State Approves Cape Wind Plan

Secretary of Environment Clears Jim Gordon's Wind Farm;
Federal Review Expected to Last Through Year

By IAN FEIN

The state's top environmental official ruled last week that
developers of the Cape Wind project have fulfilled their environmental
review requirements on the state level, and that the offshore wind farm
proposed for Nantucket Sound would provide significant benefits to air
quality and energy reliability in New England.

The decision cleared a major regulatory hurdle for Cape Wind, which
may now proceed with the remaining permits needed from state and local
agencies. Federal environmental review remains separate and ongoing, and
is expected to last at least another year.

In his written approval released on Friday, Massachusetts Secretary
of Environmental Affairs Ian A. Bowles addressed the project in the
context of a looming crisis posed by global climate change. He said the
clean energy produced by Cape Wind would displace enough greenhouse gas
emissions from fossil-fuel burning power plants that it would be
equivalent to taking 175,000 cars off the road.

"Global climate change, sea level rise, dependence on foreign
oil, and the health impacts of local and regional air pollution create
an urgent need for sustainable alternatives to energy produced from
fossil fuels. While new technologies are not without impacts themselves,
these pale in comparison to the scale of impacts that continued fossil
fuel emissions will have on the environment of Massachusetts,"
Secretary Bowles wrote in his 28-page certificate.

"Overall, the project represents a balanced and thoughtful
commitment to action that will contribute to the long-term preservation
and enhancement of our environment," he added.

A big win for Cape Wind supporters, the release of the certificate
was followed by a flurry of press conferences and public statements from
parties on all sides of the billion-dollar project. Cape Wind officials
repeated earlier assertions that their project, the first offshore wind
farm proposed in the United States, would help establish Massachusetts
as a worldwide leader in the emerging clean energy industry.

"We were pleased and gratified both at the findings in the
decision and the restatement of longstanding public policy goals in
Massachusetts of getting more power from renewable energy
sources," Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers said this week.
"This administration and Secretary Bowles recognize the important
regional economic and environmental benefits that a project like Cape
Wind can provide."

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound said in a statement on
Friday that the decision reflected a willingness by the administration
of Gov. Deval Patrick to "sacrifice Nantucket Sound in order to
advance its renewable energy agenda."

Cape Wind developers are looking to build 130 wind turbines spread
out over 25 square miles on Horseshoe Shoal. Supporters say the project
would provide three-quarters of the electricity needs of the Cape and
Islands and serve as a symbolic step toward cleaner energy in this
country, while opponents are concerned about aesthetic and navigation
impacts, among other things.

Secretary Bowles noted at a press conference last Friday that the
project underwent more than five years of environmental studies on the
state level, dating back to the original Cape Wind application in
November 2001. He explained that the purpose of the state's review
was "to ensure that the impacts of the construction and operation
of the portion of the project within Massachusetts jurisdiction have
been adequately avoided, minimized and mitigated."

"I find that they have," he added.

As part of his certificate, Secretary Bowles also unveiled on Friday
a $10 million mitigation package Cape Wind officials agreed to provide
as compensation for unavoidable impacts from the project. The package
would cover $780,000 for restoration of prime bird nesting habitat in
Buzzards Bay, and another $4.2 million toward future marine habitat and
coastal recreation projects around the Cape and Islands.

The $10 million sum also included an estimated $5.6 million in lease
payments that Cape Wind would provide for its use of public waters. The
federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandated lease payments for offshore
renewable energy projects in federal waters, and specified that 27 per
cent of those revenues will then be shared with the bordering state.

The proposed wind turbines are located entirely within federal
waters, more than three miles from shore, but state and local agencies
maintain jurisdiction over those aspects of the project that fall within
the commonwealth - namely, the two underwater transmission lines
that would tie the turbines into the New England electrical power grid.
The state environmental report filed by Cape Wind in February and
certified by Secretary Bowles last week will now serve as the working
reference document for those state and local agencies, which include the
Massachusetts Department of Environment Protection, Cape Cod Commission,
and town conservation commissions in Barnstable and Yarmouth.

Secretary Bowles acknowledged in his certificate that he limited the
scope of his review to potential impacts from the installation of the
underwater transmission cables, and deferred more detailed and lengthy
consideration of larger impacts from the overall project to the ongoing
federal review.

The Minerals Management Service, the federal agency with lead
regulatory authority for Cape Wind, is expected to issue its draft
environmental impact statement on the project later this month. Service
officials will then hold public hearings on the project, with a goal of
releasing a final report in early 2008 and making a permitting decision
soon thereafter.

Though opponents are expected to appeal any permits and tie the
project up in litigation, developers estimate that, under a best-case
scenario, construction could start sometime in 2009.

"We look forward to the day that the final permit decisions
can be made, based on whether the project will be found in public
interest. And we believe that it will," Mr. Rodgers said this
week. "At that time, we look forward to being able to provide
three-quarters of the electricity needs of the Cape and Islands from an
endless and clean energy source that is blowing right by us."