Offshore energy projects pile up (at least three proposed off Cape Cod)

Offshore energy projects pile up

By Patrick Cassidy
pcassidy@capecodonline.com
February 22, 2009

The waters around Cape Cod and the Islands are crowded with big ideas and confused seas.

In addition to the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, there are at least two other major renewable energy projects and a myriad of smaller ones proposed for the ocean off Massachusetts, most within a short sail of local shores.

But even though other developers are trying to avoid some of the political hurdles Cape Wind has faced, the outlook is hazy on how quickly their projects will be able to move forward.

There is also some debate over which federal agency developers should first approach to obtain permits.

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Key hurdles cleared, Cape Wind ready to rev up

By Patrick Cassidy
pcassidy@capecodonline.com
February 04, 2009 6:00 AM

Cape Wind could begin to set up financing for its plan to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound as early as this spring, according to a company official.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service issued a largely positive environmental report for the project last month and a formal approval of a lease for the project could come as soon as two weeks. Combined with several permits already issued by the state and a pending decision on all other local and state permits, the federal lease could clear the way for Cape Wind to pursue investors and loans for the project.

In an e-mail to the Times yesterday, a spokesman with MMS — a division of the Interior Department — wrote that an ongoing review of the project's impact on historical and tribal properties would need to be complete before a final decision was made on a lease for the wind farm.

Matt Lee-Ashley, a spokesman for Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar, said last week that Interior officials were "looking carefully at the issue" but that there was no plan to delay a decision, so far.

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