Will Cape Wind Project Hinge on a Cape Cod Sunrise?

Wherever you stand on the Cape Wind project, you have to have taken note  a week or so ago,  when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visited the Cape on an information gathering mission in regard to the project. Salazar came at the invitation of two of Cape Cod’s Native American tribes who claim that Nantucket Sound, the site of Cape Wind’s plans to put 130 wind turbines, each 400 feet tall, is sacred ground for their people. 

The two Wampanoag tribes argued that the wind turbines in Nantucket Sound will block their view of the rising sun, an integral part of their religious observances.  (Wampanoag means “People of the Morning Light”) At  6:30 a.m., Salazar joined respresentatives of the tribes at a beach in New Seabury for a ceremony to demonstrate the sunrise’s importance  - a glorious, crimson show  by all reports.   

After nearly a decade of review, this historic preservation issue is the final phase of the considerations of the  project – Salazar promises a decision on permitting  from the Department of the Interior by April.  It will be interesting to see what effect a Nantucket Sound sunrise will have on that decision.

Elaine

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 11:57 am and is filed under Miscellaneous Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.