U.S. Interior Promises Cape Wind Ruling in April

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pledged on Wednesday to make a final decision on the controversial Cape Wind project on Nantucket Sound in April, while some powerful opponents said they will keep fighting until the wind farm is moved to a less visually disruptive site.

The project has been caught in a regulatory net for nine years.

"I think that nine years after an application is filed for a permit from the United States government, to have it continuing to face a future of uncertainty is bad for everybody that’s involved," Salazar told reporters.

The announcement followed meetings in Washington with officials from local towns, tribes and opponent and proponent organizations.

Salazar said if the parties can't resolve their standoff by March 1, he would terminate the consultation process and make a decision to fully deny or approve the project on his own.

Native American Concerns Biggest Hurdle

The meetings were largely intended to help clear a last-minute roadblock to Cape Wind's approval — the claim by two Native American tribes that the turbines will disturb their ancestral burial grounds now covered by ocean.

Salazar said the meetings were "very constructive" but added the concerns of Native Americans remain a sticking point.

The tribes — the Mashpee Wampanoag of Cape Cod and the Aquinnah Wampanoag of Martha's Vineyard — say the 130-turbine project would destroy their spiritual ritual of greeting the sunrise each day.

Sheryl Andrews-Maltais, chairwoman of the Wampanoag tribe, praised Salazar for being "open and respective to hearing our concerns."

"That [Salazar] took the time to listen to us ... that really tells me that we're hopeful, that this administration is serious about consultation and working with Indian tribes," said Bettina Washington, tribal historic preservation officer for the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe.

Earlier this month, the tribes won support from the National Park Service. The agency determined that Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places for "its significance as a traditional cultural property and as an historic and archaeological property."

While the ruling clearly added a hurdle for the Interior Department, Salazar will ultimately get the final say.

Clean Energy vs. Preservation

Some clean energy advocates see trouble if it fails.

The developers of Cape Wind say the project would generate 75 percent of the community's electricity and shrink greenhouse gas output by 880,000 tons a year.

The project has already undergone two environmental impact statements, and "the negative environmental impacts of the project have been documented to be minimal," said Jeremy Firestone, an associate professor in the College of Marine and Earth Studies at the University of Delaware.

"With its small environmental impacts and the amount of time and energy devoted to that project, it would be harmful to the industry if it were not to continue to move forward," Firestone told SolveClimate.

In his view, the alternative to building Cape Wind will be more of the same — new coal, natural gas, hydroelectricity or nuclear power plants.

The environmental impacts of these alternatives would also have to be considered, Firestone said. These include: the human health costs of coal, the ecological effects of the release of cooling water from fossil fuel and nuclear facilities, and the impact of hydroelectric plants on streams and fish.

Opponents say the issue isn't renewable energy — it's location.