Offshore Wind Wire

By Peter Brennan

Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar will decide the fate of Cape Wind, the proposed 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound, after the developer and local tribes failed to reach an agreement by today’s deadline.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Cape Cod and the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Martha’s Vineyard say the turbines would disturb a ritual that calls for an unobstructed view of the sunrise and that the project might be built on ancestral burial grounds. Salazar had set a deadline of March 1 for the tribes and the developer to reach a compromise.  He said he would step in to resolve the 9-year-old Cape Wind federal regulatory process if there was no agreement.

Salazar’s office is scheduled to make an official announcement on Cape Wind later today.  According to earlier statements from the Interior Department, Salazar will issue his final decision after April 1.

According to Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rogers, the two sides have attempted to work out a compromise since Salazar issued his ultimatum.

“We have tried to be as reasonable as possible but opponents, including the tribes, are dug in and have said that the only acceptable solution to them is moving the project,” Rogers said.  “Cape Wind and Secretary Salazar have both agreed that this is a non-starter.”

Rogers remained optimistic that Salazar will side with Cape Wind, now that the decision is in his hands.

“We believe that when Secretary Salazar takes the completed record in front of him that he will see that the public interest benefits from cleaner air, new jobs, increased energy independence, and mitigating climate change are all compelling and verifiable and that these benefits trump the few and minor negative impacts,” Rodgers said.  “Ultimately, we believe that he will approve Cape Wind.”

The current impasse is not entirely unexpected.  In early February, Secretary Salazar told the New York Times that he was “not holding my breath on consensus.”