence Journal, he was the financial editor of the International Herald Tribune, based in Paris; an editor and writer for The Wall Street Journal, based in New York; and a writer for The Boston Herald Traveler and the News Journal, in Wilmington, Del. He has also contributed to Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, the New York Times, and Cape Business Magazine, among many other publications. He has twice won the first prize from the Associated Press in the AP\'s annual press awards for New England for editorial writing. For the past few years he has been writing and editing articles about the Cape Wind controversy—publishing numerous pro-and-con pieces.

Sponsored by:
Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP)
Program in the Environment (PitE)
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy