Wind Farm Review Needs Another Year

Army Corps of Engineers Says Issue Complex; ‘We're Not
Trying to Meet Some Artificial Deadline'

By MANDY LOCKE

Determining the fate of a 130-turbine wind farm development proposed
for the shallow waters of Nantucket Sound will take the United States
Army Corps of Engineers at least another year.

"A lot of times studies don't move along quickly"
said Timothy Dugan, spokesman for the Army Corps' New England
division in Concord. "It gets bogged down. This [issue] being so
complex, I don't think anyone imagined this would be done quickly.
We're trying to get it done correctly. We're not trying to
meet some artificial deadline. We want the project determined
soundly."

Word of the extended permit review for American's first
offshore wind farm proposal came this week as a powerhouse group of
energy experts reviews criteria to determine alternative locations for
the private energy development.

"Some of the most knowledgeable people in the business are now
making sure the criteria make sense. The industry is changing so much,
and it's possible the industry is changing faster than engineering
requirements we list. It could affect the areas we evaluate," said
Mr. Dugan. The peer review committee includes experts from American and
European wind energy organizations such as the European Wind Energy
Association and the Renewable Energy Research Lab at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst.

Cape Wind Associates filed plans in the fall of 2001 with the Army
Corps to erect 170 turbines on 28 square miles of shallow water known as
Horseshoe Shoal. The private developer erased 40 turbines from the plan
this January, freeing up four square miles of the shoal in waters about
nine miles off the Vineyard and just four miles from the nearest point
on Cape Cod.

In early 2002, Army Corps officials predicted the draft
environmental impact statement - a full evaluation of the projects
benefits and drawbacks compiled through independent studies and expert
evaluations - would be ready for public comment by the spring of
2003. The new timeline pushes the final permitting phase more than a
year beyond early predictions.

But Mr. Dugan said the lengthy review is necessary. Major decisions
such as selecting alternative site criteria have the potential to drive
the whole review process, he said. "If that part is weak, then the
whole study will be weak."

Since Cape Wind's proposal was first made public in the summer
of 2001, debates have loomed - from Beacon Hill to Capital Hill
- over the legality of permitting developments in federal waters
off America's coast. The Army Corps' authority to license
such structures in federal waters, as evidenced by a federal court
challenge to Cape Wind's data tower permit issued by the Army
Corps in September of 2002, is under scrutiny both in the federal
legislature and in the courts.

Last week, the state Senate overwhelmingly approved a study
commissioned on wind farms - a measure the governor undertook
earlier this summer when he named a task force to evaluate ocean
management. The Senate bill, which was sponsored by Cape and Islands
Sen. Robert O'Leary, is expected to lay the groundwork for ocean
zoning - a map which would designate appropriate places to develop
wind farms in state waters off Massachusetts.

The Army Corps also officially added two new alternative sites this
week to a list being winnowed by the peer review committee. The harbors
of Boston and New Bedford are now being considered along with 14 other
land and sea locations in the area.

"We're now trying to boil it down to a short list of
alternative sites. Determining how many viable sites there are will
determine how long it takes from here," Mr. Dugan said.

"We'll pick sites to study that are somewhere between
reasonable and feasible," he added.

Once the list of alternative sites is final, an independent
consultant, Environmental Science Services of Wellesley and Sandwich,
will work with the Army Corps to study the sites' characteristics.
Cape Wind must pick up the tab for consultant fees.

Once the environmental impact statement is released by the Army
Corps, the public will be allowed a comment period. The Army Corps is
also commissioning the help of experts such as the Federal Aviation
Administration and the Division of Marine Fisheries to assess the
accuracy of data being filed as part of the permit application.