BOSTON — The Obama administration has approved what would be the nation’s first offshore wind farm, off Cape Cod, inching the U.S. closer to harvesting an untapped domestic energy source — the steady breezes blowing along its vast coasts.
Interior Secretary Ken Sala zar announced his decision Wednesday in Boston, clearing the way for a 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind was in its ninth year of federal review, and Salazar stepped in early this year to bring what he called much-needed resolution to the bitterly contested proposal.
“We are beginning a new direction in our nation’s energy future,” Salazar said.
But members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Martha’s Vineyard have vowed to sue to stop Cape Wind from being built, saying it would interfere with sacred rituals and desecrate tribal burial sites. Others opposed to the project on environmental grounds also have said they’ll sue.
Audra Parker of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the chief opponent to Cape Wind, said the “flawed” proj ect would be derailed in court.
“It’s far from over,” she said. “Nantucket Sound needs to be off limits to Cape Wind and any other industrial development.”
Salazar said he understood opponents’ concerns but had to weigh them against the nation’s need for new, renewable sources of energy.
“This is the final decision of the United States of America,” he said. “We are very confident we will be able to uphold the decision against legal challenges.”
Cape Wind says it can generate power by 2012 and aims to eventually supply three-quarters of the power on Cape Cod, which has about 225,000 residents. Cape Wind officials say it will provide green jobs and a reliable domestic energy source, while offshore wind advocates are hoping it can jump-start the U.S. industry.
The project is about 5 miles off Cape Cod at its closest proximity to land and 14 miles off Nantucket at the greatest distance. According to visual simulations done for Cape Wind, on a clear day, the turbines would be about a half-inch tall on the horizon at the nearest point and appear as specks from Nantucket.
