Officials from the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs are likely to catch an earful from Martha's Vineyard residents tonight over the proposed Massachusetts Oceans Management Plan. The public hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School cafeteria. The draft plan severely limits the island's regulatory control over the development of renewable energy projects within three miles of shore. ...Madden said the chief architect of the oceans plan is Ian Bowles. "Ian Bowles is very pro-wind and he wants to see these things get done, and done quickly," Madden told the Gazette.

Officials from the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs are likely to catch an earful from Martha's Vineyard residents tonight over the proposed Massachusetts Oceans Management Plan.

The public hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School cafeteria.

The draft plan severely limits the island's regulatory control over the development of renewable energy projects within three miles of shore.

Specifically, the Martha's Vineyard Commission, the regional regulatory and planning agency, would have limited oversight of offshore wind and wave projects.

According to the Martha's Vineyard Gazette, the commission would be allowed to review the projects as developments of regional impact, but appeals of commission decisions would go to the state Energy Facilities Siting Board instead of taking the usual route to a superior court. The Energy Facilities Siting Board, which is stacked with political appointments, has the authority to overrule local or regional decisions.

Selectmen in all six Vineyard towns have opposed the draft plan. In response to the plan, the Martha's Vineyard Commission voted earlier this month to nominate the ocean waters around the island as a district of critical planning concern (DCPC). The nomination triggers an automatic building moratorium.

According to the Gazette, the building moratorium would continue for a year if the commission votes to approve the DCPC.

In an interview last week with Julia Wells of the Gazette, state Rep. Timothy Madden, D-Nantucket, called the draft plan a rush job that promotes the rapid development of wind power in coastal waters

"This was a very fast track and I am quite skeptical about the outcome," Madden said. "But there was a method to the madness."

Madden and Vineyard legislative liaison Nell Coogan said the original Oceans Act legislation, drafted more than two years ago, contained language protecting the powers of the Martha's Vineyard Commission, but at some point the language was removed.

Madden said the chief architect of the oceans plan is Ian Bowles.

"Ian Bowles is very pro-wind and he wants to see these things get done, and done quickly," Madden told the Gazette.

He also said the controversial Cape Wind project, which was in the pipeline long before the state oceans plan was drafted, has complicated the public process around the oceans plan. "Everything was so polarized already around Cape Wind that nobody was objective anymore," Madden said. "If Cape Wind wasn't already out there we would have been able to have a good, objective airing (of the oceans plan)."

Meanwhile, opposition continues to grow on the Vineyard, according to the Gazette. A delegation of island leaders, including a selectman from each town, a representative from the county and the Gay Head Aquinnah tribe, have asked for a meeting with Gov. Deval Patrick to protest the oceans plan.

The Martha's Vineyard Commission also has submitted 12 pages of critical comments on the draft plan.

By the end of tonight's meeting, we hope state officials get the message that the final oceans plan must give the Vineyard more direct involvement in the siting and approval of coastal renewable energy projects.

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