July 27, 2016
Massachusetts

Gov. Baker backs offshore wind option over Cape Wind

By Matt Murphy, State House News Service | Posted Jul. 26, 2016 | www.tauntongazette.com

As House and Senate lawmakers try to reach agreement on a major energy bill before Sunday, Gov. Charlie Baker seems to think at least one aspect of the legislation will work out in the House’s favor.

Both the House and Senate passed bills currently in conference that envision a significant procurement of offshore wind power to meet the state’s energy demand and need for renewable resources to hit its mandate for carbon emission reductions.

While the Senate has proposed a wide-open competition for offshore wind power contracts, the House bill included eligibility criteria that would exclude the controversial Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound from competing.

Baker, during an interview on WGBH’s Boston Public Radio last week, did not appear to see the Cape Wind project as being in Massachusetts’s future.

“It also has a fairly big offshore wind component, which would be deep water wind, not Nantucket Sound, but sort of deep water wind that I’m anticipating will be part of this package,” Baker said.

The governor also addressed critics of the Spectra Energy pipeline through West Roxbury, telling the hosts that the state will need a mix of hydropower, wind, solar and gas to meet energy demand in the future without having to buy costly resources on the spot market that would include coal and oil.

“First of all, it’s a federal issue more than it’s a state issue. We could choose to oppose it I suppose, but if you choose to oppose this stuff then you give up your rights and opportunities to be part of the conversation with respect to how it might actually play out,” Baker said of the pipeline.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/07/27/gov-baker-backs-offshore-wind-option-over-cape-wind/