Final Cape Wind review held until '09 (Mass.)

[jpak]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/12/19/final_cape_wind_review_held_until_09/

The federal Minerals Management Service expects to delay issuing its final environmental review of the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, previously expected by the end of the year, into 2009.

The new timetable means that the nation's first proposed offshore wind farm almost certainly will not gain final federal approval before the Bush administration leaves office Jan. 20.

Nicholas Pardi, spokesman for the agency, told the Globe last night that it does not "anticipate publishing by the end of the year."

The delay comes after the Coast Guard, on the heels of a request by Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota, decided to further review and hold a public comment period on a study it commissioned in October to evaluate the 130 turbines' impact on ship radar. The Coast Guard has provided the Minerals Management Service its findings but has said it will not give its final recommendations until after Jan. 15. Earlier this month, Coast Guard Captain Raymond Perry said any impact Cape Wind had on navigation could be mitigated.

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