Cape Wind, the first offshore wind farm proposed in the United States, has met with, and overcome many obstacles since it was proposed eight years ago, including well-funded NIMBY groups and powerful politicians.

Now two Indian tribes are trying to stop the project by having the Nantucket Sound listed on the National Register as a “Traditional Cultural Property.”

The tribes, the Mashpee Wampanoag and the Wampanoag of Gay Head, have brought their action under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) claiming that the wind farm will interfere with their view of the sunrise and will disrupt sacred ancestral burial sites.

Yesterday, Cape Wind supporters sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking him to close the Section 106 process and issue a final approval and leasing for the wind farm.

Cape Wind promoters point to the positive environmental impact statement from the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service, issued this past January, that establishes that the project’s renewable energy benefits outweigh any negative impacts. New York Times

Sue Reid, a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, quoted in the New York Times, stated that a win by the tribes . . . “would have a chilling effect” on the offshore wind power industry

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also has raised the concern that if the tribes prevail then “all actions in the the Sound, would become subject to the National Historic Preservation Act, including commercial fishing, marinas and wharves, cell towers, bridges, marine transportation and virtually every other activity.”

Photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/pjh/185488411/

Video: Offshore wind farm boat ride Denmark: http://www.capewind.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownload&cid=4

Further reading:

See Rita Watson’s interview with Jim Gordon of Cape Wind here:  http://greenlegals.com/2009/06/interview-visionary-james-gordon-cape-wind/

And her article on how Walter Cronkite changed his mind about Cape Wind here: http://greenlegals.com/2009/07/why-walter-cronkite-changed-his-mind-on-cape-wind/

Summary of Section 106 - http://www.achp.gov/106summary.html

Copyright 2009 - K.J.Collins