Massachusetts' top historic preservation officer has dealt a setback to the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, ruling yesterday that the body of water is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places because of its cultural significance for two Native American tribes. In a letter released late in the afternoon, Brona Simon, state historic preservation officer, said she believes that Nantucket Sound is so culturally important to two Wampanoag tribes that it should be eligible to be listed on the National Register as a traditional cultural property.

The Wampanoag - the tribe that welcomed the Pilgrims in the 17th century and known as "The People of the First Light" - practice sacred rituals requiring an unblocked view of the sunrise. That view won't exist once 130 turbines, each over 400 feet tall, are built in Nantucket Sound, visible to Wampanoag in Mashpee and on Martha's Vineyard. ..."We, the Wampanoag people, who opened our arms and allowed people to come here for religious freedoms, are now being threatened with our religion being taken away for the profits of one single group of investors," Green said.

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 ...are pushing for the entire sound to be listed as a traditional cultural property on the National Register of Historic Places.

Final approval for Cape Wind is stalled, aggravating developers of the Massachusetts offshore wind project and igniting concerns that the latest roadblock -- over American Indian ceremonies -- could jeopardize other ocean-based energy proposals. ..."There's great concern. It should have been finished months ago," said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for Cape Wind, noting that the delay is disrupting efforts to arrange construction contracts, line up installation barges and find buyers for the anticipated electricity.

Could the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm become obsolete before it is even built? ...technological advances in recent years are allowing developers elsewhere to consider building wind turbines farther from shore, where they would be less visible. ...If these and similar projects prove viable, some wind energy specialists and developers say, they could leapfrog closer-to-shore projects like Cape Wind.

In neighborhoods across the country, there's a battle brewing: the environmentalists vs. the aesthetes. As "green"-minded homeowners move to put in new energy-efficient windows, solar panels and light-reflecting roofs, they are bumping up against neighbors and local boards that object, saying the additions defy historic-district regulations, will look ugly or damage property values. ..."Renewable energy and aesthetics don't have to be mutually exclusive," says institute spokesman Frank Rathbun. "But agreeing to projects without regard to the architectural guidelines of the community can create divisiveness and can affect property values." ...A bill in Connecticut would override zoning restrictions and make it easier for people to put in wind turbines on their property. It wasn't passed, but lawmakers hope to revive it next session.

Fearing noise and bad looks, some communities are banning them.

Bath | A proposed wind farm in Prattsburgh cleared a major hurdle Thursday after the Steuben County Indus-trial Development Agency approved a final environmental statement on the project.

Click on the links below to see and hear wind turbines in motion.

Editor's Note: A note of caution. These clips are more valuable visually than as an accurate representation of turbine noise. The background noise in the first two videos is undoubtedly due, in part, to wind noise on the video camera's microphone. In the third video the background noise is, in part, road and radio noise. More sophisticated acoustical equipment is required to properly capture the sound of the operating turbines.

In a paper recently published on line on September 28,2005 in "Contemporary Aesthetics", Jon Boone responds to Yuriko Saito's "Machines in the Ocean: The Aesthetics of Wind Farms" by arguing that Saito's search for the right aesthetic justification for windplants sited in the ocean (as well as on shore) is predicated on a false assumption, i.e. that industrial wind power is both benign and effective.

BBC Research & Consulting's 2005 report for the National Wind Coordinating Committee that studies 9 wind plant sitings in an effort to identify circumstances that distinguish welcomed projects from projects that were not accepted by communities.

Over lunch with the top execs of Suzlon Energy, Andris Cukurs, CEO of the multinational's U.S. subsidiary, brought up Starbucks. Turns out there's something called the Starbucks Rule when it comes to siting wind farms. He said Suzlon and its rivals plot where Starbucks are in the general area and then make sure their project is at least 30 miles away. Any closer and there'd be too many NIMBYs.

The Oregon Trail is in the way of a gold rush that will demolish part of our history and leave us poorer. The Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, now operating under the new moniker Oregon Business, was commanded by statute to promote the Oregon Trail as a major tourist attraction consistent with maintaining the historical integrity of the Oregon Trail. ...The gold rush that threatens the Oregon Trail is "free" and "green" energy from the wind. If only it were so.