Cape Wind project passes environmental approval check

[TayTay]

Looks like this project is one very important step closer to being built. Gov. Deval Patrick is on record as being in favor of the project, while Sen. Ted Kennedy is against it. (Sen. Kerry was neutral and wanted to see the studies done first that assessed the environmental impact.)

Cape Wind gets Mass. permit approval

BOSTON, March 30 (UPI) -- Cape Wind's Final Environmental Impact Report was approved Friday by Massachusetts Office of Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles.

"If we can move expeditiously, Massachusetts can become a global leader in offshore renewable energy," said Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind.

The project has already received siting board approval from the state on transmission line construction and now has approval from the Office of Environmental Affairs. Cape Wind still needs several state and local permit approvals and is also awaiting a new draft of the Environmental Impact Statement from the federal Mineral Management Services due at the end of April.

Bowles also said the project would achieve carbon dioxide emission reductions equivalent to taking 175,000 cars off the road.

More at: http://www.upi.com/Energy/view.php?StoryID=20070330-124432-8907r

[beachmom]

1. I hope it moves forward.

Wind power is used in northern Germany big time and I drove through that area and did not find them unsightly at all. It's not like they're power lines. That sure puts Sen. Kerry between a rock and a hard place, if the assessments come out favorably. I hope he will come out and support it, and hope Teddy will understand why.

[karynnj]

2. I agree with you

I saw some of the wind turbins on the coast of Cornwall as we drove down to see Tintagel. They were different than the Cape ones as they were on the shore.

Wasn't Kerry's concern more about the fishing industry than beach views? At least one thing I read said that - and that is a more reasonable concern.

[europegirl4jfk]

6. I'll take wind turbines over nuclear power plants every day

Wind power is used a lot here in France now as well, especially in the windy Rhone valley and also along the southern Mediterranean coast. I'm all for these projects because they are an alternative to nuclear energy. IMO France has much to much nuclear power plants and most people here aren't very critical on nuclear energy.

[Mass]

3. Interestingly, Murray was against it, because of the big business aspect vs

decentralization. He said during the campaign he would have preferred that energy issues be handled at a more local level. (this is when I started to consider him more closely).

[MBS]

4. I share Sen. Kennedy's (and also RFK Jr's ) hesitation on this

I'm all for alternate renewable energy, including wind power, but siting of wind power projects is not a trivial issue: it's very very important in terms of environmental impact. Being from California, I've seen people learn this the hard way. The giant projects in places like Altamont Pass etc are great in principle, but , it turns out, a source of significant mortality for migratory birds. And this was only discovered late in the process, AFTER the project was up and running. .

I take my cues from RFK Jr. As long as he's skeptical about Cape Wind, I'm skeptical. I'm glad that JK has stayed neutral on this up to now.

[kerrygoddess]

5. It's a tough call

I share your concerns for the birds and the fishing industry as well. It's a real catch 22 situation in my opinion. We new alternatives, but the wind farms can wreck havoc.

[mloutre]

7. I like wind power, but I'm against it being used in this location.

I have a lot of home-location experience with the theory and practice of wind-turbine generation of electricity, and I am an advocate of it being used where it makes good sense.

I just don't think that it being used at Cape Wind makes good sense. Too many negatives outweighing the positives in that specific location. Yes, do it; but do it somewhere else.