WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- Cape Wind's president and Chief Executive Officer Jim Gordon is confident the five-year battle to construct the first U.S. offshore wind farm is coming to a close.
"It's a slow, arduous process but we're developing the first offshore wind project in America and in a sense we're helping to evolve the regulatory framework," he said.
Gordon, whose group submitted a draft environmental impact statement last month, expects a final approval from the Minerals Management Services by the end of 2007 or first quarter of 2008.
The second draft EIS submitted to MMS in February will be responded to in MMS's draft that EIS expects will be released in April. Afterward, pending provisional MMS approval, a final EIS will be submitted by Cape Wind and, in turn, a final EIS from MMS. For five years, the project has undergone an evolving permitting and regulatory process involving 17 federal and state agencies.
More than $15 million has been spent by the Cape Wind opposition and more is expected to be spent on an appeal if and when the project is approved.
"Cape Wind has been selling this project as if these turbines and the transformer substation were graceful structures that blend in with Nantucket Sound," said Charles Vinick, chief executive officer and president of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound in a statement. "The truth is that this project would change forever what visitors and residents think of as the Cape and Islands experience. It's a future vision of a marine industrial energy plant with fog horns, strobe lights, and heavy construction activity."
The APNS is concerned that the project would have negative effects on aesthetics, security and the environment.
"I would expect the (MMS) report will show the public interest benefits far outweigh any minimal environmental impact," Gordon said. "It's sad when a modest visual impact trumps energy independence, fighting climate change, catalyzing a new industry for Massachusetts and helping to stabilize runaway electricity costs."
At a glance, the Cape Wind project would consist of 130 turbines, spaced a third to a half mile apart on Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts. It is estimated that it can generate 75 percent of the electricity demand for region on average. The Cape and Islands has the fastest-growing population in New England and thus has the fastest growing energy demand. Using the Europeans as a model, developers decided to bring the energy to where the demand is.
Gordon said the location was ideal because of its shallow depth and low wave heights. In November 2001, the first environmental notification was filed with the Army Corps of Engineers. At that time, the ACE held jurisdiction over wind farm projects. In 2005, the MMS was given authority under the Environmental Policy Act of 2005 to approve and deny permits for projects on the Outer Continental Shelf.
A study released in September 2005 by the Department of Energy validated there's 900,000 megawatts of offshore wind potential off the coast of the United States with 330,000 from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Right now, the total installed generation capacity of the United States is 900,000 megawatts. A more recent study done by Massachusetts Institute of Technology also confirmed the potential of offshore wind power in the mid-Atlantic states.
"With Cape Wind up and running, it will inspire other communities to tap their indigenous resources," Gordon said. "If Cape Wind is blocked than that will set a terrible precedent."
An offshore wind energy collaborative has been established since the start of Cape Wind and while critics have said offshore is still not as advanced as onshore wind technology, Europe has already set the precedent. Gordon said the examples they used out of Europe's 17 offshore wind farms, including Nysted and Horns Rev in Denmark, go back to 1991 and have all been successful and a subsequent study of the Horns Rev site revealed no adverse environmental impacts.
Energy security and independence, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and millions of new jobs are a few of the benefits Gordon believes will come from offshore wind power.
"If we are to solve the urgent problems of climate change and energy independence this country can not take six years to approve a renewable energy project," Gordon said. "There's a cautionary tale here, I think our efforts will make it easier for those that come after us."
Delaware, Georgia and North Carolina are already considering plans for offshore wind projects. There are several bids for contracts pending for a project off the coast of Delaware.
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