Stealth
03-11-2007, 12:41 AM
Tue, 06 Mar 2007
KRISTYN ECOCHARD
Cape Wind's president and Chief Executive Officer Jim Gordon is confident the five-year battle to construct the first U.S. offshore wind farm is coming to a close.It's a slow, arduous process but we are developing the first offshore wind project in America and in a sense we are helping to evolve the regulatory framework, he said. Gordon, whose group submitted a draft environmental impact statement last month, expects a final approval from the Minerals Management Services by the end of 2007 or first quarter of 2008.
The second draft EIS submitted to MMS in February will be responded to in MMS's draft that EIS expects will be released in April. Afterward, pending provisional MMS approval, a final EIS will be submitted by Cape Wind and, in turn, a final EIS from MMS. For five years, the project has undergone an evolving permitting and regulatory process involving 17 federal and state agencies.
More than $15 million has been spent by the Cape Wind opposition and more is expected to be spent on an appeal
A study released in September 2005 by the Department of Energy validated there's 900,000 megawatts of offshore wind potential off the coast of the United States with 330,000 from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Right now, the total installed generation capacity of the United States is 900,000 megawatts. A more recent study done by Massachusetts Institute of Technology also confirmed the potential of offshore wind power in the mid-Atlantic states.
KRISTYN ECOCHARD
Cape Wind's president and Chief Executive Officer Jim Gordon is confident the five-year battle to construct the first U.S. offshore wind farm is coming to a close.It's a slow, arduous process but we are developing the first offshore wind project in America and in a sense we are helping to evolve the regulatory framework, he said. Gordon, whose group submitted a draft environmental impact statement last month, expects a final approval from the Minerals Management Services by the end of 2007 or first quarter of 2008.
The second draft EIS submitted to MMS in February will be responded to in MMS's draft that EIS expects will be released in April. Afterward, pending provisional MMS approval, a final EIS will be submitted by Cape Wind and, in turn, a final EIS from MMS. For five years, the project has undergone an evolving permitting and regulatory process involving 17 federal and state agencies.
More than $15 million has been spent by the Cape Wind opposition and more is expected to be spent on an appeal
A study released in September 2005 by the Department of Energy validated there's 900,000 megawatts of offshore wind potential off the coast of the United States with 330,000 from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Right now, the total installed generation capacity of the United States is 900,000 megawatts. A more recent study done by Massachusetts Institute of Technology also confirmed the potential of offshore wind power in the mid-Atlantic states.