The Cape Cod wind farm, once just a hope for the horizon, has sprung a giant leap forward today with the official approval of the Obama Administration! This afternoon Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar put his stamp of approval on the wind farm construction in Nantucket Sound — which has been held up in a decade long legal battle. A group of people have been vigorously battling the farm for various reasons — aesthetics, fish and wildlife concerns, worry’s of disturbing an ancient burial ground. However, proponents of the project should do a jig today as Secretary Salazar’s decision ushers in a new era of renewable energy in the US. Well, we’re just going to say it… it’s about time!
Countries across the world are leaps and bounds ahead of the US, installing wind farms left and right to provide clean renewable energy to the grid. The US has been lagging behind, entrenched in legal battles that mostly start with the argument that wind farms will ruin the natural beauty of the bays they are proposed in. Wind farm supporters have long held the argument that a few little wind mills on the horizon are a more welcome sight than our planet crumbling under the weight of global warming.
So in comes Secretary Salazar and the Obama Administration to save the day. Secretary Salazar and Massachusetts Governor Duval Patrick announced the decision today and set the ball in motion for construction of the first offshore wind farm in the US. The Cape Cod wind farm will be placed on one of the best plots of sea on the east coast for the project. Shallow waters, high winds and a large plot of federal land close to shore makes it an ideal place to house the renewable energy array. We’re crossing our fingers that this will lead to more wind farms offshore than oil rigs — here’s to hoping!
Via The Boston Globe
4 Responses to “US Issues Approval for First Offshore Wind Farm!”
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They’re putting it off Olde’ Cape Cod. Can you believe it? It’s where I come from. There is a lot – a whole lot – of opposition from the rich foloks who have ocean front ‘cottages.’
If you just purchased a mult-million dollar property on the beach, would you want this eyesore sitting in front of your view making the noise these things supposedly make? Talk about environmental pollution. I can’t blame those rich folk one bit, although I would bet that most of them voted for Obama and probably talk about how “for the environment” they are at their cocktail parties.
[...] Erie is about to join Cape Cod in hosting one of the first offshore wind farms in the United States. For a while now, plans have [...]
The closest turbine to the shore would be five miles offshore, meaning on a clear day, the turbines would be about a half-inch tall on the horizon from the closest point on the shore, and only visible as tiny specks from Nantucket. So yeah- destroying the view- not….I think I could like with a speck…