Mass Audubon Backs Cape Wind Project on Bird Issue

Wildlife group Mass Audubon released a statement concluding that the Cape Wind Energy Project (Cape Wind) will not pose an ecologically significant threat to the birds and associated marine habitat of Nantucket Sound.

The statement follows the filing of a lawsuit by an opposition coalition against the U.S. federal government. The plaintiffs say the wind farm will "exact a terrible toll on federally protected migratory birds." They claim the Department of the Interior violated the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treat Act, and National Environmental Policy Act in green-lighting the offshore wind farm.

This is the latest attempt by regional groups to block the offshore wind project, which received final approval earlier this year after eight years of regulatory proceedings.

Plaintiffs include Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Cetacean Society International, Lower Laguna Madre Foundation, Californians for Renewable Energy (CARE), Three Bays Preservation and the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Mass Audubon said its final position statement on the Cape Wind Energy Project is a summarization of almost a decade of analyses, public testimony and reporting on Cape Wind by Mass Audubon.

Mass Aduobon said in a release: "Our support is based on nine years of analyses of field data collected by Cape Wind and independent field work by Mass Audubon staff; review of state, federal, and regional environmental impact documents, including the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Biological Opinion; independent scientific literature research; and consultation with ornithologists, scientists, and engineers, as well as state and federal agencies, including the US Department of the Interior (DOI) Minerals Management Service (MMS), the US Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), and USFWS.

Mass Audubon said it recognizes climate change as the gravest threat to humans and to the nature of Massachusetts and the planet. "Our positive and constructive engagement in the analyses of Cape Wind, which began as deep skepticism of the project, has resulted in overall support," the group said. "Following extensive research and consideration, we conclude that Cape Wind will make a positive contribution to help reduce the worst effects of climate change with no significant ecological threat to the avian and marine life of Horseshoe Shoal and Nantucket Sound."

Earlier this month Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) complained about the Cape Wind project sayint it will raise the company’s energy costs.