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Massachusetts court backs Cape Wind offshore wind farm

Cape Wind still needs final approval for its power contract, but is almost ready to build

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled in favor of the Cape Wind offshore wind project being granted all state and local permits.

The ruling came yesterday, by four votes to two, bringing to a close a decade of effort to secure permission for the 130-turbine wind project planned for Nantucket Sound.

It backed a decision made by the State Energy Facility Siting board in May 2009 to grant a “composite certificate” to developers Cape Wind Associates, a single permit consisting of all local and state permits.

Specifically, the state’s highest court rejected an appeal of the permit allowing transmission lines needed for the multi-billion dollar offshore wind project.

Commenting on the ruling, Cape Wind’s attorney David Rosenzweig said: “The SJC’s decision brings to a close ten years of state and local permitting for this landmark clean energy project.”

Opposition groups had challenged the all-in-one permit, for which Cape Wind applied after failing to secure a local permit from the local land-use agency, the Cape Cod Commission.

However, the Supreme Judicial Court decided yesterday that after 17 federal and state agencies reviewed Cape Wind and its impacts, the project “has undergone extensive scrutiny by Federal and State agencies”.

“Outrageous”

Opponents in the campaign group Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound described the court’s decision as an “outrageous violation of community rights”.

In a statement, it said yesterday: “The court has trampled the ability of residents of every city and town in Massachusetts to make their own decisions regarding large industrial projects, by granting the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) the ability to overrule community objections.”

The group cited one of the dissenting judges, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, as warning: “The court’s ruling to the contrary establishes a dangerous and unwise precedent, which has far-reaching consequences. A wind farm today may be a drilling rig or nuclear power plant tomorrow.”

Construction

Cape Wind now has all federal and state permits required to construct the 420-megawatt offshore wind project on the Horseshoe Shoal, which will generate enough electricity to supply around 220,000 homes.

A decision on the project’s power purchase agreement with utility National Grid still requires sign-off by state officials, expected to come by November.

The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) must thoroughly review the Cape Wind-National Grid contract” - Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound

The Boston company’s Communications Director said: “This important decision brings Cape Wind’s benefits of hundreds of new jobs, greater energy independence and a healthier environment that much closer to the people of Massachusetts. The court was right to say no to the delay tactics of the oil- and coal-funded opposition group which brought this lawsuit.”

Local pro-offshore wind group Clean Power Now, which supported Cape Wind in the case before the Supreme Judicial Court, said it was now time for opponents to “stop filing frivolous legal challenges”, and for construction to begin.

Barbara Hill, Executive Director of Clean Power Now, said: “Today’s Supreme Judicial Court ruling, affirming the Energy Facilities Siting Board decision to issue a composite certificate to Cape Wind, is a victory for the people in the Commonwealth. This decision paves the way to building a real, viable and sustainable clean energy industry here in Massachusetts.”

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound has now turned its campaigning to focus on the 15-year power purchase agreement that still requires final approval by the Department of Public Utilities.

The group said: “The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) must thoroughly review the Cape Wind-National Grid contract and deny it if it is not cost effective or in compliance with Massachusetts State Law.  At 18.7 cents per kWh, the Cape Wind project is 2-3 times more expensive than other green energy projects which are available at 6-11 cents per kWh.”