The town of Gosnold has written to the state indicating its willingness to allow wind turbines to be located in its waters, and its determination that it be able to negotiate its own terms for any development, free of interference from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
“If our needs are met, we are willing to have a commercial wind project sited in our town waters,” the Gosnold selectmen wrote in a letter to Ian Bowles, Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental
Continue reading Gosnold Embraces Wind Farm Plan…
After nearly two years of rejections and revisions, Aquinnah voters agreed at a special town meeting on Tuesday night to adopt a bylaw to regulate private and public wind turbines. Crafted as an amendment to the townwide district of critical planning concern, the bylaw is the first of its kind to be adopted on the Vineyard.
But approval did not come without a wide-ranging debate that was at times passionate.
“If you believe in global warming, I think you should
Continue reading Aquinnah Voters Adopt Rules on Wind Turbines…
To Islanders, the debate over the Cape Wind plan for Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound was a curiosity, except to fervent wind energy enthusiasts.
Proposals to locate wind turbine installations in Buzzards Bay, some in the western reaches of the bay visible from Cuttyhunk Island, some of them close to the North Shore of Naushon Island stimulated even less concern among us. Cuttyhunk and Naushon are parts of the Elizabeth Islands, which is Gosnold, the sixth Dukes County town.
Continue reading Editorial: On balance, the forthright answer is, not here…
Aquinnah voters approved new zoning regulations governing wind turbines, at a special town meeting Tuesday. The new bylaws aim to reduce the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity, using a combination of energy conservation and the local generation from renewable sources. The zoning law amendments required and got a two-thirds majority in favor.
Forty-six voters participated Tuesday evening, but a quorum call after eight of the 12 articles on the warrant had been approved revealed that too few voters
Continue reading Aquinnah Adopts Energy Conservation By-laws…
Aquinnah voters approved new zoning regulations governing wind turbines, at a special town meeting Tuesday. The new bylaws aim to reduce the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity, using a combination of energy conservation and the local generation from renewable sources. The zoning law amendments required and got a two-thirds majority in favor.
Forty-six voters participated Tuesday evening, but a quorum call after eight of the 12 articles on the warrant had been approved revealed that too few voters
Continue reading Aquinnah Voters Approve New Wind Zoning Regulations…
Appropriate Scale
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
The following letter was sent to Sen. Robert O’Leary and Rep. Timothy Madden:
I appreciate the opportunity to meet with both of you over the past few weeks to discuss the draft oceans plan. As we discussed, through this planning process, the commonwealth is setting the pace for marine spatial planning at a national level.
I write to follow up on our discussions about renewable energy development provisions of the plan. In this letter I
Continue reading Secretary Bowles Versus the Vineyard…
If is true that the third time is a charm, then town leaders in Aquinnah may see their long hours of hard work on a wind energy bylaw pay off when they bring it in front of voters at a special town meeting on Tuesday night.
Rejected twice by Aquinnah voters at town meetings in the past two years, the bylaw has been shortened, reworked and rewritten to make it more readable.
“This is a different version that reflects the
Continue reading Third Test for Wind Bylaw, Rewritten for Aquinnah to Pass…
Six thousand years ago, according to native legend and scientific calculation, Nantucket Sound was dry land, and people probably lived and hunted and fished there. Until global warming caused the sea to rise and cover the place.
Ironically, the fact of that long-ago drowning now has become the basis of the latest challenge to the Cape Wind proposal to build a wind farm in Nantucket Sound. The big selling point of Cape Wind is that it would generate power without
Continue reading Tribe Scores a Key Win In Fight Over Cape Wind…
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission has been promised the final say over all wind power developments in Island waters, following a concerted campaign by all levels of Vineyard local government against a state plan earmarking them for commercial wind generation.
This was the message delivered to the Island from Ian Bowles, state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, this week through the Cape and Islands legislative delegation.
Rep. Timothy Madden.
“I think he has heard loud and clear the
Continue reading State Energy Secretary Delivers Concessions on the Oceans Plan…
Aquinnah voters will be asked to take action on a slate of new zoning regulations governing wind turbines and a proposal to lower the quorum when they gather for a special town meeting set to begin at 7 pm next Tuesday in the old town hall.
The warrant could move some voters to quote Yogi Berra, famed Yankees manager, and declare it “a case of déjà vu all over again.”
In 2008, beginning with the annual town meeting in
Continue reading Wind regs top Aquinnah special town meeting warrant…
Ian Bowles, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEA), will meet tomorrow in Boston with a delegation of Island officials to discuss their concerns about provisions of the Oceans Act plan. They will press Mr. Bowles for local control of wind development in Vineyard waters. The meeting will convene at the EOEA offices at 100 Cambridge Street, at 1 pm.
State Sen. Robert O’Leary and state Rep. Timothy Madden have described themselves as negotiating with
Continue reading Islanders press for local say in Oceans Act…
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission voted without dissent last night to designate the waters around the Vineyard as a district of critical planning concern, cementing a yearlong moratorium on building wind farms in nearshore waters while rules are developed.
But a parallel plan to nominate an Islandwide DCPC on land for wind power developments was successfully resisted by the Edgartown selectmen, who are intent on building a 363-foot tall wind turbine at the town wastewater plant.
Key State Ruling
Continue reading Islandwide DCPC Voted Over Water; Edgartown Opts Out of One on Land…
A decision on whether to list Nantucket Sound on the National Register of Historic Places is now in the hands of the National Park Service.
Read more at the Cape Cod Times
Ian Bowles, Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEA), will meet Friday in Boston with a delegation of Island officials to discuss their concerns about the provisions of the Oceans Act. The time has not been set. The location will be EOEA’s offices, at 100 Cambridge Street.
State Rep. Tim Madden arranged the meeting, according to Lisa Capone, EOEA spokesman. Representatives of each of the six Island boards of selectmen, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, Dukes
Continue reading Secretary Bowles to meet with Island officials…
Bill aims to ease gridlock around appeals process
With more than a third of the major wind-energy projects in Massachusetts stalled by lawsuits or permit appeals, the Patrick administration has proposed a landmark bill that would streamline the state’s appeals process and make it possible to win approval of such projects much more quickly.
Massachusetts now generates less than 1 percent of the nation’s wind energy, about 9 megawatts, enough to power only about 2,700 homes. Without a change in
Continue reading State presses wind projects…
|
|
