After more than eight years of controversy, a final decision on the Cape Wind development planned for Nantucket Sound will be made by the end of April, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar promised this week.
Mr. Salazar made the commitment after an exhaustive round of meetings in Washington on Wednesday involving all the major parties supporting and opposing the development, which would see 130 wind turbines, each more than 400 feet tall, placed in federal waters on Horseshoe
Continue reading Island Tribe, Cape Wind Resist Plan to Relocate Turbines to Tuckernuck…
Representatives of Cape and islands towns, as well as the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the Wampanoag Tribe of Mashpee, and Cape Wind met Tuesday with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in Washington, D.C.
The session was part of a series of meetings yesterday and Tuesday with stakeholders in the Cape Wind energy project planned for Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. According to Oak Bluffs town administrator Michael Dutton, who attended the meeting, Mr. Salazar made it clear
Continue reading Islanders Meet Feds on Cape Wind…
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will meet with Cape Wind opponents and proponents, among them members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe in Washington on Wednesday, following this week’s finding that Nantucket Sound was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic places.
Monday’s announcement by the National Park Service, upholding an earlier decision by the state Historic Preservation Officer Brona Simon, came in response to a claim by the Wampanoag tribes of Aquinnah and Mashpee that the
Continue reading Ruling by Park Service Favors Tribes; Secretary Salazar Calls a Summit…
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission is specifically excluded from any role in deciding whether or not commercial-scale wind power could be developed in the waters off the Elizabeth Islands, under the final version of the state’s controversial Ocean Management Plan, released this week.
That exclusion raises the prospect that scores of turbines, each more than 400 feet tall, could be constructed only a few miles west of Aquinnah, without regard to regulations developed by the MVC and the six Vineyard towns.
Continue reading State’s Final Ocean Management Plan Exempts Gosnold from MVC Review…
Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Ian Bowles released the final version of the ocean management plan Monday. He and other state officials described it as the nation’s first comprehensive plan to protect critical marine resources and foster sustainable uses in the state’s ocean waters.
The plan provides a measure of comfort for Island officials who were concerned that the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) would not retain regional permitting authority over wind projects in state waters off Island shores.
Continue reading Final Ocean Act Plan Set…
The Obama administration signaled a sudden urgency yesterday to resolve the nine-year dispute over building a wind farm off Cape Cod, as US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced he would summon key parties to a meeting next week in hope of concluding the decision process within two months.
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The late Lillian Hellman did not have to wait long for validation of her talent — many of her 12 plays, including The Children’s Hour and The Little Foxes, were instant successes. But some of her other contributions have taken a bit longer — in this case, more than 25 years — to reach fulfillment.
When she died in 1984 of cardiac arrest, the celebrated playwright arranged for a modest sum of money to be bequeathed to
Continue reading Lost in Dramas , Hellman Legacy Makes Entrance…
A small group of Island farmers appeared before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last Thursday to voice concerns over a proposal to nominate nearly all of the air space over the Island as a special protection zone to control the development of land-based wind turbines.
If it is designated, the district of critical planning concern would trigger a one-year moratorium on wind projects over 150 feet.
But the farmers said it might derail an innovative plan to build a network of
Continue reading Wind Restrictions Could Thwart Farmers’ Plan to Power Schools…
Asked by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) for a formal opinion, the regional regulatory agency’s legal counsel has concluded that the commission has jurisdiction over not only the ocean waters off the shores of the six Vineyard towns, but over the ocean waters off the Elizabeth Islands’ shores as well.
The Elizabeth Islands form the town of Gosnold, the seventh Dukes County town. Cuttyhunk, the westernmost island in the town of Gosnold, is the most heavily populated of the
Continue reading MVC counsel says agency rules Gosnold’s waters too…
Plan lacks details on protected species
With less than one month before Massachusetts environmental officials are expected to sign off on the draft Ocean Management Plan, Vineyard critics were buoyed recently by a letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to the state. FWS said the plan lacks an analysis of alternative wind energy areas in federal waters and does not fully address the risks to protected migratory bird species.
Thomas R. Chapman, FWS New England Field
Continue reading Feds Comment on Ocean Plan…
Governor Deval Patrick yesterday announced that National Grid and Cape Wind have agreed to enter into negotiations for a long-term contract under which the utility would purchase the electricity generated by Cape Wind.
A “power purchase” agreement would be a critical requirement for financing the proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound, and getting it into construction and operation in time to qualify for federal incentives under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that would reduce the cost of the
Continue reading Governor Patrick announces that utility will negotiate to buy Cape Wind electricity…
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) will hold a public hearing on designation of the land zone of the Island Wind District of Critical Planning Concern (DCPC) on Thursday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 pm, at the MVC Offices at 33 New York Avenue in Oak Bluffs.
The MVC already designated the ocean zone of the Island Wind DCPC, which encompasses Island waters out to the 3-mile limit of the towns’ jurisdiction. The public hearing offers town boards and members of the
Continue reading MVC to hold wind DCPC land zone public hearing…
A delegation of Island officials met with a task force evaluating commercial wind projects in federal waters on November 19. The task force is working under the authority of the United State Minerals Management Service (MMS), the federal agency that permits wind power projects in federal waters, which extend from 3 to 200 miles offshore.
The Island group represented by selectmen from all six towns, as well as public officials from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, Dukes County, and the Wampanoag
Continue reading Island delegation meets with feds on wind…
The Cape Cod Times online has a useful index of its coverage of the wind farms saga, at http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=SPECIAL01 .
Looking out from the magnificent expanse of the Gay Head Cliffs in Aquinnah, one of the few visible structures is the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge, located some 30 miles distant. The towers of the bridge stand 400 feet above mean sea level, the approximate height of the tower and blades of the current generation of large wind turbines. It is easy to understand why there is concern about impacts on scenic, natural and cultural resources from turbine development significantly closer
Continue reading Renewable Energy at What Cost? – Commentary…
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