[OR_Archaeology] ACHP tells Salazar Cape Wind project will have destructive effects on historic properties

[Susan White]

Council: Feds should dump Mass. wind farm project

By JAY LINDSAY (AP) – 2 days ago

BOSTON — A federal council recommended Friday that the secretary of
the U.S. Department of the Interior reject a proposed wind farm in
Nantucket Sound, saying it would have "destructive" effects on dozens of
nearby historic properties.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation said the Kennedy family
compound in Hyannisport and the Nantucket Historic District, known for
its whaling period architecture, were among the districts whose views
would be negatively affected by the Cape Wind project, which would be
the country's first offshore wind farm.

It also backed claims by two Wampanoag Indian tribes that Cape Wind
would interfere with ancient rituals that require an unblocked view of
the horizon and could disturb long-submerged tribal burial grounds.

"The indirect and direct effects of (Cape Wind) on the collection of
historic properties would be pervasive, destructive and, in the instance
of seabed construction, permanent," the council said in seven pages of
comments sent to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Salazar must respond to the council's comments before making his final
ruling on the project, expected by the end of the month.

The 130-turbine project has been under federal review since 2001.
Salazar stepped in early this year to bring what he said was badly
needed resolution to the proposal.

Salazar would carefully consider the council's comments and
recommendations, his spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said Friday.

"As he has said before, the parties, the public and the permit
applicants deserve resolution and certainty," she said.

Cape Wind officials say the project will jump-start the nation's
offshore wind industry while providing Massachusetts with jobs and clean
energy. But opponents says the project is a threat to bird and marine
life, would mar historic vistas and should be moved out of Nantucket
Sound.

The project is backed by Gov. Deval Patrick, but its opponents included
the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who fought Cape Wind up to the months
before he died last year of brain cancer.

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which opposes Cape Wind,
called the council's recommendation a "great victory" and said it would
make it difficult for Salazar to justify approving Cape Wind.

"It's huge," Alliance spokeswoman Audra Parker said. "I think it will
be difficult to approve the (project), given that he has said that his
equal priorities are renewable energy development, historic preservation
and respect of tribal rights."

In a statement, Cape Wind said it disagreed with the council. But it
noted that historic preservation was just one of many concerns Salazar
was considering and that the project got a favorable environmental
impact report from the lead agency in the federal review, the Minerals
Management Service.

"We're very hopeful that when Secretary Salazar reviews the complete
record he will conclude that the verified public benefits of cleaner
air, greater energy independence, hundreds of new American jobs and
mitigating climate change will far outweigh any negative impacts and
that he will approve Cape Wind," it said.

The project is planned for several miles offshore, but in its comments
the historic council said it would negatively affect the views from 34
historic properties.

"(Cape Wind) will introduce visual elements that are out of character
with the properties and will change the character of historic
properties' settings that inextricably contributes to their historic
significance," it wrote.

It criticized federal agencies, including MMS, for what it called
"tentative, inconsistent and late" consultation with the Wampanoag
tribes about their concerns. MMS did not immediately comment on the
criticism.

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