[OR_Archaeology] Salazar says Cape Wind decision by end of April

[Susan White]

For those of y'all following the Cape Wind project, here's the latest
news and the link-
 
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2010/01/salazar_says_cape_wind_decisio.html


>From the Boston Globe 1/13/2010

By Alan Wirzbicki, Globe Correspondent, and Beth Daley, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- After a series of meetings today about the controversial
Cape Wind energy project, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pledged that
the nine-year permitting saga of the Nantucket Sound wind farm would be
over by the end of April.

“Having (Cape Wind) continuing to face a future of uncertainty is bad
for everyone involved,’’ said Salazar after meeting with Native
Americans, historic preservation officials, the developers, and others
associated with the project. “The lesson here is that the process
needs to be streamlined going forward.’’

Salazar called the meetings to resolve what has become the last major
regulatory hurdle for the nation’s first proposed off-shore wind farm:
Native Americans’ assertion that the project will interfere with their
age-old spiritual rituals and ancestral grounds, and the resulting
determination by the National Park Service that Nantucket Sound is
eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

While most of the participants said they want to find a compromise,
reaction after the meeting indicated that would be an enormous
challenge. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the project’s main
opposition group, and the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe said emphatically in
a late afternoon press conference that they wanted Cape Wind and Salazar
to move the project off Tuckernuck Island, near Nantucket. Yet Aquinnah
Wampanoag tribal historic preservation officer Bettina Washington said
some of the same Native American concerns about ancestral grounds could
crop up at that site.

“An in-depth study would have to be done,’’ said Washington.

Meanwhile, Cape Wind developers said they had no intention of moving
the 130-turbine project to a site with deeper waters, higher waves, and
the need to run longer transmission lines -- all of which would
dramatically increase the cost. Plus, they added, the clock on the
project would have to start all over again.

“If somebody else wants to develop offshore wind at that other site,
we wish them well, they have a long road ahead of them,’’ said Cape
Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers.

Mashpee Wampanoag, a second tribe involved in the dispute, struck a
more conciliatory tone, inviting Salazar to visit them, with Tribal
Chairman Cedric Cromwell saying, “Today’s meeting was the first step
in what we hope will be a thorough and comprehensive
consultation.’’

During the next few weeks, Interior Department officials will reach out
to the main parties that would have to agree on a compromise, according
to a spokeswoman. Legally, those discussions do not have to include the
Wampanoag; instead, the Massachusetts Historical Commission is
representing historic preservation interests. Salazar said he will allow
public comment on the issue until mid-February, in hopes of getting a
compromise by March 1.

However, if one is not reached, he has the legal authority to terminate
the consultation process. If he does, the Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation, a federal agency that has been involved in the issue, will
probably hold a public hearing before submitting comments to him within
45 days. Salazar then can make a final decision, in April.

Salazar also said he would be reviewing the National Park Service’s
unusual determination that the 560-square mile Nantucket Sound is
eligible to be listed on the Historic Register.

“It is something we are going to look at,’’ Salazar said.

It is unlikely Nantucket Sound will be formally listed on the Register,
because top state officials that oppose the listing, including Governor
Deval Patrick, would probably be able to block it. Yet the mere
determination of eligibility triggers the need for consultations with
the tribes, and state officials fear any activity in the Sound that
requires a federal permit, such as fishing or ferry service, would have
to enter a lengthy deliberation process as a result.