http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/07/cape_wind_is_dealt_a_setback/Cape Wind is dealt a setback
Bill would give Romney final say
By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | April 7, 2006
Governor Mitt Romney, an opponent of the wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound, would gain the authority to kill the controversial project under a tentative agreement reached yesterday in the US Senate.
After days of closed-door talks, members of Congress agreed on a measure that would grant the governor or his successor the right to block the wind farm proposed by Cape Wind Associates, Senate aides said. The break came yesterday when US Senator Gordon H. Smith, an Oregon Republican, switched sides and backed the measure giving the governor the authority to block the project, environmental advocates and Senate aides said.
The amendment is now expected to be attached to a broad Coast Guard authorization bill that would face floor votes in the House and the Senate, where its future remains unclear. Some expect the measure to generate a battle in the Senate, where Senator Pete V. Domenici, a New Mexico Republican and chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sharply criticized it this week as contradicting Congress's commitment to producing more renewable energy.
But environmental advocates agreed yesterday that the future looked bleak for Cape Wind..........