The expected release date is December 5, 2008

Boston Globe, December 2, 2008 - The Bush administration is expected to issue as early as Friday a favorable final environmental review of the nation’s first offshore wind farm project, clearing the way for Cape Wind to obtain a federal lease to erect 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound.

This computer-generated image showed what a view of Cape Wind farm would look like from Oak Bluffs. The developer expects the turbines will produce 170 megawatts of power a year.

Nicholas Pardi, a spokesman for the Minerals Management Service, said last week that the agency, part of the Interior Department, is planning to release its findings “by the end of the year.” Supporters of the project who have been told of the agency’s timetable said a favorable review should come in the next few weeks and possibly on Dec. 5.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne would then have to wait 30 days to make the decision official and award the lease allowing the project to be located in federal waters. The supporters, as well the leader of the main opposition group, said they believe the administration wants this accomplished before Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

Final state backing could follow early next year, said a spokesman for the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, culminating the developer’s long struggle to gain approval for what seemed like a green power pipe dream when it was announced seven years ago: A giant wind farm anchored in the waters off Cape Cod.

“This is important not only for Massachusetts but for the nation as a whole,” said Jack Clarke, director of public policy and government relations for Mass Audubon, a conservation group that came out in support of the project after evaluating its impact on wildlife.

Mark Rodgers, communications director for Cape Wind, said the company predicts the $1 billion project could be operating by 2011, though opponents have said they will go to court to try to block it. The developer expects the turbines to produce about 170 megawatts of power a year, equivalent to almost three-quarters of the average electricity demand for the Cape and Islands.

The proposal from a once little-known company has endured years of environmental review, several rounds of political maneuvering by the likes of Senator Edward M. Kennedy and former governor Mitt Romney, and strong opposition from a group of homeowners on the Cape and Islands. They worry that the 440-foot-high turbines, visible on the horizon, would mar their views, depress property values, and deter tourists. But the project has gained momentum as the public’s appetite has grown for renewable energy to help forestall global warming. The turbines would be placed about five to eight miles from the Cape coast.

The Minerals Management Service signaled its inclination to approve the project when it issued a draft environmental review in January, which concluded that it would cause little harm to migratory birds and fish and have a “minor” impact on tourism. The agency solicited comments on the draft report from the public and from state and other federal agencies, and they will be considered in the final environmental impact statement.

Last month, the US Fish and Wildlife Service forwarded a report to the minerals agency saying that the project would not jeopardize the survival of two bird species protected under the Endangered Species Act, piping plovers and roseate terns.

Aside from the final environmental review, Cape Wind cannot get its lease until the agency finalizes federal regulations governing offshore wind projects, scheduled for completion by the end of December.

At the state level, the Office of Coastal Zone Management must still approve the project, and Cape Wind is seeking a “composite” permit that will wrap several remaining local permits into one, quicker approval process, said Robert Keough, spokesman for the energy and environmental affairs agency. He said that these steps could be concluded “weeks” into the new year.

But the project is expected to face new obstacles, including the financial crisis.

“Now is not a good time to raise money for anything,” said Ethan Zindler, head of North American research for New Energy Finance, a company that sells research to renewable energy investors. “But the good news about that project is that it is going to potentially provide a massive amount of clean energy in a very tight market.”

Massachusetts’ requirement that a certain percentage of the state’s electricity come from renewable energy ensures wind power will have a market, said Zindler, and may help Cape Wind attract financiers despite the economy.

People on all sides predict legal challenges as well. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which opposes Cape Wind, is already pointing to what it sees as flaws in the federal approval process. The group believes the outgoing administration has overlooked environmental and aviation safety concerns in a rush to approve the project. The environmental review may be issued before the Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration have completed their final studies of the project, but their analyses of Cape Wind’s impact on navigation and air safety could be incorporated into the terms of the lease.

The Minerals Management Service “is trying to shortcut the review process and pressure other agencies to get this approved under the Bush Administration,” said Audra Parker, the alliance’s executive director. “We are prepared to do what it takes to defeat this project, and if that requires litigation, we will do that.”

