Federal historic council recommends US interior secretary reject Mass. coast wind farm project

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Council: Feds should dump Mass. wind farm project

BOSTON — A federal council recommended Friday that the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior reject a proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound, saying it would have “destructive” effects on dozens of nearby historic properties.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation said the Kennedy family compound in Hyannisport and the Nantucket Historic District, known for its whaling period architecture, were among the districts whose views would be negatively affected by the Cape Wind project, which would be the country’s first offshore wind farm.

It also backed claims by two Wampanoag Indian tribes that Cape Wind would interfere with ancient rituals that require an unblocked view of the horizon and could disturb long-submerged tribal burial grounds.

“The indirect and direct effects of (Cape Wind) on the collection of historic properties would be pervasive, destructive and, in the instance of seabed construction, permanent,” the council said in seven pages of comments sent to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Salazar must respond to the council’s comments before making his final ruling on the project, expected by the end of the month.

The 130-turbine project has been under federal review since 2001. Salazar stepped in early this year to bring what he said was badly needed resolution to the proposal.

Salazar would carefully consider the council’s comments and recommendations, his spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said Friday.

“As he has said before, the parties, the public and the permit applicants deserve resolution and certainty,” she said.

Cape Wind officials say the project will jump-start the nation’s offshore wind industry while providing Massachusetts with jobs and clean energy. But opponents says the project is a threat to bird and marine life, would mar historic vistas and should be moved out of Nantucket Sound.

The project is backed by Gov. Deval Patrick, but its opponents included the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who fought Cape Wind up to the months before he died last year of brain cancer.

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which opposes Cape Wind, called the council’s recommendation a “great victory” and said it would make it difficult for Salazar to justify approving Cape Wind.

“It’s huge,” Alliance spokeswoman Audra Parker said. “I think it will be difficult to approve the (project), given that he has said that his equal priorities are renewable energy development, historic preservation and respect of tribal rights.”

In a statement, Cape Wind said it disagreed with the council. But it noted that historic preservation was just one of many concerns Salazar was considering and that the project got a favorable environmental impact report from the lead agency in the federal review, the Minerals Management Service.

“We’re very hopeful that when Secretary Salazar reviews the complete record he will conclude that the verified public benefits of cleaner air, greater energy independence, hundreds of new American jobs and mitigating climate change will far outweigh any negative impacts and that he will approve Cape Wind,” it said.

The project is planned for several miles offshore, but in its comments the historic council said it would negatively affect the views from 34 historic properties.

“(Cape Wind) will introduce visual elements that are out of character with the properties and will change the character of historic properties’ settings that inextricably contributes to their historic significance,” it wrote.

It criticized federal agencies, including MMS, for what it called “tentative, inconsistent and late” consultation with the Wampanoag tribes about their concerns. MMS did not immediately comment on the criticism.