Proposal for First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Closer to Becoming Reality

by Climate Weekly – March 17, 2009

The Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board has vote unanimously to grant Cape Wind a Certificate of Environmental Impact and Public Interest that effectively rolls up all nine state and local permits related to the electric cables for the nation's first offshore wind farm into one composite certificate. This vote comes on the heels of a U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service decision that the proposed wind farm will not have a major impact on navigation, fishing, or tourism in the area.

Cape Wind's president, Jim Gordon, said the decision represents a "major victory for the people of Massachusetts who are waiting for the clean energy jobs from Cape Wind which will help us become more energy independent and make Massachusetts a global leader in clean offshore wind energy production."

The Siting Board instructed Cape Wind to work with two Cape Cod towns, Yarmouth and Barnstable, to come to terms on "reasonable and customary conditions" for town permits related to the proposed 130-turbine wind farm's electric cables. This process should conclude, Cape Wind reported, by the time the Siting Board takes its final vote on the farm, which would extend over 24 square miles in Nantucket Sound. That vote is expected to conclude the state and local permitting process.