Health & Fitness
Governor Patrick’s Parable of the Unjust Steward
After attending yesterday's "Focused on our Future" - Chamber Centennial Thought Leadership Forum, then reading these two Cape Cod Times pieces... how can any civic minded leader in Falmouth not see the paradox?
Has the energy industry penetrated the Statehouse?
Cape Cod Times Letter to the Editor
February 23, 2014
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Your Feb. 15 editorial, “Wake up, Governor,” is right on the mark.
… why won’t he (Gov. Patrick) meet with a delegation of Cape residents to discuss the threat posed by Pilgrim to our health and safety?
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Could it be that the tentacles of the U.S. energy industry have reached the governor’s office? It exercises its political power everywhere, so we shouldn’t be surprised if it has made itself felt — directly or indirectly — at the Statehouse, as it has in the White House.
J. Holt ~ Truro
February 15, 2014
Is Gov. Deval Patrick ignoring Cape Cod and the Islands?
… Last year, all 15 Cape towns approved a non-binding petition at town meeting that urged the governor “to call upon the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to uphold its mandate to shut Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth because the public safety, particularly Cape and Islands’ residents and visitors, cannot be assured.”
We realize Gov. Patrick has no authority to close Pilgrim, which is owned by Entergy. Only the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can do that. But the governor should be very concerned about inadequate state plans to evacuate all or part of the Cape and Islands in the event of an emergency at Pilgrim. …
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140215/OPINION/402150340/-1/OPINION01
Parity of the problem. Since March 2011, the Falmouth Board of Health has appealed to the state for investigative assistance. Last April, the Board of Selectmen, directed by Town Meeting, petitioned the state for financial assistance for the removal of the town’s wind turbines because public safety was not being assured.
Yet, the striking difference, Gov. Patrick does have the authority to direct the state’s Department of Public Health to investigate. Gov. Patrick does have the authority to direct the granting of financial aid to Falmouth to preserve it’s resident’s welfare and safety.
All too familiar in either circumstance is Gov. Patrick’s apathy to engage the controversy. Both controversies rooted heavily in the federal energy agenda.
The realization becoming quite clear is that the Governor serves the U.S. energy industry and his President’s renewables platform more than he does the citizens he took an oath to protect.
