Saving energy on State agenda - Patrick, at MIT, talks renewables

...Mr. Patrick said the controversial Cape Wind turbine farm planned for Nantucket Sound would be “a powerful symbol of our clean energy future that could be the first offshore wind farm in the U.S., right off our coast in Massachusetts.”

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Click here to read this article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette

More than 40,000 individuals and organizations have submitted comments on an environmental review of the wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound, according to federal officials.

"I've never seen anything like this before," said Rodney Cluck, Cape Wind project manager for the U.S. Minerals Management Service, the lead federal agency to review Cape Wind Associates' plan to build 130 wind turbines in the sound.
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Click here to read this article in the Cape Cod Times

Bird Island, a 3-acre teardrop of sand and rock at the mouth of Sippican Harbor, is shrinking with every storm that rakes the coastline. Disappearing with the tiny island is precious nesting area for endangered roseate terns.

But a cooperative effort of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, state environmental officials and Cape Wind developers aims to shore up the island's breakwater and restore critical nesting area for the endangered birds. The cost: Nearly $4 million.
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Click here to read this article in the New Bedford Standard Times

Harvard Business School's First Look, that summarizes new working papers, case studies, and publications produced by Harvard Business School faculty, has this entry about a new case study on Cape Wind:

Cape Wind: Offshore Wind Energy in the USA  (Harvard Business School Case 708-022)

Cape Wind is an extreme example of NIMBY—not in my backyard syndrome. This is the first offshore wind project planned for the United States, in Nantucket Sound, just south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Initially proposed six years ago, in 2001, the wind farm would be visible from Hyannis Port and Osterville, two affluent communities. The coastal residents of those towns have led a campaign in Massachusetts and in Congress to thwart the efforts of Cape Wind. This case introduces the global wind industry, the rationale for wind, and then carefully reviews the various issues associated with the project.

Click here to purchase this case from Harvard Business School 

SOUTH BOSTON — Cape Wind Associates president Jim Gordon has refrained from commenting at a public hearing on his proposal to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound.

That changed last night.

"I have attended all of these public hearings and, until tonight, have not spoken, but rather intently listened to the heartfelt and passionate comments from both supporters and opponents," Gordon said in an expansive gymnasium on the campus of the University of Massachusetts.

Gordon talked about the region's history and how its citizens have responded to great challenges in the past. He called Cape Wind a response to one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century: addressing global warming.

Note: Click here to read this article in the Cape Cod Times

WBZ-4 Covered the first MMS Cape Wind Public Hearing in Yarmouth in their 6PM and 11PM news broadcasts Monday evening.  During their 11PM broadcast, News Anchor Lisa Hughes announced the results of their new Fast Track statewide poll that found 86% support Cape Wind, 8% oppose it and 6% are not sure.

Click here to view the 6PM WBZ-4 News Segment

Click here to view the 11PM WBZ-4 News Segment

BOSTON -- Backers of a proposal to build 130 windmills across 25 miles of federal waters in Nantucket Sound will get what may be their best, last chance to make their case to federal regulators at a series of four public hearings this week.

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Click here to read this Associated Press article

Support for the Cape Wind turbine farm project in Nantucket Sound has climbed to its highest level ever statewide (86 percent) and on the Cape/Islands (74 percent), due in part to the positive and widely publicized draft environmental impact statement (EIS) released in January 2008 by the U.S. Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS).

Made public just days before a series of public hearings to be held statewide on Cape Wind, the new scientific survey of more than 1,200 state residents was conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) for the independent Civil Society Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank located in Newton, MA.
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Click here to read more about the Civil Society Institute Poll

Parade Magazine Feature:

Cape Cod, Mass., is deeply rooted in tradition and its maritime past. Historic church steeples fill the skyline, 300-year-old sea captains’ homes dot the landscape, and sailboats grace the oceanic horizons.  So when an energy entrepreneur proposed building a massive ocean-based wind-energy project in nearby waters, locals were understandably shocked. Although similar projects had operated successfully in European waters, none existed in the United States. Few Cape Codders were familiar with the ultramodern technology.

Note: Click here to read this article in Parade Magazine

The nation's first proposed offshore wind-energy project cleared its most formidable hurdle yesterday as the US Minerals Management Service declared that the wind farm off Cape Cod would have little lasting impact on wildlife, navigation, and tourism.

The agency's nearly 2,000-page draft environmental impact statement makes clear that the federal government is inclined to approve construction of the 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound, 5 miles from the nearest coastline, unless major new concerns arise during a public comment period. Federal approval would probably come late this year or early next year, and remaining state permits are not expected to be a major obstacle, given that Governor Deval Patrick is in favor of the project.
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Click here to read this article in the Boston Globe

Read related articles:  Cape Cod Times, Providence Journal, Boston Channel (ABC Ch.5 WCVB)