Two tribes object to Cape Wind turbines (Massachusetts)
Native American rituals and beliefs have emerged as a surprising last-minute obstacle to federal approval of the nation’s first offshore wind farm, threatening to significantly delay the Cape Wind project.
Two Massachusetts tribes say the 130 proposed wind turbines in Nantucket Sound would disturb their spiritual sun greetings and submerged ancestral burying grounds.
The Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag tribes - with help from the main opposition group to Cape Wind - are pushing for the entire sound to be listed as a traditional cultural property on the National Register of Historic Places. A listing by itself would not necessarily stop the project, but would make permitting much more cumbersome.
And even if the tribes’ proposal is ultimately rejected as many observers predict, the issue will probably hold up a final decision on Cape Wind by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, whose ruling had been expected shortly. The concerns of the tribes had been seen as a minor annoyance by supporters of the project, and the federal agency in charge of reviewing and granting permits for Cape Wind had maintained that federal waters are not eligible for listing. But officials of the federal Minerals Management Service say they became aware in June they were obligated to rule on the historic register eligibility question.
The agency is federally required to consult with Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Officer Brona Simon, who earlier this year criticized the federal government for not giving enough consideration to tribal concerns. If she says Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing on the historic register, the National Park Service would have to resolve the dispute. That could inject delays of more than a year into the Cape Wind timeline, according to state and federal environmental officials. Simon, who declined to comment through a spokesman, must make her decision by mid-November...
Read entire article at Boston.com
Two Massachusetts tribes say the 130 proposed wind turbines in Nantucket Sound would disturb their spiritual sun greetings and submerged ancestral burying grounds.
The Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag tribes - with help from the main opposition group to Cape Wind - are pushing for the entire sound to be listed as a traditional cultural property on the National Register of Historic Places. A listing by itself would not necessarily stop the project, but would make permitting much more cumbersome.
And even if the tribes’ proposal is ultimately rejected as many observers predict, the issue will probably hold up a final decision on Cape Wind by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, whose ruling had been expected shortly. The concerns of the tribes had been seen as a minor annoyance by supporters of the project, and the federal agency in charge of reviewing and granting permits for Cape Wind had maintained that federal waters are not eligible for listing. But officials of the federal Minerals Management Service say they became aware in June they were obligated to rule on the historic register eligibility question.
The agency is federally required to consult with Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Officer Brona Simon, who earlier this year criticized the federal government for not giving enough consideration to tribal concerns. If she says Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing on the historic register, the National Park Service would have to resolve the dispute. That could inject delays of more than a year into the Cape Wind timeline, according to state and federal environmental officials. Simon, who declined to comment through a spokesman, must make her decision by mid-November...