US' first offshore wind farm hits speed bump in court

A decade into the planning and approval process for what could be the US’ first offshore wind farm, a court decision has placed another obstacle in the developer’s path and given opponents reason for hope.

The Cape Wind project, which promises a maximum generating capacity of 454 megawatts (the average would be about 170 megawatts), would be located in Nantucket Sound off Massachusetts’ Cape Cod. Since developers Cape Wind Associates first applied for a federal permit in 2001, the project has been fraught with controversy.

In the latest development, the US Court of Appeals last week revoked a decision by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that found the project would pose “no hazard” to regional aviation.

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which opposes the wind farm, welcomed the court’s decision.

“It is time for Cape Wind and the Department of Interior to relocate this project to another site that will not only protect Nantucket Sound, but allow properly sited offshore wind development in a timely way,” said Audra Parker, the alliance’s president and CEO. “After ten years, Cape Wind continues to face legal and financial challenges, while better and cheaper forms of green energy are widely available. The free market has shown little or no interest in Cape Wind, the federal government has refused to issue a loan guarantee for the project, and now a federal court has dealt Cape Wind a major setback in rejecting the FAA’s determination.”

A spokesperson for Cape Wind, however, said the ruling merely requires the FAA to elaborate more on its previous determination.

“The FAA has reviewed Cape Wind for eight years and repeatedly determined that Cape Wind did not pose a hazard to air navigation,” said Mark Rodgers, the developer’s communications director. “The essence of today’s court ruling is that the FAA needs to better explain its Determination of No Hazard. We are confident that after the FAA does this, that their decision will stand and we do not foresee any impact on the project’s schedule in moving forward.”

Rodgers added that the existing Determination of No Hazard — the third by the FAA — was set to expire shortly, meaning, “we were going to have to re-apply at that time anyway.”

“(T)his lets us begin that process sooner,” he said.

In addition to expressing concern about the “very real dangers and risks to the operations and safety” of some 400,000 flights that traverse the sound each year, the alliance says the wind farm would also damage the local environment, ruin views, hurt the area’s tourist and fishing economy and pose hazards to marine vessel navigation.