Cape Code OffShore Wind Farms To Become Reality
The Cape Wind project looks like it could really become reality. A plan to build a $1.2 billion, privately run wind farm off the Cape Cod shore cleared a major hurdle yesterday when the Interior Department deemed it environmentally safe.
The 800-page report by Interior’s Minerals Management Service said the 24 square-mile wind farm in Nantucket Sound would pose little or no threat to wildlife and fish. Barring any further objections from lawmakers, a final “record of decision” for the project will be issued in 30 days.
The project could present a problem for Barack Obama. Barack has made alternative energy the cornerstone of his plan to revive the economy, and he reiterated that stance yesterday with a visit to an Ohio factory that makes parts for wind turbines. But one of his closest friends in Congress, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the Cape Wind project.
Given the state of the economy and the fact that Obama could use this opportunity to get all Americans to “buy-in” to his alternative energy plan, many believe that the project will be approved and funded across the board. Even those Massachusetts residents and lobbyists resisting the move, especially Senator Edward Kennedy of Mass., will not be able to stop the “winds of change”.
Cape Wind has drawn fierce debate since it was proposed in 2001.
The 130-turbine facility would be built on Horseshoe Shoal, about nine miles from Martha’s Vineyard. Connected to the Northeast power grid by cables buried under the ocean floor, the facility would produce as much as 468 megawatts, or about 75 percent of the electricity demand for all of Cape Cod, the Vineyard and Nantucket.
Environmentalists have been split on the plan, enticed by the prospect of green energy but wary of a firm profiting from a commercial enterprise built in public waters.
sources:nj starledger, washington post
