“Cape Wind” project has long been in a pickle. Years, residents of Massachusetts, Cape region, Indian tribes, politicians struggle with the ongoing project developers.

Interior, Ken Sala Charles (Ken Salazar) 4 月 28 announced a project approved the decision. Salazar said: “In the long process of assessment and consultation, after careful consideration of all parties concerned, an overall analysis of the factors involved in the project, we think we should respect the public interest, approval of ‘Cape Wind’ project. We energy future for the United States to open up a new direction, Kai build the nation’s first offshore wind power generation facilities, opening a new chapter in the history of the region. ”

United States, the first offshore wind farm Controversy

Salazar also pointed out that “Cape Wind” project size from 170 wind turbines, reduced to 130, was imposed special requirements needed to conduct archaeological research on the coast, to ensure that locally important protected areas. Wind turbines is to reduce the number of compression on the local Historic Landmark and the nearby islands of. The project is expected to Massachusetts residents of 180 megawatts of electricity to meet demand for electricity 75% of households.

Once the seabed to identify potential cultural and historic resources, developers need to stop the operation, and any unexpected archaeological discovery to notify the Government. Salazar said: “The project will minimize the impact of historical features, the project’s construction, operation and decommissioning, we will ensure that cultural resources are not damaged.”

Salazar said the governor’s letter northeast coastal states played an important impact on the approval decision. Governors said, according to previous recommendations of the federal review team history, all over the east coast most of the proposed wind generators project will not continue.

“Christian Science Monitor” says Europe’s offshore wind farm scale, the United States lags far behind. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (Deval Patrick) of the Ministry of the Interior United States welcomed the decision. In his view, the decision is of great significance, for the offshore wind power industry in the United States paved the way for the development.

Some energy industry analysts agreed. Wind energy industry analyst  (Matt Kaplan) said: “This is the offshore wind industry, symbolic step. ‘Cape Wind’ project has become the pioneer of offshore wind power. The project will mark the completion of of a new industry in the U.S. Open. ”

But the Cape region Masha elegant island (Martha’’s Vineyard) after an Indian tribe, said Ministry of the Interior to approve the project if the United States would Salazar litigation. The tribe said the wind turbines on their “holy” cause a disturbance. Others have also expressed opposition. Protection of Nantucket Island Strait Alliance spokesman Padidining (Patty Dineen) said: “We will definitely take legal action.”

Salazar said the Ministry of the Interior’s decision was based on nine years of environmental and other assessments, he is convinced that the decision will be supported in court.

Great potential for offshore wind power

U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) has estimated U.S. offshore region alone could generate 90,000 megawatts of electricity. A Department of Energy found that wind energy could provide 20% of U.S. electricity, up to 30 megawatts, of which about one-sixth of the wind from the sea.

Environmentalists say, “Cape Wind” project was approved in the United States in response to global warming, a major step forward on the road, this will enable wind energy to replace fossil fuel-based energy.

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But now, instead of having a heavy carbon footprint–and coal certainly does–these rolling hills have a green footprint. Today, the site is home to a 158-turbine wind farm that produces 237 megawatts of power, enough electricity for 66,800 households for a year.

And what’s particularly notable about the site is that while the wind farm is among the newest and most state-of-the-art in the country today, it is also likely the first full-scale wind power project to be installed on the site of a former coal mine.

From 1958 until 2000, the Dave Johnston Mine stretched for 9 miles through this otherwise barren landscape. But in the late 1990s, after the mine’s operator, Rocky Mountain Power, determined that it was no longer economical to run it, a full-scale reclamation project began.

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As the first of many steps toward building the project at the 22,000-acre facility on Cape Cod, the National Guard has filed a site plan for review with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Air Force Space Command.

Depending on the size, number, and capacity of the turbines, the project could produce up to 34 megawatts of power, boosting Governor Deval Patrick’s goal to develop 2,000 megawatts of wind power in Massachusetts by 2020. Currently, 11 wind turbines across the state have a total capacity of 6.8 megawatts, according to Robert Keough, spokesman for the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

The plan has won the support of numerous elected officials, including Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and US Representative William Delahunt.
“Putting wind turbines at MMR makes sense both economically and environmentally,” said Murray.

The plan has also received the support of community activists who have vehemently protested the Cape Wind project, a controversial proposal to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. “It’s something we’ve been saying all along, that you can say yes to wind, but no to Cape Wind,” said Audra Parker, executive director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Mark Rodgers, a Cape Wind spokesman, said the project had considered the reservation as a potential site but eventually rejected it. “We determined placing the same kind of wind farm there as we’re looking to do offshore could probably produce half as much energy,” he said. “That said, there certainly is good potential to do wind development at that site.”

Before projects go forward, the FAA reviews them to determine if they pose a hazard to aviation, said Jim Peters, New England spokesman for the FAA. Wind turbines, for example, can interfere with air traffic radar signals (a problem that has been raised with the Cape Wind project). If it is determined that the project is a hazard, the FAA will provide a list of ways to mitigate the hazard in order to move forward, Peters said.

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