Others believe the decision is coming too late.

“The big picture failure to get this zero-emissions renewable generation online in New England is a real shame,” said Seth Kaplan of the Conservation Law Foundation, a Boston-based environmental advocacy group. “It’s hard to find a silver lining to that cloud that we have allowed this much time to go by.”

From Cape Wind’s perspective, the financial crisis aside, the wind is blowing in the project’s favor. “We’re very encouraged,” said Rodgers. “With the incoming Obama administration, you are seeing that people link our energy and environmental challenges directly to our economic challenges.”

…

Boston Globe, December 2, 2008 - The state ethics commission determined yesterday that a former member of the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission violated the state’s conflict of interest law by testifying before state and federal agencies about the environmental impact of the Cape Wind project while working as a paid consultant for the wind farm’s leading opponent.

Mark Weissman, who served on the fisheries commission until August, was fined $2,500. The maximum penalty could have been $4,000 for these violations, said David Giannotti of the ethics commission.

In a phone interview last night, Weissman called the issue a “misunderstanding” of state law and said that he disclosed his work for the Cape Wind opponent to colleagues and some superiors as early as 2003.

“There was nothing hidden about my actions,” he said.

On various occasions between 2002 and 2007, Weissman testified before federal and state agencies in his capacity as a state official that the proposal to erect 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound needed further environmental review. He also “voiced skepticism” about fisheries data used in federal environmental impact analyses, according to the ethics commission’s findings.

Since 2003, Weissman has received about $48,000 in consulting fees from the central opponent to the Cape Wind project, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the commission found. About $8,000 was related to the group’s efforts to stop the Cape Wind project.

While Weissman disclosed the relationship to his fellow board members in 2003, the ethics commission penalized him for not disclosing it in writing to the governor, as the conflict of interest law requires.

The ethics commission also found that he violated the law because he testified as a state official in proceedings related to the Cape Wind project while taking money from one of its opponents.

Weissman said he did not disclose in public hearings that he was paid by the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound because he was testifying only in his capacity as a commission member.

In testimony where he identified himself as a member of the marine fisheries commission in 2004, Weissman criticized a draft environmental review of Cape Wind issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the state and expressed concern that the project would compromise marine resources.

Since 2005, a different federal agency has had control over the environmental analysis and federal lease process for Cape Wind.

Check out Jon Keller’s letter to Senator Kennedy.

…Whatever the reason for your silence, it’s time for you to break it - and come down in favor of letting the wind farm proceed. The Globe reports that the final environmental approval of the project could come down any day now. If so, the only remaining obstacle to this badly-needed source of clean, renewable energy would be endless legal harassment by the coalition of big oil money and NIMBYite landowners who’ve been trying to kill the project every step of the way. (Actually, there’s another potential problem - the possibility that the draconian, costly delays combined with the current financial crisis might have crippled the capacity of Cape Wind investors to go forward.)

All along, you have implausibly (given your occasional lapses into NIMBYite rhetoric about the alleged spoilage of the sound) maintained that your only interest was in establishing a proper process for review of large offshore wind farms in public waters. Well, the final federal OK caps a grueling local, state and federal permitting process of unprecedented rigor dating back years. The developers have made many promises along the way; these must all be kept, and the project’s construction and performance must be carefully policed to ensure that environmental and economic pledges are fulfilled. But there is no credible claim to be made that further delay is necessary…

Anyone familiar with the Cape Wind project review process is also familiar with delay. And as the Minerals Management Services self-imposed release date for the Final Environmental Impact Statement was reached today, there’s still no word about when we can see it!

Numerous reports from all over the globe this week were touting the story (UPI, Cape Cod Today, Boston Globe, Cape Cod Times, among others), but it looks like we’ll just have to wait.

When I called MMS last week it took about twenty minutes for the office to finally inform me that “yes, the report was scheduled for release either that day [Nov. 28] or next week [today]“. When I asked how MMS doesn’t know or can’t tell me when they are releasing their own report I thought I heard a sigh, and then was given the same response.

