Cape Wind completed its state and local permitting process Thursday with a unanimous vote of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board.
The proposed offshore wind farm will be granted a ‘Certificate of Environmental Impact and Public Interest’ that rolls up all state and local permits and approvals into one ‘composite certificate’.
Completion of the Federal Permitting process for Cape Wind is expected soon when U.S. Secretary Ken Salazar issues a Record of Decision on Cape Wind. The Minerals Management Service of the U.S. Department of Interior issued Cape Wind a favorable Final Environmental Impact Statement in January.
Cape Wind President Jim Gordon welcomed the news, “Today’s vote marks not just a successful conclusion to a seven-year state regulatory review of the Cape Wind project but the beginning of a new era of wind jobs and renewable power from the endless wind resources off our shore."
The Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board (Siting Board), was created by the Legislature to ensure the siting of needed and least environmental impact energy facilities and was granted the statutory authority to issue a comprehensive approval to an energy facility it has previously approved, where that facility has been denied a permit by any other state or local agency in the Commonwealth. The Siting Board exercised their statutory authority in their vote Thursday, which was necessitated by a procedural denial issued from the Cape Cod Commission in 2007.
In 2005, the Siting Board approved Cape Wind’s electrical interconnection at the conclusion of a 32-month review of unprecedented length that included 2,900 pages of transcripts, 923 exhibits and 50,000 pages of documentary evidence.
The Siting Board found that Cape Wind would meet an identified need for electricity and would provide a reliable energy supply for Massachusetts, with a minimum impact on the environment. The Siting Board’s approval of Cape Wind’s electrical interconnection was upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Many of Cape Cod’s well-known and wealthy residents, including Senator Edward Kennedy, are opposed to development of the wind farm. However, two public opinion polls have found statewide support for the project to be 86%.
As planned the Cape Wind project would included 130 wind turbines, capable of providing power for 400,000 homes at a cost of roughly $1 billion.
The project developer said construction could begin early next year, aiming for completion in 2011 or 2012.
Cape Wind is one of two planned offshore wind projects in the U.S. vying to be first in the water. Deepwater Wind off the coast of Rhode Island could begin construction in 2010.
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