To reduce pollution and the most severe effects of climate change, the United States must build clean, well-sited renewable energy quickly. Harnessing wind power is essential part of that effort, and New England is fortunate to have bountiful wind resources, both on land and offshore.
It’s fitting that Massachusetts, which has abundant wind and no coal or oil of its own to burn, should be the site of the country’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm. Cape Wind, a 130-turbine wind farm destined for federal waters in Nantucket Sound, will generate up to 454 megawatts of clean, renewable power — enough to meet 75 percent of the annual needs of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket.
Proposed in 2001 by Cape Wind Associates, a private developer based on Cape Cod, Cape Wind has successfully passed more than a decade of rigorous review by federal and state agencies, and has secured all of the necessary permits and approvals to begin construction. In the past 24 months alone, Cape Wind has cleared a string of major legal and regulatory hurdles, allowing the developers to proceed with financing the project. Cape Wind also has long-term contracts with electric utilities National Grid and NSTAR for the sale of more than three-quarters of its output, contracts that have been subject to lengthy and open public review processes spanning more than two years. In August 2012, on the heels of a favorable decision by the Federal Aviation Administration that confirmed – for the fourth time – that the project won’t interfere with air traffic, Cape Wind announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase a marina in Falmouth, Massachusetts that will serve as its base of operations. This summer, Cape Wind also began work on ocean floor surveys, an important step in the lead up to construction.
Cape Wind has undergone extensive environmental review to earn the country’s first offshore wind lease, outstripping by far what has typically been required for new gas and oil drilling leases in this country. Throughout the permitting process, leading local, state, regional, national and international environmental organizations were actively involved to ensure that the review was fair, rigorous and timely, and insisted that the project’s benefits outweigh its impacts to natural resources, including wildlife and habitat. Collectively representing millions of members among them, organizations such as Conservation Law Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation, Mass Audubon, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace, Environment America, Clean Water Action, Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists and others who care about the environment and the pressing threat of climate change have vocally supported Cape Wind.
As the first project of its kind in the United States, Cape Wind serves as a model to the nation, offering a glimpse of our clean energy future. Cape Wind, which has the support of the majority of Massachusetts residents and Governor Patrick, will help get renewable American energy up and running, cut global warming pollution, fuel economic growth, provide jobs, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and promote energy independence. We need Cape Wind Now.