Wind Farm? Not Off My Back Porch

March 30, 2007 — -- A major battle in the politics of alternative energy has moved to a final phase in Washington, and a senator named Kennedy with a waterfront view and a bone to pick awaits.

Friday was a good day for Jim Gordon, the man hungry to build America's first offshore wind farm off the Cape Cod coast.

The state environmental office -- one of a battery of local, state and federal agencies reviewing the project's permits -- ruled that his proposal to build 130 turbines in the waters of Nantucket Sound complies with the state's environmental policy.

Gordon and his Cape Wind project, which he says would generate 79 percent of the power for Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, have been pitched in a series of regulatory battles since 2001.

Already, he has spent $30 million in pursuit of the renewable energy project, which he argues the nation desperately needs to help combat global warming and promote energy independence.

While there currently are no wind farms off American shores, they're a clean power source that have gained increasing acceptance around the world, perhaps most notably in Denmark.

There are also other states -- Texas, New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia, for example -- either interested or already pursuing wind power with a close eye on Cape Wind's experience.

"We're behind in the global scene and we shouldn't be," Gordon said during a press conference, calling his proposal "the apex of environmental stewardship."

But while the news at the state level may be cheery, Cape Wind isn't ready for construction just yet.

Minerals Management Service, an office of the U.S. Department of the Interior, will have the final say probably in early 2008, Gordon said. If approved at the federal level -- the wind farm's footprint would lie within the federal waters of Nantucket Sound -- Gordon would aim for completion in 2010.

But another obstacle is a political heavyweight with a famous name, a local Cape Cod address and hardline opposition to the project.

U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy's primary residence is in Hyannisport, Mass., on the Kennedy family compound. It's one of the closest landfalls -- about 6 miles -- from the proposed site of the 440-feet turbines, which would be visible from his house as well as other surrounding coastlines.

Since 2001, there have been various legislative attempts to quash the project in Washington, many of which could be tied one way or another to the Democratic Bay State senator.