December 7, 2007
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
Eight southeastern Massachusetts lawmakers have requested a meeting with House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi to address their concerns about the way an amendment to open most state coastal waters to renewable energy development was slipped into an energy bill.
In response, DiMasi is arranging a meeting with all coastal lawmakers, from the North Shore to Cape Cod, to discuss the amendment and a separate ocean management bill that passed in the Senate, according to his spokesman, David Guarino.
The amendment to DiMasi’s energy bill would remove a major hurdle to Boston developer Jay Cashman’s plans to build up to 120 wind turbines in Buzzards Bay. The wind farm is currently under state review.
Cashman is a close friend of DiMasi. The speaker’s office has denied the amendment was a favor to the developer.
The amendment was not filed by a House deadline, and it was not posted on the House Web site with dozens of other amendments before debate on the energy bill began Nov. 15.
By David Kibbe
Times Boston Bureau
7 December 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/12/07/dimasi-draws-protest-from-coastal-lawmakers/