Congressman: Delay Cape Wind; Says hearings are possible

[jpak]

http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2008/12/11/congressman-delay-cape-wind-may-hold-hea?blog=53

The chairman of the U.S. House committee that oversees the Coast Guard has asked that service to delay issuing a recommendation on the proposed Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound.

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Oberstar's request threatens yet another delay in the final federal decision on Cape Wind, which would be built in U.S. waters south of Cape Cod. The project initially was proposed more than seven years ago.

Cape Wind supporters say the 11th hour move recalls a behind-the-scenes effort several years ago by former (and now criminally convicted) U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, and U.S. Rep. Don Young, both Republicans, to move legislation that effectively would have barred the wind farm's construction. Project supporters say the 11th hour move recalls a behind-the-scenes effort several years ago by former (and now criminally convicted) U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, and U.S. Rep. Don Young, both Republicans, to move legislation that effectively would have barred Cape Wind's construction.

The conservative Republicans had odd bedfellows in liberal Democrats U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who lives in Hyannis Port and routinely sails in Nantucket Sound, and U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, whose district includes the Cape and Islands. Both legislators have worked to stop the Cape Wind project.

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