Massachusetts Lawmakers Advocate Cape Wind Approval

Cape Wind's proposal to build America's first offshore wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal would provide three-quarters of the electricity used on Cape Cod and the Islands from clean, renewable energy - reducing this region's need to import oil, coal and gas.

Representative Frank Smizik authored the letter. Chairman of the new Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change in the Massachusetts House of Representatives Smizik, said he was pleased to have obtained nearly 30 additional signatures less than a month after he first submitted the letter with 78 signatures.

"Projects that start controversial up here usually stay controversial. Not Cape Wind," said Smizik. "Rarely have I seen legislators come to such a consensus in support of a project as they learn more about it, and this letter – with a strong and ever-growing majority of the legislature signing on – represents that."

"It's clear to me that people realize Cape Wind is a development that is good for the environment, good for the economy, and overall a real win for Massachusetts," he said.

There are a total of 200 Members of the Massachusetts Legislature. Chairman Smizik expects the number of members who have signed onto this letter to continue to grow.

Those in favor of Cape Wind have been lobbying Massachusetts lawmakers for a long time. This rally was held at the State House November 2005. (Photo courtesy Clean Power Now)

Secretary Salazar is expected to issue a Record of Decision on the Cape Wind project in the near future. The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service issued Cape Wind a favorable Final Environmental Impact Statement in January.

In March, the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board voted unanimously to issue Cape Wind a Composite Certificate that will finalize state permitting.

"I am pleased that a majority of the Massachusetts Legislature along with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and 86 percent of the citizens of Massachusetts support Cape Wind and want Massachusetts to become home to the nation's first offshore wind farm," said Cape Wind President Jim Gordon. "Cape Wind is shovel-ready."

Last month one of the most respected environmental organizations on Cape Cod, the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, came out in favor of Cape Wind, joining the Cape Cod Chapter of the League of Women Voters and the Woods Hole Research Center, along with several national environmental and labor organizations, in support of Cape Wind.

"I have witnessed growing support for Cape Wind throughout my District on Cape Cod," said Matt Patrick, representative of the 3rd Barnstable District which includes the shoreline nearest to Cape Wind's proposed offshore wind turbines.

Two independent public opinion polls have found statewide support for Cape Wind to be 86 percent.

However, many local leaders are opposed to the Cape Wind project, saying it is irresponsibly sited and will damage the local environment, fisheries, economy, Tribal and historic interests and public safety.

On April 1, the Cape Cod Commission submitted official comments to the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management characterizing Cape Wind as "inconsistent" with its Regional Policy Plan as well as the Local Comprehensive Plans of the towns of Barnstable and Yarmouth.

In February, the Town of Barnstable filed a lawsuit against Massachusetts over Cape Wind Nantucket Sound Wind Farm permiiting issues.

And U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, has opposed Cape Wind for years. "Hundreds of flashing lights to warn airplanes away from the turbines will steal the stars and nighttime views," Kennedy wrote in a 2005 New York Times op-ed. "The noise of the turbines will be audible onshore ... the project will damage the views from 16 historic sites and lighthouses on the Cape and nearby islands."

Some Massachusetts legislators are still on the fence. State Senate President Therese Murray for instance, has not stated a position with regard to Cape Wind, according to a press spokesperson with her office.

The letter from Massachusetts lawmakers coincides with an event in Newark, Delaware where Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary Salazar are highlighting offshore wind power development in the United States.

Biden, Salazar and U.S. Senator Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, today visited the University of Delaware, where they underscored the importance of alternative energy development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, especially offshore wind resources for Delaware and other Atlantic coastal states.

On Earth Day, President Barack Obama announced that Interior had finalized a long-awaited framework for renewable energy production on the Outer Continental Shelf.

"This administration sees the ever-lasting benefits in a clean-energy future. With this rule, the Interior Department is unlocking our vast offshore renewable resources," said Biden. "By harnessing offshore wind power and other resources we will be able to power tens of millions of homes using clean, renewable power."

"This new framework, completed in the first 100 days of President Obama's administration, will enhance our energy security, create the foundation for a new offshore energy sector and share much-needed revenues from this development with coastal states."

"Harnessing our nation's offshore wind means reliable power, cleaner air and new American jobs," said Senator Carper. "These new renewable energy regulations ensure Delaware can move forward with one of the first offshore wind projects in the United States."

The National Renewable Energy Lab has identified more than 1,000 gigawatts of wind potential off the Atlantic coast.

The wind resource off the Mid-Atlantic coast could supply the energy needs of nine states from Massachusetts to North Carolina, plus the District of Columbia, with enough left over to support a 50 percent increase in future energy demand, according to a 2007 study by researchers at the University of Delaware and Stanford University.

The scientists found that the wind over the Middle Atlantic Bight, the aquatic region from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, could produce 330 gigawatts of average electrical power if thousands of wind turbines were installed off the coast.

Their estimate is based on the installation of 166,720 wind turbines, each generating up to five megawatts of power. The wind turbines would be located at varying distances from shore, out to 100 meters of water depth, over an ocean area spanning more than 50,000 square miles, from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras.

But with not one offshore wind farm now generating power in the United States, how likely are we to actually install more than 100,000 wind turbines off the Mid-Atlantic coast?

Co-author Willett Kempton at the University of Delaware said it's a matter of priority. "Today, market forces and incremental technology developments will gradually make offshore wind the least-cost power in more and more East Coast locations," Kempton said. "On the other hand, if climate change becomes a much greater priority for the United States, our study shows how we could displace more than half the carbon dioxide emissions of the Mid-Atlantic area quickly, using existing technology."

The estimated power supply from offshore wind substantially exceeds the region's current energy use, which the scientists estimate at 185 gigawatts, from electricity, gasoline, fuel oil and natural gas sources.

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