Review of Nantucket Sound wind farm expected in August

Special to SafeWind News

 

HYANNIS, Mass. – Although an offshore wind facility planned for Nantucket Sound has been extremely controversial, the Army Corps of Engineers does not expect people to read its review of the cost, benefit, and potential adverse impacts of the project as part of its public interest review.

 

At a June 2^nd meeting of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the Corps announced that the 1,000- to 2,000-page document, jointly prepared by the developer and the Corps, is expected to be released on compact disc in August. The public will have 60 days to submit comments, according to the Corps.

 

“We don’t expect that people will read the entire EIS [Environmental Impact Statement] cover to cover,” Karen Adams of the Corps told state and federal regulators and representatives of environmental and community groups at the meeting.

 

Supporters say the project, which would span 24 square miles of federal waters, would provide 75 percent of the energy consumed on Cape Cod and nearby islands, without producing harmful emissions.

 

But some environmentalists worry about the impact that 130 forty-story turbines, a 20,000-square-foot transformer platform, and hundreds of miles of undersea cables could have on birds, fish, and other resident and migratory wildlife.

 

Some of these issues will be addressed in the environmental impact statement, which has generated interest among thousands of local and regional residents, as well as national and international non-profit organizations. The project, if approved, would be the first offshore wind facility permitted by the Corps under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, a law that generally governs the installation of buoys and docks.

 

The Corps admitted that it will not be possible for readers to determine which portions of the review it prepared and which were written by a contractor paid by the developer.

 

Because of the high cost of production – paper copies of the document will cost upwards of $300 apiece – the Corps plans only to distribute the printed version to public libraries. When the report is released, people may request a compact disc containing the entire document by sending an e-mail to .