This week’s move by the Biden administration to advance the Vineyard Wind project marks an important turning point in the move toward building a clean energy future. Don’t worry, this is not another column on the virtues of alternative energy. What is on my mind is how this action, decisive and swift at the start of a new administration, reminds me of the importance of seizing the moment to get the right things done.
Politics being what they are today, the windows of opportunity to achieve big, open and shut quickly. We have witnessed executive actions on both sides, many undoing what was just done by the previous administration, or reversing what was undone to make thing look like they used to be. Some of these actions have been good, some less so, but like all acts of fiat, they can be undone as easily as they were done. What is not so easy to undo is the placement of facts on the ground, or the unleashing of economic forces that demand return on investment. The markets are as durable and unforgiving as any force out there.
Initiatives that lead to the construction of facilities and infrastructure live on well past the tenure of the ribbon cutters who launch them. Actions taken to direct investment to alternative energy facilities or water and wastewater treatment facilities assure lasting environmental improvement. Therefore, I am heartened that early action was taken to move an important alternative energy project forward. With that signal to the market and money to be made, other projects will follow and make irreversible the transition to a clean energy future.
