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State Upholds Study on Cape Wind Farm

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 15:01 CDT

Aug. 10--The state's top environmental official rejected calls yesterday for a time-consuming new study of a proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound, ruling that a change in the layout of the 130 wind turbines did not raise new issues. The ruling, lauded by proponents and opponents of the Cape Wind project, ended what one supporter called "the rock-pile sideshow" in the long-running fight about what would be the first offshore wind farm in the United States.

"The changes to the Cape Wind project . . . were minor and completely anticipated," said Seth Kaplan of the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation, which strongly supports wind power.

He said state Environmental Affairs Secretary Stephen Pritchard "showed integrity by not using this technical process as an excuse to slow down review of the Cape Wind project."

Cape Wind has proposed moving 30 of the 423-foot turbines from their original blueprint, in part to get farther away from a newly discovered truck-size pile of rocks that federal mappers declared part of Massachusetts. To limit state authority over the project, Cape Wind needed to move 10 turbines more than 3 miles from the rocks so the whole project is in federal waters. The developers said they moved the other 20 to reduce the impact on fishing and other resources.

But the well-organized opponents of the wind farm, which would be within 6 miles of Cape Cod, had called for a new environmental impact study, saying the layout changes could do more damage to fishing grounds. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, along with the Massachusetts Fishermen's Partnership, organized a campaign that sent hundreds of postcards to state regulators calling for the new study.

However, Pritchard, who took office last month, ruled that the turbine reshuffling "does not introduce new project elements" and does not need a supplemental environmental impact study beyond the one that received initial state approval in March. Under an agreement with federal regulators, Cape Wind is producing one environmental impact study that will be used by state as well as federal agencies that must approve the project.

Ernie Corrigan, spokesman for the alliance, which opposes the wind farm, said Pritchard's decision was good for that group's cause, too. Although Pritchard rejected the call for a new formal study of the wind farm, he told Cape Wind to fully address the impact of the wind turbines on fishing, underwater archeology, and other issues. "We got some of the things we wanted," said Corrigan, noting that Cape Wind still has substantial research to do before its environmental impact report can be finalized.

But Kaplan said "the rock-pile sideshow" was a diversion, and Pritchard's decision was mainly symbolic that the state is going to be fair in its review, even though Governor Mitt Romney opposes the location of the wind farm. "For almost any other project, a very minor notice of project change" like Cape Wind's "would be no news at all," Kaplan said.

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Source: The Boston Globe

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