Offshore Wind Wire

By Peter Brennan

Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar traveled today to Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard to meet with representatives from two Massachusetts tribes who oppose the proposed Cape Wind project.

Salazar spent the morning with members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, and participated in a 6 a.m. sunrise ceremony on Ponponesset Beach on Cape Cod.  In the afternoon, Salazar and his staff traveled to meet with members of the Wampanoags’ Aquinnah tribe on the sparsely populated southern tip of Martha’s Vineyard.

The tribes say that Cape Wind’s 130 proposed wind turbines in Nantucket Sound would disturb their spiritual sun greetings and submerged ancestral burying grounds.  Brona Simon, Massachusetts’ historic preservation officer, agreed with the tribes late last year, saying she believes that Nantucket Sound is culturally important to the Wampanoag tribes and should be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a traditional cultural property.  Earlier this month, the National Park Service declared Nantucket Sound eligible for listing on the National Register.

Salazar’s visit to the tribes comes on the heels of a January 13 meeting at the Secretary’s office in Washington, D.C.  At that meeting Salazar encouraged the stakeholders to reach an agreement before March 1 or else he would take the necessary steps to bring the permit process to a conclusion.

After meeting with the Tribes, Salazar went on a nearly three-hour boat cruise around Nantucket Sound to see firsthand the proposed location of the controversial wind farm.

Salazar would not comment on his discussions with the tribes, but said he is “bullish” on offshore wind energy, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette.