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Project Overview
The MMS has received a request from
Cape Wind Associates, LLC (CWA) for a lease, easement or
right-of-way to construct and operate an offshore wind facility located in
Federal waters 4.7 miles offshore Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Horseshoe
Shoal in Nantucket Sound. Landfall for the transmission cable would be in
Yarmouth.
The proposal
consists of 130, 3.6 megawatt wind turbine generators
covering 24 square miles in federal waters offshore Massachusetts with the
capacity to produce about 468 megawatts. The average
expected production from the proposed wind farm could provide about 75
percent of the electricity demand
for Cape Cod and the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. At average
expected production, Cape Wind could produce enough energy to power more
than 200,000 homes in Massachusetts.
Project Status The Cape Wind Energy Project was proposed by
Cape Wind in November 2001. Prior to MMS’s involvement, the United States
Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) assumed the lead federal regulatory
role under the River and Harbors Act, and issued a draft Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) in November 2004. Following the Energy Policy Act of
2005, the MMS assumed lead federal responsibility and initiated its own
independent environmental review pursuant to the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA).MMS
published the Cape Wind draft EIS in January 2008 and the final EIS on
January 16, 2009 (see below). Currently the MMS is completing regulatory
obligations under the Clean Air Act (CAA) General Conformity and under
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Upon
completion of these processes, MMS will issue a decision on the project. If
there is a favorable decision, the MMS will issue a commercial lease to Cape
Wind Associates for construction, operation, and eventual decommissioning of
the proposed offshore wind facility.
On January 16, 2009
the MMS announced the release of the Final Environmental
Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Cape Wind Energy
Project. The FEIS assesses the physical, biological and
social/human impacts of the proposed project and all
reasonable alternatives, including a no-action
alternative (i.e., the project is not built), and
proposed mitigation. The FEIS is not a decisional
document, but rather an objective analysis conducted to
determine if the proposed project is environmentally
sound.
Note: Federal Register notices are
all in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF).
Note: NEPA documentations are in Portable Document Format
(PDF).
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Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. ("PAL") conducted an assessment of
the visual effects to nearby historic properties from the proposed Cape
Wind Energy project at Horseshoe Shoals. The "Visual Impacts Assessment"
or "VIA" identified a number of historic properties on Cape Cod,
Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard that fall within the area of potential
effect for visual effects and assesses the effect on these historic
properties. The VIA is referenced in the Revised Findings of Adverse Effect document. The two reports can be found here: