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

[Wendy Ann Wright]

Tom King sent this to the Oregon Archaeology Listserv in regards to my
question about something similar to Nantucket Sound in the PNW, but I don't
believe he is signed up so it didn't make it to the list.  Here is his
response for anyone who is thinking about how we might better manage these
questions of eligibility earlier in the process.
Cheers, Wendy Ann

Wendy Ann -- In talking with reporters about how something like Nantucket
Sound could be eligible for the Register, an example I cited was the
Seattle-Bremerton Ferry across Puget Sound.  It's the ferry crossing, not
the ferries, that are on the Register, and the termini at either end surely
lack architectural integrity.  So I ask, what's the property?  The water
that's constantly moving over the crossing?  The land at the bottom of the
Sound under where the ferry crosses?  Or simply the geographic space,
abstractly defined, through which the ferry moves?  And frankly, Scarlett,
who gives a damn?

TKing

On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 12:21 PM, Susan White <susan.white at state.or.us>wrote:

> 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.
>
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-- 
Wendy Ann Wright
Portland State University
Anthropology Department
503-853-0595
www.web.pdx.edu/~waw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition,
on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation,
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spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult
task."
BARACK OBAMA, Inauguration Speech, Jan 20, 2009
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