Cape Wind lands another permit
State environmental officials have quietly issued a key permit for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm.
The state Department of Environmental Protection last month issued a water quality certificate for Cape Wind Associates’ plan to install nearly eight miles of transmission cable through Lewis Bay in West Yarmouth that would connect to 130 wind turbines in the sound.
If the turbines are built, an additional five miles of cable in federal waters would link the wind farm to the region’s electric grid.
“It does meet our approval as long as they follow our regulations,” DEP spokesman Ed Colletta said this week.
The water quality certificate issued in mid-August is one of roughly 20 permits Cape Wind must secure before the turbines are built. A final federal assessment of the project’s environmental impact is expected by the end of the year.
In an Aug. 15 letter to Cape Wind, DEP officials stated that they had “determined there is reasonable assurance the project will be conducted in a manner which will not violate applicable water quality standards.”
The agency has set a series of conditions on the work, however, including surveys of eel grass in the area prior to construction, measures to protect eel grass from silt dispersed by the jet plow used to install the transmission cables, and post-construction monitoring of the eel grass. An Oil Spill Response Plan is required before the cables are installed and jet plowing is only permitted from June 1 to Jan. 14.
“It’s more forward progress, and we think it’s another indication that Cape Wind will provide environmental benefits, and the construction impacts are going to be fairly minimal and temporary,” Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers said yesterday.
The DEP must still issue a Chapter 91 waterways license that permits construction or uses on filled tidelands and lands that are the property of the state, Colletta said.
The DEP’s approval of the water quality certificate came as a surprise to Rodgers, who only heard about it through a reporter’s telephone call.
Cape Wind opponents were caught off guard. “We’re trying to figure that out,” said Glenn Wattley, president and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, adding that alliance officers were discussing the most recent development with their lawyers. “Things seem to be happening where we keep getting surprised,” he said.
But there are still many permits to be secured before the project can proceed, he said. The Cape Cod Commission, the region’s land use planning agency, denied Cape Wind’s application for transmission lines in October, a move the company has appealed to the state Energy Facilities Siting Board.
As part of that appeal, Cape Wind has asked the siting board to approve at least eight other state and local permits, a request that is still pending. There are also a number of lawsuits surrounding the project that have yet to be decided.
Suzanne McAuliffe, chairwoman of the Yarmouth selectmen, said the town expected to be contacted about the water quality certificate prior to its approval. “Typically and customarily and by practice, they also get local input,” she said.
There is no requirement that the DEP seek local input on the certificate, Colletta said.
For the Chapter 91 license, there will be a public comment period and a public hearing, he said.
“It was very much under the radar screen,” alliance executive director Susan Nickerson said.
Despite the quiet nature of the certificate’s approval, it was not entirely surprising, Nickerson said, adding that the state appears to have rubber stamped the permit process for Cape Wind.
Colletta declined to comment on Nickerson’s allegation, and Rodgers said he had no reason to believe the DEP did anything improper.
Cape Wind first proposed a wind farm for Nantucket Sound seven years ago.
The turbines would generate an average of 170 megawatts of electricity, roughly equivalent to 75 percent of the electricity used on the Cape and Islands, according to the company.
Opponents say the project would hurt birds, fish and views of the sound, as well as cause safety hazards for boating and air traffic.
By Patrick Cassidy
11 September 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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