Wind resistance
OPPONENTS OF big transportation or energy projects can stop them by showing that they do not justify the cost or environmental harm they would cause. Or, as is often the case, they can drag out the regulatory process so the builder of the project simply runs out of money.
The plan to construct the nation's first big offshore wind energy project in Nantucket Sound could face such a risk. While the main permitting authority, the Army Corps of Engineers, came up with its largely positive report on the project late last year, the state Energy Facilities Siting Board is taking an inordinate amount of time to render its judgment on one small part of the proposal.
The 454-megawatt project would supply three-quarters of the power needs of Cape Cod and the islands. The Army Corps report indicated it could generate this totally emission-free power without significant harm to the environment or wildlife. The project is the only means on the horizon for the state to meet its legal requirement of increasing the share of power generated by renewable sources to 4 percent by 2009.
Because Cape Wind plans to locate all its turbines in federal waters, the role of the state siting board is only to rule up or down on the twin 18-mile underground transmission cables that would connect the turbine field with a utility switching station in Barnstable. In July of last year -- eight months ago -- the staff of the siting board approved the lines.
The siting board itself was then supposed to make its decision after a 60-day public comment period but failed to do so. On Nov. 30, the board granted a request from opponents that it delay the decision while it considers the opponents' plea that the board first examine the Army Corps report to see if material in it is relevant to the cables decision.
Cape Wind officials said this was unnecessary; that the Army Corps report contained nothing of significance relating to the cables that was not available to the staff before it made its decision in July. But the board asked a hearing officer to look over the report and decide whether the cables case should be reopened. Now, more than three months later, that officer's ruling has yet to be issued.
All of this can be seen simply as a conscientious state board bending over backwards to hear all possible arguments before delivering its ruling. But when board members serve under a governor, Mitt Romney, who has been a vocal opponent of the Cape Wind project, it is difficult to give the board the benefit of the doubt. The board's slow pace looks more like stalling. Cape Wind deserves to be measured on its merits, not on whether it can outlast its opponents and a governor who supports renewables in words but not actions. 