Offshore Wind Wire

By Peter Brennan

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is scheduled to “make a major announcement concerning the Cape Wind project” today at noon, according to the Interior Department press office.  Salazar has been scheduled to make a final decision on the proposed 130-turbine wind farm near Cape Cod by the of April.

The proposed project, which has been the subject of often acrimonious debate for almost a decade, would be the first offshore wind facility in the United States.  Salazar is making his announcement in Boston, in Governor Deval Patrick’s press room.  Patrick has been a strong supporter of the Cape Wind project.

Supporters and opponents have stepped up their lobbying efforts recently.  Last week, governors from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York signed a letter to Salazar urging him to approve the project.  On Sunday, the New York Times editorial page called on Salazar to allow the project to go forward, writing that “it would be dismaying if he did not give the go-ahead.”

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that the local Wampanoag Tribe is prepared to sue if the project is approved.  The tribe’s cultural and religious complaints are the major remaining regulatory obstacle to the Cape Wind project.