Markey urges federal Cape Wind approval

By Beth Daley
GLOBE STAFF

Although U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey is chair of a congressional climate change committee and a co-sponsor of clean energy legislation, he’s never explicitly come out in favor of the proposed Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound.

Yet today, Markey wrote a strongly worded two-page letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar urging him to approve the Cape Wind project before next month’s international climate talks in Copenhagen.

“Approving the Cape Wind project as the nation’s first commercial offshore wind project before the start of the U.N. conference would send a strong message to international negotiators about the United States’ commitment to developing sources of clean energy and reducing global warming pollution,’’ Markey wrote.

Markey has long indicated support, but said he was waiting to give his okay on the proposed 130-turbine wind farm until it went through a full environmental review. Eight years after the project was first proposed that final, favorable review was issued by the U.S. Minerals Management Service earlier this year. But Salazar has yet to issue the final permit.

So why did Markey write the letter now?

Environmentalists say he may have been motivated by a new delay to the project that Gov. Deval Patrick has labeled “ridiculous”: A ruling by Massachusetts' top historical officer that Nantucket Sound is eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Two Wampanoag tribes have called for the listing because in part they say their sun salutation would be disturbed by the spinning turbines.

With U.S. legislation on reducing greenhouse gases stalled in Washington, observers say, there is a growing belief the U.S. needs to attend the talks with some green promise in hand – even if it's only approval to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm.

“We’re grateful,’’ said George Bachrach, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. “We think it’s an important step forward for Cape Wind.”

"The timing is odd,'' given it comes a week after the state historical ruling, said Audra Parker of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the main opposition group to the project.

Still, Sue Reid of the advocacy group Conservation Law Foundation said “we are really buoyed by it. It comes at a crucial time for the project.”

Here is the letter.