We call shenanigans on Rhode Island.

The smallest state in the nation -- the one that anointed itself the Ocean State -- may be on the verge placing a one year moratorium on the construction of offshore wind turbines and wave energy developments.

The reason: Environmental regulators say the state doesn't have rules in place to govern projects like the 100 turbines that Gov. Don Carcieri has proposed building off the coast. The Coastal Resources Management Council says it may need the year-long ban to start a zoning plan for state waters and find "appropriate" locations for wind farms.

The real reason: We're just guessing here, but the people who live in houses like this, and this, and these in Newport may have pulled a page out of the Ted Kennedy playbook, which states that wind turbines may only go where I can't see them from my mansion.

Rhode Island doesn't have a single, major wind turbine -- on or offshore -- and a delay here is going to ensure that fact doesn't change for a while. It's also not going to help Carcieri's very optimistic plan to get 15 percent of the state’s electricity from wind power by 2011