The Martha's Vineyard Commission received an unprecedented amount of correspondence relating to wind farm undersea cables.Of those opposed, the vast majority were from people off-Island.
Developers who want to build the nation’s first large-scale wind farm in ocean waters south of Martha’s Vineyard saw strong support and also some criticism at a public hearing before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission Thursday night.
The leading critics of the 170-turbine offshore wind farm proposed for the shallow waters of Horseshoe Shoal made their way across Nantucket Sound to rally Vineyard opposition to the project.
"I've seen grocery stores take longer to get permitting in front of the Cape Cod Commission than it took for Cape Wind to get [a data tower permit] from the Army Corps of Engineers," said Isaac Rosen, executive director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, to less than a dozen officials at the all-Island selectmen's meeting Wednesday night.
A crowd of Vineyard residents registered their concerns with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding a proposed private energy project that aims to plant 170 windmills in 28 square miles of shallow water in Nantucket Sound. For nearly two hours last Thursday night an audience of 60 entered comments into the formal record during a scoping session held in conjunction with a Martha's Vineyard Commission meeting in the basement of the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown.
Public opinion is beginning to heat up on the Cape and Islands over a proposal for a private alternative energy project that envisions a giant offshore wind farm anchored across some 28 square miles of Nantucket Sound.
The Martha's Vineyard Commission will host a public hearing on the project on Tuesday, Jan. 15, in the lower level of the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown. The hearing begins at 6:30 p.m.
The purpose of the hearing is to gather public comment, although the commission has no formal jurisdiction over the project.
Army Corps of Engineers Releases Long-Awaited Environmental Report for Controversial Cape Wind Plan
The controversial Cape Wind project vaulted back into the news this week with the long-awaited release of a draft environmental impact statement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
After three years of deliberation and months of anticipation, the environmental report found that the wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound would have economic and air quality benefits but little or no long-term negative impacts.
Top federal environmental agencies found fundamental flaws in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers review of the controversial Cape Wind project, the Gazette has learned.
Responding to an early version of the Army Corps draft environmental impact statement, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Mineral Management Service all questioned the objectivity of the Army Corps analysis.
