State sets zoning for ocean projects
Credit: By Patrick Cassidy, Cape Cod Times, www.capecodonline.com 5 January 2010
Massachusetts officials unveiled a first-of-its-kind zoning plan yesterday for wind energy projects and other uses in state ocean waters.
Although the Ocean Management Plan retains many components from a draft released in July, other aspects of the two-volume, five-year blueprint were changed after concerns over the plan’s potential effects on Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod.
The plan covers waters from about 1,500 feet offshore out to three miles. It does not affect the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm in federal waters. The Cape Cod Ocean Sanctuary off the coast of the Cape Cod National Seashore is protected from most activities, according to the plan.
State Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles said he was “very proud” of the plan, noting that it may serve as blueprint for a national model. “I think if you look at the statements from the Obama administration about their intent to develop a federal ocean plan, they are all looking at the Massachusetts management plan as a model for that,” Bowles said.
The ocean management plan, designed to protect certain areas while opening up other locations for uses such as renewable energy and utility projects, is required by the Ocean Act signed by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2008.
Under the Bay State plan, two areas southwest of the Vineyard are open to commercial wind energy projects that could include as many as 150 wind turbines. The draft plan allowed for up to 166 turbines in the same areas.
In response to concerns from Vineyard officials and residents, the state gave the Martha’s Vineyard Commission authority in the final plan to define what is appropriate for commercial projects in an area southwest of Nomans Land, an island that was formerly used by the Navy as a bombing range. An area southwest of Cuttyhunk Island was not included under the Vineyard commission’s jurisdiction based on input from residents there, Bowles said.
“They didn’t want any added oversight that they didn’t already have,” he said.
In addition to commercial projects, the plan also addresses offshore wind turbines that would be subject to approval by individual towns.
An arbitrary limit for these “community-sponsored” projects of 10 turbines for each of the state’s seven regional planning agencies in the draft version of the plan was adjusted to reflect a more methodical allocation of turbines in each area.
In the waters around the Cape, 24 turbines are now allowed if adjacent communities and the Cape Cod Commission agree to the size and location of the turbines. Up to 17 community turbines in addition to the potential commercial projects are possible off the Vineyard with the approval of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, according to the plan, while the waters around Nantucket could host up to 11 turbines.
“The expansion of the community-sponsored wind turbine segment is well thought out and much more appropriate than the initial proposal,” said David McGlinchey, executive director of the Vineyard Energy Project, a nonprofit group that is forming a wind energy cooperative on the island.
In addition to plotting possible wind turbine areas, the final plan goes farther than the draft plan in protecting environmentally sensitive areas, Bowles said.
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission and the Cape Cod Commission are also establishing rules to further protect environmentally sensitive offshore areas from unwanted development. To that end, the Cape’s planning and regulatory agency has scheduled a public hearing Jan. 21 on the proposed designation of a “district of critical planning concern” for 900 square miles of water under its jurisdiction.
“Overall this plan is a real victory for the oceans and anyone who depends upon them,” said Priscilla Brooks, director of Conservation Law Foundation’s Ocean Conservation Program. “The Patrick administration has really stepped up to the plate to make ocean conservation and protection a foundational centerpiece of the plan, while also creating a very detailed framework which will allow for the responsible development of ocean resources including renewable energy.”
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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