Cape Wind boss hopes for shift in attitudes

www.capecodonline.com
December 28, 2007

More than seven years have passed since Jim Gordon proposed a utility-scale wind farm for Nantucket Sound. In that time, Gordon, 54, and his company, Boston-based Cape Wind Associates LLC, have alternatively leapt forward and fallen back in the effort to build 130 wind turbines on Horseshoe Shoal, off Cape Cod's south coast.

In March, for example, the top environmental and energy official in Massachusetts, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles, gave Cape Wind the thumbs up. Then, in October, the Cape Cod Commission denied a permit for the turbines' transmission lines. The next 12 months promise even more regulatory wrangling.

First, there is an important federal review for Cape Wind to survive. The U.S. Minerals Management Service plans to release a long-awaited draft environmental report on Cape Wind early next year. The final version, issued after a public comment period on the draft report, could be out by the end of 2008. Gordon expects the federal report to closely parallel the state's positive environmental impact report issued by Bowles. But even if the federal report is favorable toward Cape Wind, it does not mean an end to the fight, something Gordon readily admits.

"I don't want to be naive about legal challenges," he said in a telephone interview yesterday while on a family vacation in Vermont. But with public opinion polls indicating majority support for the project statewide, he imagines a day when even his detractors will come around. "I'm hoping that even the opponents, diehard opponents, will hopefully have a shift in their attitude and hopefully stop trying to delay and obstruct a project that is needed and enjoys growing support," he said.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a sign of support for efforts to combat global warming, Gordon said. And, he sees Cape Wind as one reason for the federal government's efforts to formulate new permitting and leasing regulations for offshore renewable energy projects. The rules are expected to be released in 2008. "I think that our efforts have helped sow the seeds for an industry in the U.S.," he said.

There also will be action on Gordon's project at the state level. Cape Wind has appealed the Cape Cod Commission's denial to the state Energy Facilities Siting Board, which has set a hearing for April 22. The ruling of the siting board, which has previously approved Cape Wind's transmission lines, is of "key importance," said state Rep. Matthew Patrick, D-Falmouth, a proponent of renewable energy projects, including Gordon's turbines. "That will give you an indication of just how important this is to the administration and the state in terms of renewable energy and moving forward with the first offshore wind farm."

Cape Wind supporters see the project as inevitable and current events only propelling it forward. "I think its only a matter of time before it's approved," Patrick said. "Most of my colleagues — including the Senate — are in favor of it," he said. "I think the momentum has shifted already in terms of public opinion."

But Gordon's opponents, including the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, are also looking toward the new year. "The alliance is looking forward to deeper scrutiny of Cape Wind's project either at (the siting board) or in the court system," said Glenn Wattley, chief executive officer for the Hyannis-based group.

Between the appeal to the siting board and the draft report from Minerals Management, the next year could be the "perfect storm" of events in the Cape Wind debate, Wattley said. "The truth will be known in 2008."