Of course, this is an important moment in the Cape Wind battle, and in our daily struggle as filmmakers to capture an ethereal moment of reaction with our characters we’ll have to keep guessing when it will finally come.  The real question here is what the heck is going on at MMS?  The administration is changing hands, both sides are lobbying Congress with more vigor than they ever have before, public pressure is mounting, and journalists are frothing at the mouth.  Perhaps the Coast Guard study is raising eyebrows…maybe the FAA finally said something…maybe a distinguished Senator made a discreet phone call…all we know for sure is that nothing is ever final in the Cape Wind fight.

In the meantime, we’ll be digging in trying to get to the bottom of this. Does anyone have the inside scoop??

Another day, another call for delay.

US Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota has written a letter to the commandant of the Coast Guard, requesting that any recommendation issued to the Minerals Management Service be delayed until the Coast Guard study on Cape Wind’s effect on radar is complete, and released and reviewed by the public.

More details can be found in the Cape Cod Today article here.

How will all this pan out? How will this affect the announcement of the final MMS decision? Stay tuned!

The Coast Guard has agreed to delay the release of its recommendation on Cape Wind for one month, to allow the public to comment on the radar study.

On Thursday, James Oberstar, a Congressman from Minnesota and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, had written a letter to Thad Allen, the Coast Guard Commandant, requesting the delay. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee oversees the Coast Guard, including its budget.

More details can be found in the Boston Globe article here.

How this delay will affect the Minerals Management Service’s final environmental review remains up in the air.

More and more media outlets are finally picking up the story of Cape Wind’s most recent delay at the hands of US Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota.

Here is a Boston Globe editorial comparing Senator Ted Kennedy to Captain Ahab. It is reported that one of Kennedy’s aides had spoken to Oberstar about delaying the Coast Guard recommendation.

Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind Associates, was interviewed last night on NECN’s Newsnight. In between nudging Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to take on a more active role in this controversy and re-stating his case for Cape Wind, Gordon, impressively composed for a man facing yet another delay on the now seven-year review of his energy project, suggests that this most recent delay is not really a matter of navigational safety.

Really? Do tell us more.

At the urging of Representative James Oberstar, the Coast Guard announced last week that they will delay their recommendation regarding Cape Wind to the Minerals Management Service by one month.

Representative Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia does not believe that that is enough time for the public to comment. He is the chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources and the second-most senior Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, of which Oberstar is chairman. Rahall wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthome requesting that MMS delay the release of the final environmental review until the Coast Guard “has provided the public 60 days to review and comment on a third-party review of the radar study submitted by the Cape Wind project developers.”

This comes mere days after two familiar senators once again tossed their hat into the ring. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici, both of New Mexico and respectively the chairman and ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wrote a letter to the Department of the Interior, calling for a quick completion of their final environmental review.

Despite their letter, the Minerals Management Service announced last Thursday that the agency will not be releasing their final review this year as originally expected.

This delay guarantees that the final decision on Cape Wind will be made by the incoming Obama administration. A period of thirty days after the release of the final environmental review is required before the Secretary of the Interior can sign off on it and work out the terms of the lease. President-elect Barack Obama had named Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado as interior secretary.

Word on the street is that Minerals Management Service, the head federal permitting authority for Cape Wind, plans to release its Final Environmental Impact Statement for Cape Wind on Thursday.

This would coincide with the release of the Coast Guard’s recommendation to MMS, which was delayed last month at the urging of U.S. Representative James Oberstar.

The release of the FEIS mere days before Obama’s inauguration would put the figurative ball squarely in Obama’s court, as a Record of Decision cannot be issued by the Secretary of the Interior until thirty days after the release of the FEIS.

In December, Obama named Senator Ken Salazar as his choice for Interior Secretary.

The timing of the report’s release would bring the Cape Wind controversy to the forefront during the incoming administration’s first month in office, providing the first real test of Obama’s energy policy.