October 30, 2010
Massachusetts

Cape Wind foe sues state over documents

By Jay Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, bostonherald.com 30 October 2010

The main opponent of the proposed Cape Wind project filed a lawsuit yesterday claiming the Patrick administration is refusing to release key documents.

In the suit filed just four days before Tuesday’s election, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound demanded that the administration “immediately and fully comply” with its request last April for internal documents about how state and federal officials approved the proposal to set up 130 wind turbines on Nantucket Sound.

The alliance, which has filed a number of other lawsuits related to Cape Wind, argued it has received only 87 pages of documents from the administration, including “duplicative” and “heavily redacted” material.

“We’ve gotten very little from them,” said Audra Parker, head of the alliance.

The latest lawsuit, which was filed in Barnstable Superior Court, names as defendants Gov. Deval Patrick, Ian Bowles, Patrick’s secretary of energy and environment, and Secretary of State William Galvin, whose office oversees the state’s public records.

The Patrick camp immediately launched a two-pronged counter-attack yesterday – one by the administration and one by Patrick’s campaign.

“We are in the process of fulfilling the Alliance’s extensive public records request,” said Bowles’ spokesman Robert Keough in a statement. But Patrick’s campaign, now waging a down-to-the-wire contest against Republican rival Charlie Baker, hit back hard.

“Governor Patrick’s commitment to green jobs and our clean energy future will not be deterred by this politically motivated suit,” said Patrick spokesman Alex Goldstein. “All it does is highlight the fact that if Charlie Baker is elected governor, not only will Cape Wind never be built, but Massachusetts will lose thousands of jobs and our status as a national leader in clean energy and environmental initiatives.”

A Baker spokesman blasted back that Cape Wind has become a costly boondoggle.

“This is Gov. Patrick’s pet project,” said Rick Gorka. “The governor needs to be honest about his intentions about this sweetheart (Cape Wind) deal.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/10/30/cape-wind-foe-sues-state-over-documents/