"Hindsight is 20/20," said Nantucket's lawyer.
Yeah, well, we told you so before you got into this mess.
Buyer’s Remorse: Nantucket Officials Rue Aggravating Offshore Wind Projecthttps://t.co/QG2nVd8zFy
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) August 1, 2025
The Nantucket City Council and Nantucket residents are suffering from buyer's remorse, like everybody who decided to buy a Yugo based on the marketing that it was a great car at an amazing price.
We told you so. It's as if liberals see common sense and choose to do the opposite of what it tells them. No amount of sage advice will dissuade them because some "expert" with dollar signs in their eyes can talk them into anything as long as they whisper magic words like "renewable energy."
If they could go back in time, officials in Nantucket, Massachusetts, wouldn't sign the legal agreement that helped bring the nation's first large-scale offshore wind farm 15 miles from the island town's picturesque shoreline.
That was the common sentiment expressed during a Nantucket select board meeting this week about the August 2020 community benefit agreement the town entered into with developers of the Vineyard Wind project, which is currently under construction. "These wind turbines are bigger, brighter, and much more impactful than we ever thought—and not to mention the environmental hazards from failures," said Dawn Hill, the chairwoman of the select board, which serves as the town's executive body.
The agreement represented Nantucket's formal endorsement of the project and satisfied Vineyard Wind's legal responsibility to consult with the town. Because Nantucket is a federally designated national historic district, regulators and developers must consult with the town on new projects that may threaten its protected status.
"Hindsight is 20/20," added Greg Werkheiser, an attorney who represents Nantucket. "Every lawyer in the world wishes 5 or 10 years into a negotiated contract that they could take the knowledge they have, fly back in time, and renegotiate—but communities make the choices they have with the information they have at the time."
WE told you so. They had the information if they cared to look. They saw it and rejected it because they believed they were smarter than everybody else. They are the good people. Virtuous. Want to save Gaia, if not the whales. So they bought into a lie.
Hill, Werkheiser, and the other officials present accused Vineyard Wind of cutting off communications with the town, failing to reduce light pollution emitted by its turbines, slow-walking reports on environmental impacts of the project, failing to disclose construction delays, and failing to work with officials on a plan for emergency scenarios—all of which they said are violations of the 2020 agreement. The Nantucket officials then directed 15 public demands at Vineyard Wind.
The issue is a microcosm of the resistance offshore wind projects have faced in coastal communities along the East Coast and could serve as a warning for communities where developers are considering future projects. But while communities in Delaware, New Jersey, and New York have successfully stymied offshore wind development, Nantucket's options are more limited—Vineyard Wind is permitted, already under construction, and expected to begin operations by the end of the year.
We told them so. But this is Nantucket, where all the beautiful people know so much more than we do. They are the good people who look down their noses at us, sure in the knowledge that they will do well by doing good. Wind power! It must be great!
Newsflash: it's not great. And it's not even as if the ocean is just a nice view getting ruined by the turbines. For many, it is their livelihood, and these clean energy vultures are utterly indifferent to that. Not only do people work on the ocean, but tourism also drives the economy.
Tensions between Nantucket and Vineyard Wind reached a boiling point in July 2024 after a football field-sized blade on one of its wind towers fell apart during construction, sending 50 tons of fiberglass and industrial-grade foam into the ocean, forcing the island's beaches to close. Project developers waited until debris washed ashore three days following the failure before they informed Nantucket about the incident, sparking fury from officials, businesses, and residents.
In the 12 months since the blade failure, the developers haven't provided the town with information about changes to the construction timeline or the progress of environmental reviews related to the blade failure. As of this week, Vineyard Wind's leadership remains in "hiding," according to Mohr. Alas, Vineyard Wind issued its most recent press release in October, and its only public update this year appears to have come during an earnings call held last week by one of its developers, the Spain-based energy firm Iberdrola.
"They were not uninformed. Local groups were informing them five years ago that they should not do this deal and gave them all the reasons why they now regret it," said Dave Stevenson, the director of the Center for Energy Competitiveness at the right-leaning Caesar Rodney Institute. "The folks in the town didn't fight, they didn't look at all the negatives, they just didn't listen."
This is a pattern that, by now, we have all seen except the liberals who keep making the same mistakes over and over again. It's not just "clean energy"-it's everything. It's the homeless problem, defund the police, and every damn thing you can imagine. We warn them, but they know better.
And then disaster strikes, and they claim they didn't have any way to know.
Yeah, well, we told them so.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.
Help us continue to report on the president’s economic successes and combat the lies of the Democrats. Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member