Pay Attention

It should come as no surprise that a great majority of Wainscott residents are asking East Hampton Town to withdraw support for Deepwater Wind.

A review of the company’s filing with the state makes it apparent long-term plans laid by LIPA and PSEG could well turn the tiny hamlet into an industrial hub funneling energy all the way to Manhattan — right under the nose of a town known for its stringent environmental safeguards.

Deepwater’s representatives were helpful at first but have become distant, even dismissive. Rebuttals to charges leveled have often have been exposed as bluster. It’s almost as if having extracted what it can from the town, Deepwater is now moving on to take its chances with the state, where a cozy relationship with the governor — paved with Deepwater donations — will eventually yield the desired outcome.

The ultimate indignity is that a lot of people will make a lot of money on this, but our ratepayers will pay more than anyone is letting on.

Yes to wind power! Yes to solar energy! The town should be encouraging all kinds of alternate energy and offer incentives to every business and homeowner.

But the mass annihilation of our offshore bird population and the ruination of our commercial fishing industry trumps the feel-good rhetoric our three town board members in favor of the project recite as if it were programmed into them like a macabre scene straight out of The Manchurian Candidate.

This is not about wind energy. This is about the rape of East Hampton Town. There are communities up and down the Long Island coast that would love to accommodate Deepwater and take the financial incentives that company so glibly offers. Ripping up the streets to install huge underground bunkers that will be able to carry massive amounts of power all pointed at Cove Hollow Road as if it were the Alamo is not a feel-good, clean energy story.

This is Our House. We decide its fate, not a European bank, regional power company, and a greedy hedge fund. We need our public officials now like we’ve never needed them before. We can’t afford to get it wrong.