Last week, the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers agreed that the proposed wind farm on Nantucket Sound would have an "adverse effect" on 16 historical sites on the Cape and islands.

The sites include seven lighthouses and the historic districts in Cotuit, Edgartown, Hyannisport, Nantucket and Wianno.

"The adverse effect includes the introduction of visual elements that are out of character with the historic properties and alteration of the settings of the historic properties," according to state archaeologist Brona Simon of the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

In response, several advocates of the wind farm have criticized the agencies because they say the Mirant power plant in Sandwich represents a greater eyesore than a wind farm and its adverse effects on public health is more important than the visual effects of 130 wind turbines.

The problem is that the wind farm will not replace the oil- and gas-fired Sandwich power plant. Mirant will continue to spew pollutants regardless of whether the wind farm is built.

Nevertheless, we recognize the value of wind farms as opposed to fossil-fuel plants. Over time, wind farms will reduce the amount of pollutants emitted from such plants as Mirant.

All the more reason for our government to expedite its plans to identify appropriate and inappropriate places to build land-based and offshore wind farms.

"I think it's sort of a case of Washington tryng to jam something down the throats of the people who live here without having an energy plan to begin with," said U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., who visited the Cape last week. "We need to develop a policy that contains a proper process for communities to go through."

Meehan drew a parallel between Cape Wind's plans to build the wind farm and another development scheme to build an airport near the historically significant Minuteman Park in Lexington and Concord.

"We first need a regional transportation plan to decide where and when to build something like that," he said. "Smart growth demands that we do a better job of locating such facilities."

When it comes to developing offshore wind farms, the federal government, he said, needs to lay out a broad, comprehensive strategy and choose sites that are appropriate for development and protect other sites that are inappropriate for development.

"You just can't allow a developer to pick a site that has so many historical treasures without having a broader context of a national energy policy," he said. "Just because economic factors point to saying 'let's just do it here and do it now,' we need to do it in a more responsible way."

Just as Congress has failed to develop a national energy policy, Congress has also failed to develop a comprehensive ocean policy.

As Paul Rumul, board chairman of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, said, legislation is needed "that would encompass a more comprehensive rational approach to the use of coastal waters for not only energy projects but the myriad other uses contemplated for the commonwealth's sensitive coastal areas. LNG platforms, gambling boats, ocean aquaculture, ocean dumping and a host of new wind turbine projects all have appeared on the horizon without a clear and rational regulatory process on both the state and federal level that would curtail the present Wild West-like territory grabs."

(Published: August 31, 2004)