The controversial Cape Wind project cleared a major hurdle yesterday with the issuance of the draft environmental impact statement by the U.S. Minerals Management Service. The draft report dealt with potential project impacts on wildlife, navigation, and tourism, and appears to have minimized those potential impacts. From today’s Globe:
The Minerals Management Service reviewed Cape Wind’s impact on noise, coastal vegetation, wildlife, fisheries, tourism, and aviation, as well as other issues. Wildlife and fish would be affected minimally, except for a “moderate” impact on some birds, the report said. And, Rodney Cluck, who oversaw the agency’s review, said, “we feel we can mitigate most of those” effects. The report determined there would be a “minor” impact on tourism.
The altered ocean view from boats was the only “major” impact the federal analysis cited – although the analysis did not attempt to weigh the 440-foot-high wind turbines’ aesthetics, a subjective issue at the heart of opposition to the project since it was proposed in 2001.
Jim Gordon, the project owner, reponded with the following:
Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind, expressed glee during a news conference yesterday, saying, “Any rational observer will understand that this project is not going to produce a negative environmental impact. . . . This report validates that this is the right project in the right place at the right time.”
Governor Deval Patrick, a wind farm supporter, also weighed in:
“Publication of the draft federal environmental impact statement is a significant step for this project and indeed for renewable energy more broadly,” Patrick said in a statement..”
The opposition also expressed concerns:
A spokeswoman for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the lead opposition group to Cape Wind, said the federal agency’s report “missed the mark” and the group was assembling a team of specialists to review the project.In a statement, the alliance noted that the federal review concluded that electricity generated by the wind turbines is projected to cost twice the current price in Southeastern Massachusetts. Audra Parker, director of strategic planning for the alliance, said there were also serious concerns about hazards to air traffic. “Public safety is a significant issue,” she said. “Public safety could trump renewable energy.”
Congressman Delahunt also raised concerns about impacts on aviation.
US Representative William Delahunt, Democrat of Quincy and a wind farm opponent whose district includes the Cape and Islands, released a letter yesterday sent to him Jan. 11 by the acting director of the Federal Aviation Administration, which said the wind farm could have “previously unidentified adverse effects” on planes from Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. Last night, an FAA spokeswoman said the agency was still reviewing the Cape Wind project.
Another hurdle overcome. This project is even more vital than when it was first proposed, and wind power should become, to the fullest extent possible, a major part of our energy future.
Read the draft report at this link.
Bill Manzi.com 