[MassHistPres] Nantucket Sound Wind Farm

[Bjdurk at aol.com]

The scope is not so narrow as preserving long disappeared lands and Native  
American graves according to ACHP.  ACHP is the only federal agency  with 
purview over historic preservation in matters of federal  actions.    
 
ACHP Cape Wind Findings are that: 

"The historic properties affected by the Project are significant,  
extensive, and closely interrelated. The Project will adversely affect 34  historic 
properties including 16 historic districts and 12 individually 2  
significant historic properties on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket  Island, 
and six properties of religious and cultural significance to tribes,  
including Nantucket Sound itself. These districts and standing structures  
reflect the broad array of properties that represent the rich and unique  
architectural, social, and cultural history of Cape Cod and the Islands."
 
"Adverse effects on historic properties will be direct and indirect, cannot 
 be avoided, and cannot be satisfactorily mitigated."
 
"Nantucket Sound has been found eligible for listing in the National  
Register not only as a TCP but as a historic and archaeological property."
 
_http://www.achp.gov/docs/CapeWindComments.pdf_ 
(http://www.achp.gov/docs/CapeWindComments.pdf) 
 
In response to assertions that preservation, in this instance, conflicts  
with addressing fossil fuel dependency, these resources are provided by top  
notch energy analysts. The second link features articles that  address the 
preservation of earth's environment from a scientific  perspective.     
 
Enjoy :) 
 
_http://www.masterresource.org/2010/02/energy-myths/_ 
(http://www.masterresource.org/2010/02/energy-myths/) 
 
_http://www.masterresource.org/_ (http://www.masterresource.org/) 
 
Thank You, 
 
Barbara Durkin 

 
 
In a message dated 4/28/2010 7:11:57 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
twm3 at rcn.com writes:

The  issue of preserving the earth's environment for all of future human  
civilization on this planet   
vs 
preserving long disappeared land since the last ice age with never to be  
seen again graves on it is extremely bizarre.  


It is also interesting to ponder how we got as far as we have with the  
evolution of technology in the face of near consistent opposition to it.

Tris Metcalfe
Northampton, Mass.


isn't going to be resolved here especially if its headed to  courts

On Apr 28, 2010, at 6:22 PM, _Bjdurk at aol.com_ (mailto:Bjdurk at aol.com)  
wrote:


With all due respect, Mr. Hadley, this historic precedent is  completely 
relevant to preservation.  
 
The SHPO, THPOs, ACHP, National Trust, National Parks and the Keeper  are 
the Nations' front line of defense.  And, they have all taken  actions to 
assist in the preservation of Nantucket Sound deemed eligible for  listing to 
the National Register of Historic Places.    
 
I will confine my comments to that which is relevant to historic  
preservation on this topic.  I invite any other inquires to be directed  to me 
personally should any individual wish to discuss non-preservation Cape  Wind 
related issues.  
 
Sincerely, 
 
Barbara Durkin 
_bjdurk at aol.com_ (mailto:bjdurk at aol.com) 
 
 
In a message dated 4/28/2010 6:09:07 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
_jameswhadley at hotmail.com_ (mailto:jameswhadley at hotmail.com)   writes:

Please. This is not a ligitimate forum for this topic, and I  don't want to 
have to keep cleaning it out of my inbox. Will Mass HisCom  please say 
something about this. It is politics, not preservation, on both  sides.
Jim Hadley
Chair, Orleans Historical  Commission

 
____________________________________
From: _Bjdurk at aol.com_ (mailto:Bjdurk at aol.com) 
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010  18:04:22 -0400
To: _TuckerJ at amherstma.gov_ (mailto:TuckerJ at amherstma.gov) ; 
_veronica_mcclure at harvard.edu_ (mailto:veronica_mcclure at harvard.edu) ;  
_jworden at swwalaw.com_ (mailto:jworden at swwalaw.com) ; _masshistpres at cs.umb.edu_ 
(mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu) 
CC:  _roberta_lane at nthp.org_ (mailto:roberta_lane at nthp.org) ; 
_Forum-L at lists.nationaltrust.org_ (mailto:Forum-L at lists.nationaltrust.org) 
Subject:  Re: [MassHistPres] Nantucket Sound Wind Farm

