Click here to read the interview by Rita Watson of Cape Wind President Jim Gordon on the website GreenLegals

It has been 2,755 days since the Cape Wind project was first formally proposed. It is a controversy older than the war in Iraq. Hostilities began only a few weeks after the war in Afghanistan.

And, as in those other conflicts, indeed in any protracted battle, it’s crucial to maintain morale of the troops, particularly when your allies are dropping off and it looks as if you’re losing. Surveys show public opinion in the state is strongly in favor of the wind farm, and the Patrick administration in Boston, too.

Thus Audra Parker, executive director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the main community group opposing the Cape Wind development, has been running a new argument lately.  It’s not just about Cape Wind anymore, she argues, although that is still the group’s major focus. It is about the precedent which would be set if Cape Wind gets the go-ahead.
Note: Click here to read this Vineyard Gazette article

Governor Deval Patrick today hailed a state board's approval of permits for the controversial Cape Wind project.

"The time has come to see the first offshore wind farm in America rise off the Massachusetts coast, a powerful symbol of our commitment to a clean energy future," Patrick said in a statement.

The project has sparked debate because it calls for erecting a wind farm with 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound.  Patrick said in a statement that the state had "done its job" of reviewing the project and the federal permitting process was winding down.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles said the project was "ready to move forward. Soon, the Commonwealth will cement its position as the natural hub for the American offshore wind industry."
Note:

Click here to read this Boston Globe article

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs issued this important News Release about Cape Wind today.

Note: Click here to read this Reuters article in the Guardian (London);  Click here to read the Cape Cod Times article;  Click here to read the Associated Press article

Massachusetts’ top energy and environmental chief told a conference of business and clean-technology leaders that the clean-tech sector can transform the state from an energy importer to a major supplier of green energy and technology.

...Bowles also announced Beacon Hill legislators have proposed legislation to streamline the process for large, capital-intensive alternative energy projects as well as reaffirmed the state’s commitment to offshore wind developments such as the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound.
Note:

Click here to read this article in the Boston Business Journal

Falmouth Enterprise news article, reprinted here in its entirely, with permission.

A judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed last year by the Town of Barnstable against Cape Wind and the state's Energy Facilities Siting Board.

The lawsuit claimed the Cape Cod Commission had exclusive jurisdiction over permitting transmission lines necessary for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm.
Note:

Click here to read this article in the Cape Cod Times

National Geographic's Wild Chronicles filmed this video on Simon Perkins, Mass Audubon ornithologist, and the US Geological Survey, as they research Long-tailed Ducks. As part of the environmental impact research on the proposed Cape Wind farm in Nantucket Sound, they need to know where the Long-Tailed Ducks roost and feed while they are in Nantucket Sound. Video provided courtesy of National Geographic.  (segment is 4 minutes, 8 seconds).
Note: Click here to view this segment on YouTube

New rules to be released by the Interior Department pave the way for projects along the Atlantic Coast -- including one on Nantucket Sound opposed by the Kennedys.

Los Angeles Times, By Jim Tankersley, April 22, 2009

Reporting from Washington — The Interior Department will announce new rules today that clear the way for the first offshore wind turbines to be erected along the Atlantic Coast.  The rules will set long-awaited guidelines for offshore leases, easements and royalty payments that the Bush administration worked on for years but did not complete.

The guidelines represent the most aggressive move yet from an administration that hopes to shift the nation's offshore energy supply from oil to wind power. President Obama is expected to mention the rules today in his Earth Day appearance at an Iowa wind turbine factory.
Note: Click here to read this article in the Los Angeles Times