August 13, 2020
Massachusetts

Vineyard Wind to pay town $34.4 million in mitigation money

Brian Bushard, I&M Staff Writer | The Inquirer and Mirror | Aug 13, 2020 | www.ack.net

Vineyard Wind has agreed to pay the town $34.4 million over the next 45 years as financial mitigation for the 84-turbine offshore wind farm it’s proposed 14 miles southwest of Madaket that some town officials, preservationists, fishermen and environmentalists see as potentially environmentally and visually devastating.

The offshore wind-energy company has also agreed to move the first row of turbines back on its 250-square-mile, 800-megawatt-project site, paint the turbines a non-reflective gray color and install an aircraft detection lighting system (ADLS) that only activates when planes are overhead to address the concerns.

But Mary Chalke sees it as the least they can do. No amount of money or mitigation, she said, can reverse the environmental impact the wind farm will have on the marine animals that inhabit the waters around the island or the visual impact the turbines will have when they’re seen from Nantucket.

“We’re conditioned to think everything green is good, but when you look at the footprint, it’s absolutely devastating,” said Chalke, a Madaket resident and member of the grass-roots group ACK-RAT (Residents Against Turbines).

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/08/13/vineyard-wind-to-pay-town-34-4-million-in-mitigation-money/