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Political leaders were gathering at the historic venue for Romney's signing of new health care legislation. Philip Warburg, executive director of the Conservation Law Foundation, addressed the crowd saying that Kennedy and Romney were doing a huge disservice to the health of Massachusetts citizens by opposing the wind farm project, which would provide significant health benefits. He also called the Cape Wind project the "best hope" to do something about climate change by reducing greenhouse gases and slowing global warming.

"This is NIMBYism at its worst," Warburg said, referring to the acronym for Not In My Back Yard. "We expect vision and enlightenment on energy issues and Senator Kennedy and Governor Romney are offering neither."

Marc Breslow, director of the Mass Climate Action Network, discussed the reality of global warming, calling it "the most serious environmental problem facing the planet." Cape Wind, he said, is the largest single project in the state in reducing greenhouse gases. Opposition to this project "is not what we need right now," he said.

Clean Power Now Executive Director Matt Palmer cited Kennedy's recent acknowledgement that he had urged Senator Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, to intervene with backroom legislation that could put Cape Wind in jeopardy.

"What an incredible abuse of power on the part of our senior Senator," Palmer said. "Is that what we want from our political leaders," he asked the crowd, who shouted back a resounding, "No!"

Sue Reid of the Conservation Law Foundation assured the crowd that "this fight is not over - we are continuing to work with organizations across the nation" to combat what she called a "sneak attack" against Cape Wind.

These organizations include MassPIRG, Greenpeace, Union of Concerned Scientists, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Lung Association, labor unions and health organizations.

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