Coalition of Stakeholder Groups Announce Cape  Wind Lawsuits  
Native American Tribes, Commercial  Fishermen, Environmental Groups, Towns 
and Others Will File Suit to Bar  Industrial Wind Project from Nantucket 
SoundHyannis, MA –  A wide ranging coalition of stakeholder groups will 
immediately  file suit in response to Secretary Salazar’s ruling to approve the 
Cape  Wind project.
“While the Obama Administration today dealt a blow to all  of us who care 
deeply about preserving our most precious natural treasures  – this fight is 
not over,” said Audra Parker, president and CEO of the  Alliance to Protect 
Nantucket Sound. “Litigation remains the option of  last resort. However, 
when the federal government is intent on trampling  the rights of Native 
Americans and the people of Cape Cod, we must act. We  will not stand by and 
allow our treasured public lands to be marred  forever by a corporate giveaway 
to private industrial energy  developers.”
Lawsuits will be filed on behalf of a coalition of  environmental groups – 
including the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound,  Three Bays Preservation, 
Animal Welfare Institute, Industrial Wind Action  Group, Californians for 
Renewable Energy, Oceans Public Trust Initiative  (a project of the 
International Marine Mammal Project of the Earth Land  Institute), Lower Laguna Madre 
Foundation – against the federal Fish and  Wildlife Service and Minerals 
Management Service for violations of the  Endangered Species Act.  
The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound,  along with the Duke’s 
County/Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen Association, will  also file suit against the 
federal Minerals Management Service for  violations under the Outer Continental 
Shelf Lands Act. The Town of  Barnstable has filed a notice of intent to file 
a lawsuit on the same  grounds. And the Wampanoag tribe is preparing to 
mount a legal challenge  to the project for violations of tribal rights. 
Additional legal issues  include violation of the National Environmental Policy 
Act, the Migratory  Bird Treaty Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Clean 
Water Act, and the  Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.  
Secretary Salazar’s decision  ignores the recent positions taken against 
the project by the Advisory  Council on Historic Preservation, the National 
Trust for Historic  Preservation, the Massachusetts Historical Commission and 
the National  Park Service, which ruled recently that Nantucket Sound was 
eligible for  listing on the National Register of Historic Places which, like 
our  national parklands, would provide it a higher level of protection from  
industrial development.
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation  (ACHP) recommended that 
Secretary Salazar deny or relocate the proposed  Cape Wind project because its 
effects would be “pervasive, destructive,  and, in the instance of seabed 
construction, permanent.” The ACHP called  on Secretary Salazar to either deny 
the project or relocate it to a nearby  alternative such as the compromise 
location outside of Nantucket Sound  approximately ten miles south of the 
proposed site. The compromise  location, South of Tuckernuck Island, has gained 
the support of every  stakeholder involved, including Native American 
tribal leaders, state and  federal historic preservation agencies, environmental 
groups, cities and  towns, elected officials, airpots, ferry lines, chambers 
of commerce and  many others.
“It is a shame that the Obama Administration chose  political expediency 
over developing a project in an environmentally  responsible place that can 
actually be built,” said Parker. “The  compromise location would have avoided 
years of litigation and allowed  this project to move forward.” 
Secretary Salazar left unaddressed the  growing concerns in Massachusetts 
over the project’s energy costs to  ratepayers and its overall cost to 
taxpayers. 
Earlier this month Rhode  Island rejected a deal between National Grid and 
an offshore wind project  that would have set a rate that was nearly triple 
the current cost for  electricity. The electric utility tapped to buy power 
from Cape Wind,  National Grid, has failed to reach a similar agreement on 
the cost to  ratepayers of Cape Wind’s energy. 
Most estimates have put the cost of  Cape Wind energy at two to three times 
the current rate for conventional  power. This comes on top of the $10 
billion ISO New England recently  announced would be necessary to upgrade the 
region’s electrical grid and  transmission facilities as a result of Cape Wind 
and other wind  projects.
Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs  Ian Bowles 
recently expressed concern over the project’s energy costs as  did the state’s 
largest business group, the Associated Industries of  Massachusetts. 
Consumer anger is also palpable. In a recent survey  conducted by the 
University of Massachusetts, a majority of consumers said  they would not pay 
more for electricity produced by wind turbines. Much of  the support for wind 
energy was based on the false assumption that  offshore wind will lower 
electric bills. At the projected Cape Wind power  rate, nearly 80 percent of 
respondents registered opposition to the  project.











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