Having been just a few miles from California’s 7.1 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake epicenter in 1989 and in Seattle during the 2001 Nisqually shaker, would you expect me to laugh off a mere 2.5 baby rattle?

No matter how small, one simply doesn’t expect earthquakes in Southeast Massachusetts. With a rolling sensation, this one felt more like a 3.5. It hit just two days after I’d explained to a puzzled Rhode Islander why in Seattle, my television was bolted and strapped to its stand.

Matt Drudge also finds it strange, he linked to the report this morning.

Since the epicenter was almost directly underneath Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Station, it could give annoying opponents of the plant’s upcoming license renewal hearings fresh ammo in their long quest to shut down the sorely-needed facility.

They’ll either claim Pilgrim’s stimulating quakes, or that you can’t have it on top of a fault line. No conspiracy theory would be too big of a stretch for this crowd, they’ve already enlisted Boston-based academics, in a pathetic attempt to prove it’s caused an area cancer cluster.

Add to that the Kennedy family’s hypocritical opposition to the Cape Wind Project (it might affect the views from Hyannis) and New England’s future power shortfall becomes especially alarming.

Veteran Cape news reporter/editor Jack Coleman tracks Cape Wind developments here.