Cape Wind receives favorable federal environmental review

The offshore wind farm will still require several other federal, state, and local agency permits, and also faces the prospect of lawsuits by opponents, but Cape Wind president Jim Gordon said at a news conference this afternoon in Boston that he hopes the $1 billion-plus construction of the wind farm could begin by the end of the year, and that it could start producing energy by early 2012.

"We're right in view of the end zone," Gordon said. "This project has undergone over seven years of comprehensive vigorous environmental and socioeconomic review and each report validates the past report: That this project is the right project at the right time," said Gordon.

Mark Rodgers, spokesman for Cape Wind, said he expects that most of the remaining permits could be secured "this winter," except for a Federal Aviation Adminstration permit that he said could take until at least the spring to secure.

Meanwhile, the Interior Department’s inspector general is conducting an investigation of how the Minerals Management Service handled Cape Wind. "It is a little unusual, I will say, to have an [inspector general] inspection before a decision is made," Luthi said. The inspector general’s office did not immediately return a call requesting comment today.

Gordon said he expects Obama -- who is advocating for clean energy and even spoke at a wind-turbine-parts manufacturing facility today -- to support the project. However, he suggested that he couldn't take Obama's support for granted and that "nothing is easy when changing the status quo."

Obama is a close ally of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who has been an outspoken supporter of Cape Wind. But Obama also owes a huge political debt to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who has opposed the project. Kennedy's endorsement of Obama over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary was a game-changer.

In a statement released this afternoon, Kennedy said, “I do not believe that this action by the Interior Department will be sustained. The Cape Wind Project, among others, is currently under investigation by the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior. The FAA continues to review the project and still lists it as a hazard to aviation. The rules governing offshore wind development, with which Cape Wind and all other offshore wind projects must comply, have not even been promulgated yet. By taking this action, the Interior Department has virtually assured years of continued public conflict and contentious litigation.”

The Minerals Management Service, the agency charged with evaluating the impact of the project on wildlife, aviation, ship navigation, tourism, and a range of other concerns, received 42,000 public comments over the past year, which it responded to in its final review.

A draft environmental review of the project, released in January 2008, was also favorable, but the new report includes findings of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Fish and Wildlife Service that the project would not jeopardize the survival of key wildlife species in the region. It also includes recommendations from the US Coast Guard for avoiding navigational hazards.

Opponents of Cape Wind say that the federal agency’s release of the report on Cape Wind has been rushed and that concerns about the project’s impact on the view from historical and tribal ceremonial sites and navigational hazards have not been adequately considered. The central group leading the charge against Cape Wind, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, has promised lawsuits to prevent the construction of the wind farm and announced that it has started raising funds for a "legal defense fund."

Audra Parker, executive director of the group, said that because the Minerals Management Service has not yet finalized its rules for offshore renewable energy projects, the review of Cape Wind is premature.

“There’s no opportunity for the public to evaluate the project in the context of the rules,” Parker said. “It’s really putting the cart before the horse.”

Cape Wind officials still need eight state and local permits, which they hope to win by March. Cape Wind has asked the state Energy Facilities Siting Board -- which has the authority to overrule local boards in order to advance an energy project considered to be in the public's interest -- to consolidate and approve all those permits at once. The Siting Board is poised to issue a decision.

If it rules in Cape Wind's favor as expected, opponents of the wind farm would have only one remaining avenue to appeal all those state and local permits -- the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Gordon said that Cape Wind is thinking carefully about whether to begin construction if a legal challenge is ongoing.