Posts Tagged ‘wind turbines’

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), a bureau of the Department of the Interior, finalized review of a permit application from Cape Wind Associates to construct a controversial wind farm project on a 24- square-mile area on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar had indicated that he wanted remaining issues resolved in a timely manner, and had set a March 1, 2010, deadline to determine if a resolution of adverse effects among consulting parties could be reached. The ACHP is convening a panel of members to develop formal comments for Secretary Salazar.

While much recent public and media attention had focused on the finding that Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) as well as for meeting other criteria, there are also a number of other historic resources that would be affected by the project.

The proposal consists of 130 wind turbine generators in a 24-square-mile area on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). While none of the Section 106 issues are unprecedented in themselves, this complex, high-profile undertaking underscores some challenging policy issues associated with the development of alternative and renewable sources of energy and their potential effects on historic properties and their settings.

The ACHP formally entered the Section 106 review in April 2005, when the Corps of Engineers (Corps) was the lead agency, after receiving expressions of concern questioning Corps’ compliance with the Section 106 regulations. MMS became lead agency after assuming responsibility for alternative energy projects on the OCS as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. MMS formally initiated its Section 106 consultation process in 2008, holding consultation meetings in July and September, and formally issuing a Determination of Effect in December 2008. In the finding, MMS identified 29 historic properties that will be adversely affected by the undertaking, including 28 historic structures or districts and one TCP.

Other consulting parties include the Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), the National Trust for Historic Preservation, governments and historical commissions from local communities within the viewshed of the proposed project, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), a coalition of local citizens dedicated to preservation of the natural and historic setting of Nantucket Sound, and others.

The ACHP participated in consultations and issued letters in December 2008 and April and June 2009 advising MMS regarding steps to resolve issues of concern involving the Section 106 process. The major concerns focused on the sufficiency of the effort to identify historic properties, the eligibility of Nantucket Sound as a historic property, the effect on two National Historic Landmarks (NHLs), and the status of consultation with tribes regarding the identification of additional historic properties of religious and cultural significance to them. Read the rest of this entry »