The Minerals Management Service's Public Connect website, http://ocsconnect.mms.gov/pcs-public, has recorded 280 comments on the Cape Wind proposal.

To read the comments, go to the website, then click "quick search," choose "comments" and then type "Cape Wind."

The following comments are not intended to show the percentage for and against the proposal, but to give a sampling of what people are saying:

For Cape Wind

"As a technical tradesman, this project would bring good-paying jobs to the region. It is also a huge step forward in reducing our dependence on oil. Please do not let political pressure affect your decision on this matter. Try to make your decision based on common sense."

"We need the project to bring needed power to the area, lessen our dependence on foreign oil and despotic regimes in the Middle East. ... It should also be noted that the funding for the project comes mainly from wealth landowners concerned about their property values as opposed to, say our environment and our brave troops in Iraq."

"Shortsighted NIMBY thinking (Not In My Back Yard) by those whose primary reason for objection to the project is that their view will be spoiled continues to amaze me."

"The location is right (there is no 'pristine' nature to that portion of the sound), and four years of fact-finding have shown little to no adverse impact (birds/other natural resources, navigation, etc.) from siting it there."

"1. It is not widely known that Cape Cod has worse air quality than the city of Boston. The Cape Wind project could help mitigate the problem. 2. Denying the project at this advanced stage would send a chilling message to other developers at a time when it is urgent to encourage them."

Against Cape Wind

"The Cape Cod area is blessed with abundant winds year-round, and we as a country need to develop alternative sources of energy, both for ecological and national security reasons. So why am I uncomfortable with the Cape Wind proposal? I keep coming back to one simple question: 'Why put the project in the middle of Nantucket Sound?' There is plenty of wind around the Cape, and surely there are sites that would be a lot less controversial."

"While the demand for renewable energy is pressing, America's enduring ocean sanctuaries are not laboratories for private developers and their financial experimentation. ... There is a win-win situation that can benefit not simply (Cape Wind developer) Jim Gordon, but the planet and the economy."

"This project is a giveaway of public subsurface lands to a private development company with no competitive bidding process, no posting of a bond, no rent for use of the resource and no obligation to restore the site after the project is shut down. The MMS should not even seriously consider the Cape Wind project unless it can meet all of these criteria."

"I don't doubt Mark Rodgers, Cape Wind's director of communications, when he informs me that there aren't that many places where one finds shallow, windy water with relatively small waves and little ship traffic, and that Horseshoe Shoals (the best fishing spot in Nantucket Sound) is an ideal location for one of the world's largest offshore wind farms. On the other hand, neither are there that many (or any) places that surpass Horseshoe Shoals in its abundance of fish, sea bird and marine mammals."

"This project divides the community, promises nothing in terms of the reality of our electric bills, will hurt tourism, the people, the wildlife and the character of the Cape for nothing."