A couple of points that might have been lost in the foolishness:

• Vineyard Sound (where the Cape Cod windmills have been proposed) is very shallow. Queen Elizabeth II ran aground there in 1992 because of the venturi effect between her hull and the bottom, which sucked her down in the water enough to make contact. The depth is between 12 and 50 feet in the windmill area.

• The continental shelf on the American east cost extends a very long way into the Atlantic. George's Bank, a prime fishing ground, goes out beyond 200 km, and at places is only a couple of meters deep. In addition to fish, there is also a lot of oil there, and it would be an "out of sight, out of mind" place to put windmills...