Earth Equity News

National Park Service Issues Setback to Cape Wind. By Abby Goodnough, NYTimes, January 5, 2010. "In a new setback for a controversial wind farm proposed off Cape Cod, the National Park Service announced Monday that Nantucket Sound was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, guaranteeing further delays for the project. Known as Cape Wind, the project is the nation's first planned offshore wind farm and would cover 24 square miles in the sound, an area roughly the size of Manhattan. The park service decision came in response to a request from two Massachusetts Indian tribes, who said the 130 proposed wind turbines would thwart their spiritual ritual of greeting the sunrise, which requires unobstructed views across the sound, and disturb ancestral burial grounds. The tribes -- the Mashpee Wampanoag of Cape Cod and the Aquinnah Wampanoag of Martha's Vineyard -- sought the listing last fall, shortly before a final federal decision on the project was expected...

"The decision by the National Park Service did not kill the Cape Wind plan, but it erected new hurdles by requiring more negotiations and, possibly, changes to the project, like moving it. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar set a deadline of March 1 for the tribes and the project's developer, Energy Management Inc., to reach a compromise... If they do not -- a distinct possibility given the acrimony surrounding the project -- Mr. Salazar can decide the project's future himself after seeking suggestions from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent group. But even if Mr. Salazar lets the project move forward, the park service finding could help the tribes and opponents build a legal case against it... The park service decision comes at a time when the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which won federal recognition in 2007, is hoping to build a casino... Supporters of Cape Wind have pointed out that the Aquinnah Wampanoag's land is on the western side of Martha's Vineyard, which does not face Nantucket Sound. But in its ruling, the National Park Service nonetheless said the sound was significant to both tribes."