A benchmark in the country's efforts to expand clean energy was reached today as the nation's first proposed offshore wind farm -- proposed in Nantucket Sound -- received a favorable final environmental review from a key federal agency. Calling his agency's report " a milestone," Minerals Management Service Director Randall Luithi said in a telephone interview this morning that Cape Wind could become "a bellweather for many offshore wind projects to come."

The Minerals Management Service has issued their Final Environmental Impact Statement as of 1 p.m. Friday. They submitted it to the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday Jan. 9. According to MMS "impacts are expected to be negligible or minor; some moderate impacts were found."

The inspector general for the U.S. Department of the Interior is investigating how the Minerals Management Service has handled its review of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm. The investigation comes as the federal agency is about to release its final environmental report on the energy project, which sources say could be within days. ...Rumors about the investigation have been floating for months among proponents and opponents of Cape Wind.

Members of the Citizens Wind Watch, a group of residents who oppose the wind turbine project in town, said Barrington Town Council member Kate Weymouth was out of line at last Monday's meeting when she commented on the opposition. ...Ms. Weymouth read from a prepared statement at the meeting, just prior to making a motion to accept CREB's recommendation not to build the turbine at Legion Way. Some of the statement included important dates in the process, while other portions commented on the opposition.

The steady, strong winds over the Atlantic off New England have attracted another developer interested in harnessing them for power generation. A new wrinkle in the proposal by Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company, of Washington state, is that the supports anchoring each wind turbine platform to the ocean floor would be designed in a way to turn wave action into electricity as well.

Paltry gusts have taken the wind out of a plan to erect a 200-foot wind turbine at Staples corporate headquarters off Rte. 9. The Zoning Board of Appeals gave the go-ahead for the office supply giant to build a 120-foot meteorological test tower to measure wind velocity on the side of a hill near 500 Staples Drive. The data collected from the spring until December indicates the wind is not strong enough to make the project financially worthwhile.

A developer is proposing to build the first commercial-scale projects in New England waters to harness the power of the waves for electricity, but most of the energy they produce would actually come from attached wind turbines. Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company, based in Seattle, applied for preliminary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October to explore mounting 100 jack-up platforms - similar to those used in the offshore oil industry - in seven tracts of ocean around the country.

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University will use a state grant to study the use of wind turbines on its sprawling campus in Grafton and Westboro. The $39,760 grant was awarded by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust Fund. ...If the study finds that wind power is feasible, university officials will weigh the costs of constructing wind turbines and then seek permission from local boards.

Although the judge reiterated in his decision an earlier finding that the town's claims can only be reviewed based on the parts of the project in state waters, the move nonetheless opens up the state's decision to approve Cape Wind to further scrutiny. ...McLaughlin said the main questions in the lawsuit are whether Bowles had all the necessary facts in front of him when he made his determination and whether he applied the law correctly.

With the final environmental report on the wind farm proposed to be built in Nantucket Sound now expected out early next year, letters of protest are blowing in from all sides. In the past two days, powerful members of Congress, the federal agency responsible for historic preservation and a handful of national environmental groups have, for very different reasons, questioned the timing of the report's release.

Opponents of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm reacted angrily yesterday to a Coast Guard-sponsored presentation on the potential impact of the project on marine radar, calling the handling of a marine radar study a "black eye" for the federal agency. The forum at the Sea Crest Oceanfront Resort and Conference Center ended on a sour note, with Cape Wind detractors claiming the Coast Guard was attempting to stifle public review of the marine radar study.

The Coast Guard will delay by one month its recommendation on the advisability of the nation's first proposed offshore wind farm. It was not clear yesterday whether that will delay the key environmental review of Cape Wind ...Connie Terrell, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard, said yesterday that, in the wake of Oberstar's request, the Guard decided to solicit comments from the public for 30 days before releasing its recommendation. It will hold a public meeting in Falmouth on Thursday.

Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure at the time ...has used his new-found influence to delay the final federal environmental report on the proposal from Cape Wind Associates LLC to build 130 turbines in the Sound, thrusting himself into the controversial project's spotlight. Yesterday, the Coast Guard, at the behest of Oberstar, agreed to delay a recommendation regarding the project until at least Jan.

The chairman of the U.S. House committee that oversees the Coast Guard has asked that service to delay issuing a recommendation on the proposed Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound. U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minnesota, further said he is considering holding hearings on the issue, "given that any action taken on this project will set a precedent for all future offshore renewable energy projects."

Cape Wind Associates is about a month away from the Minerals Management Service issuing its Final Environmental Impact Statement on its plan to put up 130 wind turbines on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. The Minerals Management Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior was expected to release its Final Environmental Impact Statement at the end of December, but agreed to wait for the U.S. Coast Guard to make its final recommendation on the project, due this week.

Susan Nickerson, the executive director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, announced yesterday that she will leave that group to become executive director of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association. ...Nickerson said it was the right time to leave the alliance, which formed in opposition to Cape Wind's proposal to install more than 100 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. She said that the bulk of the alliance's environmental work related to the impact of the wind farm was done.

The Coast Guard has given conditional approval to the Cape Wind Associates plan to build a wind turbine farm on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. In a conference call Friday morning, Capt. Raymond Perry, captain of the port for southeastern New England, said his analysis of a study of the impact of the 130-turbine array on navigation shows those effects could be mitigated.

With just one commercial wind turbine, the town could bring in $10.4 million dollars over 20 years and not have to spend a cent to power its municipal buildings. ...The town's bylaws now limit residential and commercial turbines to 65 feet in height. The town would have to amend the bylaws to permit 200-foot-high residential turbines, and 400-foot-high commercial turbines, he said. And the town will have to deal with expected opposition from some townspeople who would not welcome turbines of this size. "There are people in town who are against this," Sexton said.

The wind turbine at Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School on Granite Street was idle for most of last week. Contractors were trying to repair a problem created when cables twisted as the turbine rotated to face the wind.