Survey: Cape Wind Project Backed By 61 Percent of Cape Cod and Island Residents

The Civil Society Institute survey tests six arguments made against Cape Wind by critics of the project and finds that not one of the arguments succeeds in persuading half or more of Cape/Island residents to oppose the project. In fact, fully half of the arguments -- tourism/the regional economy, boating and commercial fishing -- backfire and generate more support than opposition for Cape Wind.

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To further illustrate the stakes in moving ahead with Cape Wind and other clean energy initiatives in the region, CSI also today is unveiling www.CapeCodFlooding.org, an interactive Web site module that shows the projected impact on Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard of a potential 1-meter ocean level rise due to global warming. The Flash-based Web map includes close-up coastal flooding details for Hyannis, Truro and a total of four points on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

Civil Society Institute President and Founder Pam Solo: "Facts and reason should dictate the future of Cape Wind. Thousands of pages from various agencies have examined the environmental impacts of Cape Wind and find no factual reason to stop the project. This survey offers further data. Citizens are following the debate and are rejecting a barrage of arguments against the project. Residents of the Cape and Islands want Cape Wind. They have followed the debate and remain supportive of offshore wind energy which could supply up to 75 percent of the energy needs of the Cape and Islands. Opponents are spending considerable capital -- political and financial -- to defeat Cape Wind and one would hope they will decide it is better spent solving problems than fighting against solutions."

Opinion Research Corporation Senior Researcher Graham Hueber: "We tested six arguments used by Cape Wind opponents and none of them persuaded half or more of Cape and Islands residents to join their ranks. In some cases, including concerns about the potential impact on tourism and the regional economy, the opponents' arguments actually boomerang against them and end up making most people more likely to support Cape Wind. This would appear to explain why only slightly over a third of Cape and Island residents oppose Cape Wind today." 

Barbara Hill, executive director, Clean Power Now, Hyannis, M., said: "An ever growing number of Cape Cod citizens understand that the Cape Wind project is an answer to record oil prices and the inescapable reality of global warming. Cape Wind is not the only answer, but the people of the Cape and islands are sick of the delays. They want Cape Wind built now."

More than three out of five Cape Cod/Island residents (61 percent) -- including a bipartisan 54 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of Independents -- favor Cape Wind, including 42 percent who support it strongly. Only about a third (36 percent) of residents are against Cape Wind, with only a quarter opposing it strongly. These results are in keeping with the August 15, 2007 CSI survey on Cape Wind that found 58 percent support for Cape Wind on the Cape/Islands (based on a smaller sample size).

None of the attacks made against Cape Wind succeed in persuading half or more of Cape Cod/Islands residents to be more likely to oppose Cape Wind:

-- Only about a third of respondents (35 percent) said that concerns about loss of tourism and other negative economic impacts made them less likely to support Cape Wind. Over half (55 percent) said the tourism/economic impact issue made them more likely to support Cape Wind.

-- Just over one third of respondents (36 percent) said that the disputed potential for more bird deaths made them less likely to oppose Cape Wind. Nearly half (49 percent) said the bird issue made  them more likely to support Cape Wind.

-- A bit more than a third of respondents (37 percent) said that arguments about a potential harm to commercial fishing from Cape Wind made them less likely to support the project. Over half (56 percent)said they were more likely to support Cape Wind because of this issue.

-- Fewer than two in five respondents (39 percent) said that arguments about potential navigation hazards to watercraft from Cape Wind made them less likely to support the project. Over half (55 percent) said  the issue made them more likely to support Cape Wind.

-- About two out of five respondents (42 percent) said the use of public land for Cape Wind made them less likely to support the project. Nearly half (48 percent) said the issue made them more likely to support the project.

-- Just under half (49 percent) said they were less likely to support Cape Wind due to fears about abandonment of equipment. By contrast, 43 percent said the issue made them more likely to support Cape Wind.

Other key findings included the following:

-- When it comes to generating electricity, wind power is the #1 choice (60 percent), followed by nuclear (21 percent), other (6 percent) and coal (5 percent). Cape Cod/Islands residents would support using the  following energy steps and sources "before we resort to adding more nuclear power": tougher energy conservation to reduce waste (89 percent); solar power (89 percent); and wind power (83 percent).

-- 83 percent of respondents -- including 77 percent of Republicans, 88 percent of Democrats and 85 percent of Independents -- agree with the following statement: "The effects of global warming require that we take timely and decisive steps for renewable, safe and clean energy sources. We need transitional technologies on our path to energy independence. There are tough choices to be made and tradeoffs. We cannot afford to postpone decisions since there are no perfect options." 

Detailed survey findings are available on the Web at www.CivilSocietyInstitute.org.

ORC SURVEY METHODOLOGY

Results are based on a telephone survey of 501 adults age 18 and over, living in private households, in certain counties in the state of Massachusetts. Interviewing was completed during the period of October 10-15, 2007. Residents were screened to ensure that they lived in Dukes, Nantucket or Barnstable counties. Those living in Barnstable County were further screened to ensure that they lived on the Cape Cod side of the Cape Cod canal. In addition, all respondents were screened to ensure that they live in their home at least 6 months or half of the year. The data were weighted two variables: age and gender, to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the adult population. The margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level is plus or minus 4 percentage points for the sample of 501 adults. Smaller sub-groups will have larger error margins.

Of the 501 total respondents, 58 percent lived in Barnstable County, 19 percent in Dukes County and 23 percent in Nantucket. All of the respondents reported spending six months or more of the year in their home on the Cape and Islands.

ABOUT THE CAPECODFLOODING.ORG MAP

The mapping for www.CapeCodFlooding.org is based on the latest available and most detailed elevation information from MassGIS (Commonwealth of Massachusetts -- Office of Geographic and Environmental Information). For more on the potential for coastal flooding of up to one (1) meter over the next 100 years due to the impact of climate change, see these reports: "Environmental Outcome of Global Warming," The Woods Hole Research Center, 2007; and "Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast," Northeast Climate Assessment Synthesis Team, July 2007. Detailed information about the challenges and opportunities posed by global warming is available on the Civil Society Institute Web site at http://www.civilsocietyinstitute.org/.

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