Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he expects to make a decision on a controversial wind turbine project in Massachusetts by the end of the year.

The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe oppose the Cape Wind project. The tribes say the 440-foot-tall turbines planned for the site will obstruct their view of Nantucket Sound and disrupt sacred sites.

"We consider the unobstructed view of Nantucket Sound as a traditional cultural property for us,” Bettina Washington, historic preservation officer for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe, told The Boston Herald. “That’s where we greet the dead, and where the sun rises. Once the view is destroyed, it will be gone forever.”

The tribes want the National Park Service to place Nantucket Sound on the National Register of Historic Places, a move that could slow development.

Get the Story:
Mass. tribes fume over Cape wind (The Boston Herald 11/3)
US Interior Secy Sees Cape Wind Decision By Year-End (The Wall Street Journal 11/2)

Related Stories:
Editorial: Reject tribal claim on wind turbine site (11/2)
Massachusetts tribes fight wind farm project (10/5)
Obama declined Aquinnah Wampanoag meeting (08/31)
Letter: Tribal opposition to wind energy project (07/16)
Massachusetts tribes oppose wind turbine site (7/15)
NYT Blog: Salazar on Indian Country rights-of-way (03/25)