Jim Gordon.
An article in Fast Company, a business magazine, proclaims, “Jim Gordon May Have an Answer to our Energy Problem,” (Kermit) while another periodical praises “the dogged, dauntless determination of Jim Gordon” (Struck). So who is this guy and why do people say he is our energy savior?
Jim Gordon is the president of Energy Management, Inc. (EMI), “a privately held energy company” that “has earned a reputation for completing environmentally superior facilities,” (“Project Ownership Info”) supposedly. They claim that “in 2000, EMI’s principals sold their interests in its portfolio of natural gas-fired facilities and changed their focus to developing renewable energy projects” and that “Energy Management, Inc. is proud to be known as a developer with a history of building clean, community-friendly power plants” (“Project Ownership Info”). Gordon has been said to have “zeal and conviction,” and be “a brilliant marketer,” “a big thinker,” a pioneer, and even a hero (Kermit)(Struck). He has been critical of the not-in-my-backyard mentality, critiquing “some of the wealthiest, most politically influential people in the world” who “simply don’t want to see wind turbines as they gaze out from their verandas” (Struck).
He has landed himself on the map with his bold, “tenacious” (Kermit) plan for Cape Wind. The project is Gordon’s attempt to create the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. (“Cape Wind Project Overview”). He wants to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound, just off the coast of Cape Cod, that “cleanly produce 75% of the electricity used on Cape Cod and the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket with zero pollution emissions” (“Cape Wind Project Overview”).
This is undeniably an important project in this day and age of climate change, but just to pry a little, we will try to determine why Nantucket Sound was the lucky area selected for this ambitious venture. He claims that “nobody will ever embargo it, nobody will ever manipulate it…This is our own domestic resource we’re blessed to have off of the coast here. We’re hoping Cape Wind can inspire other communities to look at their indigenous energy resources” (Kermit). The Cape Wind project asserts that the site is “the most technically optimal offshore wind power site in the United States” (“Cape Wind Project Overview”). So Gordon is an environmental hero, right?
Not so fast. Some statistics jump out at me as possible indications of Gordon and EMI not being as “clean,” per se, as they would like to demonstrate. According to Census 2000 data, Cape Cod is nearly 96 percent white. Half the population is older than 45 years old, and the 7 percent poverty rate is lower than the Massachusetts average (“Socio-Demographic Profile of Barnstable County, Massachusetts”). So, essentially, Cape Wind, this undeniably positive project, serves, generally, somewhat older and wealthier white people. This is not a huge issue, as long as less-wealthy minority populations are receiving at least the same, environmentally-friendly treatment from Gordon and company. So are they?
Chelsea, a city north of Boston, is “a historically industrial…densely developed city.” In 2007, Latinos comprised 48 percent of the city’s population, and 23.2 percent of the total population lived beneath the poverty line (“Brownfields 2007 Grant Fact Sheet: Chelsea”). The city faces already high levels of pollution, with diesel exhaust rates five times the national average (Durrant). The most prominent body of water, Chelsea Creek “is lined with liquefied natural gas tanks and other fuel depots, a couple of small marinas, a number of wharves, barges, and piers in various states of disrepair, plus a huge pile of salt and a satellite parking lot serving Logan Airport” (“Cape Wind Parent Co. Seeks to Build “peak Power” Plant in Chelsea”). Asthma rates exceed the national as well (Huisingh).
Gordon had a plan for Chelsea, but it was not for wind turbines or solar panels. In 2006, EMI, through Chelsea Energy LLC, proposed a 250-megawatt, diesel-fueled power plant. The planned “peak plant” would serve 180,000 homes during “peak” hours– typically hot summer afternoons and cold winter evenings (Howe). Two 150-foot smokestacks would tower over the city, adding to already-dangerous levels of pollution. Oh yeah, and the plant site would be right on the creek, only 1,000 feet from the Burke Elementary School complex (Howe).
Naturally, the residents of Chelsea and the surrounding communities were not in a hurry to thank Mr. Gordon. These actions were rightfully seen as hypocritical, and EMI was even accused of having “a pattern of discriminating, looking for places where people don’t have the political power to push back against these polluting power plants” (Struck). With Chelsea, EMI made a mistake in site selection. The people of Chelsea pushed back and pushed back hard.
There are a few issues at play here. The most obvious of them being the inequalities between the predominantly white communities of Cape Cod and the predominantly minority communities of the Chelsea area. Environmental conditions were unequal to begin with. Chelsea already is an environmentally toxic area, known to produce health risks like asthma, whereas Cape Cod, being less industrial, has a much less hazardous environmental situation. These pre-existing inequalities come from many complex sources, but still very real ones. Institutional racism, acting through the housing market, health care services, and other systemic organizations, created the initial situation. Energy Management, Inc. is only exacerbating environmental inequality in eastern Massachusetts. The proposed power plant would have increased health issues in Chelsea. Furthermore, the diesel-run power plant would deter investment from a community already struggling economically. On the other hand, wind turbines further advance the positive image of the Cape as well as health. Not only would residents receive clean energy, but they would have gigantic wind turbines that could be seen from miles and miles away, an immediate sign of a striving, eco-friendly community that would be a great place to live. Jim Gordon and EMI are only furthering inequality that exists between minority, low-income and wealthy, white communities.
