CHATHAM --- Is wind power an important element in weaning the country away from its reliance on fossil fuels, or a boondoggle that will do nothing more than line the pockets of investors and power companies? And where does the proposed Cape Wind project fit into all of this?

Westborough, Massachusetts [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Evolution Markets LLC completed an auction of renewable energy certificates (RECs) for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC), a public economic-development agency that manages the state's Renewable Energy Trust, for an average price of $53.10 [per MWh].

EASTHAM — The town’s efforts to erect up to four 400-foot wind turbines in North Eastham were swept away by a mighty squall this week. At a public hearing held Monday by the planning board, more than 70 property owners successfully opposed bylaw that would have permitted the turbines’ construction on a town-owned, 12-acre site off Nauset Road. The planning board ultimately agreed to shelve the proposed bylaw regulating commercial turbines until the town had done at least another year’s worth of planning. However, members did vow to revise a residential turbine bylaw, in time for this spring’s Annual Town Meeting, that would regulate the conditions under which property owners could erect turbines. Overall, the atmosphere of the two-and-a-half-hour hearing was angry and accusatory on the public’s side, rife with allegations that the town — in particular, the ad hoc energy committee charged with developing a wind energy proposal — had not adequately studied potentially deleterious noise and environmental impacts that the commercial turbines would have on the abutting residential neighborhood.

Mayor John Bell, pushing a major private wind-power proposal, has committed his island city to a climate protection agreement aimed at reducing global warming. Bell announced the city would join 320 others across the country that have signed the agreement developed by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Chicago last year.

In March, Massachusetts Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles ruled that the project complies with the state's Environmental Policy Act, allowing Energy Management Inc. -- the company developing Cape Wind -- to pursue state permits. But Cape Wind is still waiting for a go-ahead from the federal government. Horseshoe Shoal, the shallow bank where the turbines and transformer platform would be located, is federally controlled. To lease that land, EMI has had to submit an extensive environmental impact study, detailing every stage of the project from construction to decommissioning. The Minerals Management Service, the lead federal agency responsible for assessing Cape Wind's environmental impact, is set to release its draft report later this summer, delaying the federal permitting process until at least 2008.

New England Energy Alliance Survey Finds Consumer Concern about Future Electricity Supplies, Desire to Choose Electricity Supplier and Support for Addressing Global Warming

If New England's nuclear energy plants had to be replaced by other non-emitting sources of electricity to meet the RGGI goals, the region would be looking at large-scale wind projects, with weather-dependent output, spread over some 650,000 acres of land or water at a cost of more than $10 billion.

Along with federal recognition comes a seat at the table for members of the Mashpee Wampanoag, who will have a voice in determining the future of a proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound. Members of the tribal council have made their views clear: While emphasizing support for alternative and renewable energy projects, they oppose Cape Wind Associates’ plans to build 130 turbines on Nantucket Sound. They’ve asked that alternative sites be considered.

As part of the environmental impact statement it is preparing on the proposed Cape Wind project, the U.S Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service is accepting written comments until July 14.

It doesn't matter which side you're on in the wind farm debate - because whether you're for it or against it everybody is sure to enjoy this hit musical that will have you tapping your feet and whistling aloud (not unlike the faint whistle of a well-oiled wind turbine!). Singing and dancing abound in this much, much larger than life theatrical production - with such songs as "Somewhere on the Horizon," "Four Hundred Feet High," "I'm Spinning Around in Circles for You," "Once Upon a Windy Shoal," and the show-stopping tune "Not in My Backyard!" Whatever you do, don't miss the finale - when two dozen piping plovers are released onstage ... and are then swiftly chopped to bits by the rotating propeller blades! Pure, clean, fossil fuel free fun for the whole family from start to finish!

Efforts to put a wind turbine on the campus of Holy Name Central Catholic Junior Senior High School earned a major boost last week with the award of $575,000 from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The grant will cover a big chunk of the project’s $1.6 million cost, and Stephen A. Perla, superintendent of the Diocese of Worcester Catholic Schools, says he is optimistic about raising the remaining $1 million.

Maurizio Caparrotta is proposing what would be another pioneering effort for the state, a $57 million, 12-turbine, 24 megawatt wind farm to be built in Douglas. His brother, who is president of Weymouth real estate development company Seven Hills Corp., is helping negotiate the permitting process.

MATTAPOISETT - There will be no wind turbine off Brandt Island Road, due to the Mattapoisett Wind Power Committee's decision that it would not be economically viable. The committee voted last week to not pursue a feasibility analysis for a turbine because data from the meteorological tower in the area indicated it would require two turbines in order to generate enough electricity to break even. "It does not make economic sense to pursue that," said Selectman Jordan C. Collyer, who is also a wind power committee member. "We don't have room there for two turbines anyway. It just wasn't going to be worth the effort."

Massachusetts Senate leaders have drafted an energy bill that drops a House amendment to open Buzzards Bay and other ocean sanctuaries to what critics say would be unlimited renewable energy development. The amendment, which was backed by House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, would directly benefit a proposal by Boston developer Jay Cashman to build up to 120 wind turbines in Buzzards Bay. His proposal is being reviewed by the state. Individual senators could always move to amend the bill to include the House's proposal, but Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, doubted it would end up in the Senate's final energy package.

A major report just released in Denmark finds negligible impacts to birds, fish and mammals from the two largest offshore wind farms in the world at Horns Rev and Nysted.
Editor's Note:Jack Coleman is a freelance writer, editor, blogger and former media adviser to the pro-wind farm Clean Power Now non-profit based in Hyannis. A link to the original report is available at the end of this article.

MARSHFIELD - The wastewater treatment plant on Joseph Driebeck Way and the school complex off Forest Street are the best potential sites for what would be Marshfield’s first wind turbine. But the wind turbine generator study committee still has some work to do before it recommends one or two locations, members told selectmen last night. ‘‘The best economic payback is if you can locate the wind turbine generator inside a large area and consume power,’’ said member David Carriere, a public works department engineer. Committee members said having a turbine at the wastewater treatment plant would give the town the biggest bang for the buck, because electricity from the generator could directly supply the plant 24 hours a day.

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.

Hull officials are moving ahead with plans to build four offshore wind turbines capable of producing enough electricity to power the town. An application filed last month with the state calls for erecting four power-generating windmills on a shoal known as Harding’s Ledge, roughly 1.5 miles east of Nantasket Beach. ‘‘This would be the first offshore series of wind turbines in the country,’’ Hull Town Manager Philip Lemnios said. ‘‘We had such a favorable response to our two land-based turbines, the townspeople are pursuing the offshore options.’’

BOSTON — Sixty-nine state legislators have signed a letter to Congress in opposition to a proposed federal amendment that would allow the Massachusetts governor to veto the Nantucket Sound wind farm.

A day of legal wrangling was punctuated with a victory yesterday for a small religious community that took on a massive communications company for a dream to build a monastery and wind farm in Paxton. The Community of Teresian Carmelites, based at 30 Chrome St., officially signed paperwork to acquire 99 acres of undeveloped land on Asnebumskit Hill, where it plans to build a "green monastery" that will serve as a center of social teaching.