The Obama Interior Department has approved America's first offshore wind-energy project, in shallow waters six miles from Cape Cod and 10 miles from Martha's Vineyard. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made the announcement today in Boston. Cape Wind now has the federal go-ahead to build 130 wind turbines 440 feet tall. For the past nine years such projects have become common in Europe, while the project in Massachusetts has been subject to high-powered opposition and heated debate. What are the economic trade-offs? What are the consequences for fishing, tourism, historic preservation and tribal rights for Native Americans? Is this the birth of a new, alternative-energy industry? What will it mean for the Great Lakes and other parts of the Atlantic seaboard?
Windmills off the Coast of Cape Cod?
Credits
Guests:
- Sean Corcoran - Senior Cape Cod Reporter, WCAI
- Beth Daley - Boston Globe - @GlobeBethDaley
- Cliff Carroll - Founder, WindStop.org
- Tom Vinson - Director of Federal Regulatory Affairs, American Wind Energy Association
- Nathanael Greene - Director of Renewable Energy Policy, Natural Resources Defense Council
- Sam Jaffe - Renewable Energy Analyst, IDC Energy Insights