Citizens of Chelsea were vocal in opposition. “Chelsea and its residents deserves better!” writes the Vice President of the Chelsea City Council (Casino). He adds, “We do not need any additional pollution in our air that would cause additional harm to our children and residents of this city.” Another community member expressed concern over psychological effects: “This … will convince the children that they live in a dump of a city, where the government dumps whatever trash they have” (Estrella-Luna). Some were most direct, simply stating, “No power plant in Chelsea.” This was a serious issue for the people.
Perhaps a more subtle yet important issue here is another involving image: the image of Jim Gordon and Energy Management, Inc.. The idea of a wind farm is inherently positive (ironically some rich white people oppose it because of view obstruction, which goes into even deeper issues of privilege), and so the Cape Wind project has given EMI a largely positive appearance in the environmental world. This front of clean energy pacifies the public so they no longer feel the need to ask questions. A wind farm is a wind farm is a wind farm, or so they seem to think. But we cannot just accept this; we must ask the questions and delve deeper. Who benefits from the wind farm? Who doesn’t benefit from the wind farm? What else is this company doing in other areas? Once we begin to ask these questions, we begin to see the truth behind it all– the man behind the mask that is Jim Gordon.
This is not to say that Cape Wind is a bad project. With the state of the environment and where it is heading, changes must be made, and the use of wind power is of course a part of that change. But attempting to build one wind farm should not be enough. It should not excuse the big company from trying to dump disease and illness on those who they believe cannot fight back. We must ask the questions. We must demand more of these companies. And we cannot allow the image of a wind farm and wealth to negate an image of soot and poverty.
Jim Gordon is no hero. Praising him as one is more dangerous than any power plant.
Works Cited
“Brownfields 2007 Grant Fact Sheet: Chelsea.” Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed March 17, 2016. http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/P1008GST.TXT?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=2006+Thru+2010&Docs=&Query= &Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=& QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp =0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5Czyfiles%5CIndex%20Data%5C06thru10 %5CTxt%5C00000020%5CP1008GST.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password =anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/ x150y150g16/i425&Display=p%7Cf&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack= ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages =1&ZyEntry=1&SeekPage=x&ZyPURL.
“Cape Wind Parent Co. Seeks to Build “peak Power” Plant in Chelsea.” Cape Cod Today. July 3, 2006. https://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2006/07/03/11184-Cape-Wind-parent-co-seeks-build-peak-power-plant-Chelsea.
“Cape Wind Project Overview.” Cape Wind. Accessed March 17, 2016. http://www.capewind.org/what/overview.
Casino, Paul G. “Meeting Notes.” Chelsea City Council, January 22, 2007, 0-30.
Durrant, Colin. “Developer Pulls Plans for Chelsea Power Plant.” Conservation Law Foundation. November 14, 2007. http://www.clf.org/newsroom/developer-pulls-plans-for-chelsea-power-plant/.
Estrella-Luna, Neenah. Environmental Review in Massachusetts the Relationships, the Decisions, the Law: A Dissertation. PhD diss., Reproduction De: Dissertation (Ph. D.): Law, Policy and Society: Northeastern University, 2011.
Howe, Peter J. “Cape Wind Developer Pulls Plans for Oil-powered Plant.” Boston.com. November 15, 2007. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/11/15/cape_wind_developer_pulls_plans_for_oil_powered_plant/.
United States of America. Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Burden of Asthma in Massachusetts. By Carrie Huisingh. April 2009. http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/com-health/asthma/burden-in-mass.doc.
Pattison, Kermit. “Jim Gordon May Have an Answer to Our Energy Problems.” Fast Company. June 7, 2007. http://www.fastcompany.com/76794/jim-gordon-may-have-answer-our-energy-problems.
“Project Ownership Info.” GRU. Accessed March 17, 2016. https://www.gru.com/Portals/0/Legacy/Pdf/futurePower/Appendix 10 – Project Ownership Info.pdf.
“Socio-Demographic Profile of Barnstable County, Massachusetts.” BC Human Services. Accessed March 17, 2016. http://www.bchumanservices.net/library/2010/04/thc2001IRORFAV1sdprofile.pdf.
Struck, Doug. “The Dogged, Dauntless Determination of Jim Gordon.” The Daily Climate. October 13, 2014. http://www.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2014/10/jim-gordon-cape-wind.