By MARK PRATT
The Associated Press
BOSTON - A Virginia senator's attempt to regulate offshore wind farms, including a massive project proposed for Nantucket Sound, was dropped from a defense appropriations bill yesterday after objections from Republican House members.

U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., moved Wednesday to add an amendment to the final version of a $447 billion bill that would strip the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from oversight of offshore projects in federal waters.

His amendment was in neither the House nor Senate's version.

Just hours before the DOD Authorization bill was filed for House and Senate floor votes yesterday, Republican leadership in the House Armed Service Committee, chaired by Duncan Hunter, R - Calif., convinced Warner to kill the measure.

"The House Republicans on the committee were responsible for getting it yanked," said David Smith, spokesmn for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, an oponent of the Nantucket Sound plan.

"This is good news for the Cape and the region and for all those who want cleaner air and less reliance on oil from the Middle East," said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for wind farm developers Cape Wind Associates.

"We're grateful that the Armed Services Conference Committee dropped this amendment and we're convinced that when they and the public see the results of the draft environmental impact statement they will see the public interest benefits of offshore wind energy," he said.

Kennedy said last night through his spokesman, "While Sen. Warner's proposal was not adopted, it's clear that momentum is building to address the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy's recommendations, despite House Republican opposition this time."

A spokesman for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a group opposed to the project, said at the very least Warner's proposal exposed a flaw in the regulatory process for approving private use of public resources.

"People at least now are focusing on what is deeply flawed about this process, and our hope is that this is not an ending, but a beginning, and our goal is make sure that debate continues," Ernie Corrigan said.

Cape Wind Associates has proposed building an $800 million energy-producing wind farm in Nantucket Sound that would include 130 turbines spread over 24 square miles, each about 417 feet tall from the surface of the water to the tip of a blade when the blade is straight up.

In average wind conditions, the wind farm could provide Cape Cod and the islands with three-quarters of their energy needs, Rodgers said. If built, it would be the nation's first offshore wind farm.

The Ocean Policy report said the Cape Wind project is testing the government's ability to review such proposals, through a process riddled with uncertain procedures, unnecessary delays and unresolved conflicts.

Warner, who voiced his concern about the Cape project two years ago, has family with homes in Osterville that would be within sight of some of the turbines.

A Warner spokesman said the senator's position "has nothing to do with his family's association with Cape Cod or the views of any other lawmaker. He has no property in Massachusetts, and hasn't visited the Cape Cod area for several years."

The defense appropriations bill, nicknamed "The Year of the Troops," contains provisions to increase spending on such diverse military items as troop body armor, increasing troop strength for both the Army and the Marines, and military housing provisions.

The Warner amendment would have blocked any further review of the Cape Wind proposal and a 40-turbine wind farm proposed by the Long Island Power Authority.

"There's the Senate position and the House position. The only other choice was to bring down the entire bill and obviosuly, that's not going to happen," Smith said last night of the decision to drop the amendment.

Times' contributing writer David Schoetz contributed to this report.

(Published: October 8, 2004)