Cape Wind reaction: 'America needs all the clean electrons it can get'

Here are some of the reactions to the announcement today of Interior Department approval of the Cape Wind project, the nation's first offshore wind farm:

Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind Associates

“Secretary Salazar’s decision today to approve Cape Wind has launched the American offshore wind industry. It allows our nation to harness an abundant and inexhaustible clean energy source for greater energy independence, a healthier environment and green jobs.”

US Senator Scott Brown

"I am strongly opposed to the administration’s misguided decision to move
forward with Cape Wind. While I support the concept of wind power as an
alternative source of energy, Nantucket Sound is a national treasure that
should be protected from industrialization."

US Senator John F. Kerry

"This day was a long time in coming, but I believe the future of wind power in the Massachusetts and the United States will be stronger knowing that the process was exhaustive, and that it was allowed to work and wind its way through the vetting at all levels with public input. I have always advocated wind energy in Massachusetts and I accept and support Secretary Salazar's judgment today that Cape Wind should go forward. This is jobs and clean energy for Massachusetts."

Paul Kirk, a close friend of Sen. Ted Kennedy who served as interim senator after Kennedy's death

``He would have been gravely disappointed,'' Kirk said. ``I think this is seriously misguided. To me, this is like putting a big box store in West Barnstable Village before you figure out what the total zoning plan is for the town.''

George Bachrach, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts

"The approval of Cape Wind is a critical step toward ending our reliance on foreign oil and achieving energy independence. It is also an important milestone in our country’s commitment to renewable energy that will both reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and begin our conversion to a new economic engine focused on green technology and jobs. No place better for the new economy to begin than in Mass."

Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club

"Today's announcement is a huge victory for clean energy. Clean energy like offshore wind power will help create safe, sustainable jobs, and true energy independence. Projects like this one will help infuse new life into our economy and help make us a leader in the global clean energy marketplace."

Kert Davies, Greenpeace research director

"Today's announcement that Cape Wind is moving forward is an enormous step forward toward America's clean energy future and the fight to solve global warming. It is a shot of welcome good news in the face of climate and energy policy confusion in Washington and an oil spill of epic proportions in the Gulf."

Denise Bode, chief executive of the American Wind Energy Association

"Such forward-thinking decisions are necessary for the U.S. to realize the many environmental and economic benefits of offshore wind. The U.S. offshore wind industry will build on the success and the lessons learned from the nearly twenty years of experience in Europe to provide clean, pollution-free, electricity along the coasts and in the Great Lakes."

US Representative Edward Markey

“The same winds that delivered the Mayflower to Massachusetts and created the Perfect Storm will now deliver a clean energy future to Massachusetts and create new jobs. America’s energy future can now ride the winds of change out of our dirty energy doldrums."

Jennifer Nassour, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican party

"Today political convenience has trumped environmental conservation. It’s no surprise that Governor Deval Patrick would support such an imprudent decision on Cape Wind from his buddy President Obama. Instead of preserving the environmental sanctuary of the Cape Cod shoreline, Governor Patrick chose to line his campaign coffers and pay back National Grid and Cape Wind for their sweetheart deal. Governor Patrick should immediately return donations from National Grid executives."

Katherine Kennedy, air and energy program counsel, Natural Resources Defense Council

"Because it is a first-of-its-kind facility – the decision will jumpstart the American offshore wind industry, a key element of moving forward with building a green economy and creating green jobs. It will pave the way for other facilities to get off the ground nationwide and do it more quickly and than in the past. This helps our country enter the global race to become a world leader on clean energy – Europe & China are already in the game."

Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee

"Developing our offshore wind resources will be good for our country. America needs all the clean electrons it can get."

Barbara Hill, executive director of Clean Power Now

"We applaud Secretary Salazar for his vision and leadership in making this landmark decision and look forward to the day when the wind farm in Nantucket Sound will be producing the majority of the electrical needs of the Cape and islands establishing our region as a national model of sustainability and a clean energy future."

Sue Reid, senior attorney, Conservation Law Foundation

"Today’s decision to move ahead with Cape Wind is particularly profound when contrasted with the environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf,” said Sue Reid, senior attorney, Conservation Law Foundation. “Many voices have been heard in the Cape Wind debate, but none argue as strongly for clean, renewable energy as events like these.”

U.S. Representative Democrat Bill Delahunt of Quincy

``Cape Wind is the first offshore wind farm in the wrong place, in the wrong way, and stimulating the wrong economies,'' Delahunt said, adding that the project will benefit Germany, where the turbines are made, and Rhode Islands, where they will be assembled. Kennedy's ``love for the Cape was in his recognition that it is a magical place. It's not to protect wealthy landowners, or people with trophy homes, but to retain the magical quality that people on the Cape and the Islands enjoy year round, and other Americans and international visitors come to embrace.''