Salazar signs Cape Wind lease

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday gave the final sign-off for the long-fought Cape Wind project off Nantucket Island, paving the way for the first commercial wind development in federal waters.
 
Salazar — in a speech at a gathering hosted by the American Wind Energy Association in Atlantic City, N.J. — said it was “the beginning of a new era for the nation in offshore energy production.”
 
Salazar’s official signing of the lease Wednesday follows his signing in April of a commitment by the project developers to minimize environmental and cultural impacts.
 
Opponents of the project have included state and local officials and some environmental and business groups.

The nonprofit Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound group was formed in 2001 to fight the project and, at one point, its members included former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and billionaire oil heir William Koch.
 
The 28-year lease is for 25 square miles in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts. The project would involve 130 planned wind turbines that could produce up to 468 megawatts of electricity — and on average could power more than 200,000 homes in Massachusetts.
 
It could serve as a model for other planned projects off Atlantic-coast states such as Delaware and New Jersey.
 
Salazar’s signing comes amid a series of renewable-energy announcements this month, which the administration has designated National Energy Awareness Month.
 
The White House on Tuesday announced plans to install solar panels on the White House roof for the first time since President Carter’s administration. Salazar also announced on Tuesday the approval of first-time large-scale solar projects on federal lands.