FAA OK’s Cape Wind (wind farm at Cape Cod, Mass.)

[alp227]

Towering wind turbines off Cape Cod will not pose a hazard to planes, the Federal Aviation Administration ruled Wednesday, clearing what is believed to be the final federal regulatory hurdle for the controversial 130-turbine project.

The FAA released a short statement to the Globe that said the agency “completed an aeronautical study and has determined that the proposed construction of the 130 wind turbines, individually and as a group, has no effect on aeronautical operations.’’

The FAA’s decision is the latest in a series of positive rulings by federal and state agencies on the controversial project in Nantucket Sound. While there have been many declarations of final approval by Cape Wind and its supporters during the 11-year effort to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm, a review by the Globe indicates that Cape Wind has all the major permits it needs.

...

Cape Wind has overcome years of environmental review and political opposition, including that by the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose home overlooked Nantucket Sound. More recently, two Wampanoag Native American tribes have said that the turbines would disturb spiritual sun greetings and ancient burial grounds now covered by the sea. A movie was even made about the project called “Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle.”

Full: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/08/16/cape_wind_wins_faa_approval_federal_agency_declares_turbines_pose_not_threat_to_planes/

[virgogal]

1. Ted is rolling over in his grave.

[Vogon_Glory]

2. R-money Also Opposed Cape Wind

Let's not forget that then-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney also opposed the Cape Wind project and collaborated with other wealthy Republicans with second homes near that part of Cape Cod to stop it from being built.

The stretch of water where the Cape Wind wind farm will be built is neither virgin seabed nor particularly navigable. The area has been trawled and dragged-over for decades and water depth is can go less than three feet.

Much of the opposition to Cape Wind has been provided by NIMBYs draping their irritation with the thought of distant windmills twirling on the horizons from their vacation home vistas with phony environmental concerns.

On a personal note, I'm a Texan. I regularly drive past the wind farms along I-20 between Abilene and Sweetwater and the wind-farms between Roscoe and Justiceburg. We all have to make minor aesthetic sacrifices if we expect to transition from a filthy coal-burning polluted present to a clean-energy future. I have zero sympathy for the Cape Cod NIMBYs, particularly those who profess to be Green.

[cali]

3. Yeah, I've taken that drive between Abilene and Sweetwater

Not exactly the vista off the Cape, and no I don't live there. I don't want to see windmills in beautiful places. We need them.

[Vogon_Glory]

4. Unlike The West Texas Wind-Farms, The Cape Wind Machines Will Be

Unlike the West Texas wind-farms, the Cape Wind turbines will be invisible during Cape Cod's frequent fog days and few summer vacation-home owners will step outside to glare at them when a Nor'easter is throwing wind and rain at them or when a winter storm is throwing sleet and more cold wind at them.

[cali]

5. so what? My point is that we need to preserve beautiful natural vistas in this country.

We need the sight of uninterrupted natural vistas. Texas is a big state with some beautiful and pristine places. MA is a small state.

[Vogon_Glory]

6. Like You Don't Have The Rest Of The Cape Cod Shoreline

Like you don't have the rest of the Cape Cod shoreline to enjoy the interaction of sea and sky and beach? The wind-farms would be in a small, confined area, not a forest of turbines stretching from Provincetown to Braintree--which would be environmentally disruptive and a hazard to navigation. I think a region that once depended on wind power to grind the grain that once fed their Yankee forbears can make the small sacrifice.

Oh, and how do Cape Cod aesthetes like paying tribute to the fossil fuel companies and enriching the likes of the Koch brothers (Who ALSO oppose the Cape Wind project)?


http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/Bill-Koch/


http://blogs.providencejournal.com/ri-talks/this-new-england/2012/07/koch-political-pals-keep-fighting-cape-wind.html

[cali]

7. As if the Koch brothers are behind all opposition

or even most of it. The Cape is a small, fragile place.

[Vogon_Glory]

9. Not that miniscule, and Horsehoe Shoal hasn't been untouched, virgin seabed for 100 years n/t

[GobBluth]

8. Outside of pictures I have never seen the cape

But driving through North Dakota (which I find beautiful) I think windmills are kind of relaxing and beautiful also. Of course I was young and property values didn't compute.

I now live on the gulf coast here in Pinellas FL. I frequent the many top rated beaches nearby. I would love to see windmills off of Ft Desoto. But that's just me. Better than oil rigs.

[Vogon_Glory]

10. Psst! Don't Tell Anyone, But Cape Cod Has Four Big Wind Turbines On-shore!

Psst! Don't tell anyone, but Cape Cod has at least four big wind turbines already in operation on Terra Firma--a middling-sized one near Newton, and three large ones not far from Plymouth. Unlike the Cape Wind machines, which would be about thumb-sized and on the horizon, the four existing ones are highly visible.

I know. I saw them with my own eyeballs back in April when I went up to the Plymouth area to attend a cousin's wedding.

[GobBluth]

11. I figured it was more of a NIMBY type thing

I realize there are cons, but nothing compared to the environmental destruction, the wars for oil, etc. I swear, if my house is deemed efficient for such amazing forms of energy, bring it on. If we want to survive, we will have to change our outlook on what is beautiful, and a warless energy source is freaking gorgeous to me.