As reported in Greenwire, the Mineral Management Service, a federal agency charged with issuing a federal environmental assessment of the offshore Cape Wind project, off the Massachusetts coast, will not be released this month as expected. The Mineral Management Service said the report is "taking longer than expected" and would not be ready until at least the end of the summer. The delay means a final decision on the controversial offshore wind farm, which would be the largest of its kind in the world, will not be made until summer 2008.
Nicolette Nye, a spokesperson for the agency said, the delay is because the agency is in uncharted territory. "Offshore alternative energy is a new frontier for the nation," Nye said. "Thus the agency is proceeding with the review of the Cape Wind Energy Project in an appropriately deliberate and diligent manner."
The announcement comes less than two weeks after Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles certified the state's environmental review of the Cape Wind project as valid. The review examined the possible environmental impact of the undersea power cables that would run from the coast to the wind farm in the Nantucket Sound. It found that Cape Wind would offset 802 tons of sulfur dioxide, 497 tons of nitrous oxide and 733,876 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Combined with a $10 million mitigation package that will go toward restoring marine and bird habitat disrupted by the 130 turbines and supplemental infrastructure, the review concluded that Cape Wind "provides significant environmental benefits" that outweigh any damage it may cause to wildlife habitat.