Salazar to meet with tribes over wind energy project

Environment

Friday, January 8, 2010

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will meet with the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe next Wednesday as part of an effort to address their concerns about a controversial wind turbine farm in Massachusetts.

Salazar set a March 1 deadline for the tribes, Cape Wind developers and other parties to reach a compromise. He said he will take into account the impact on tribal and historic resources when he makes a final decision on the project.

The wind farm has been in development for several years but tribal leaders said they have been ignored until recently. "Steps should have been taken long before this to take our views into account," Bettina Washington, the historic preservation officer for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe, told The Martha's Vineyard Times. "Instead, so far down the road, we finally are dealing with issues that should have been dealt with at least five years ago."

The tribes say the 440-foot-tall turbines that will be erected by Cape Wind will block their view of Nantucket Sound. They are also worried about the impact on sacred and cultural sites in the sound, which used to be dry land and features prominently in Wampanoag history.

Citing the tribal aspect, the National Park Service said this week that Nantucket Sound should be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Get the Story:
Ruling by Park Service Favors Tribes; Secretary Salazar Calls a Summit (The Martha's Vineyard Gazette 1/8)