The developers of the controversial Cape Wind energy project in Massachusetts offered $1 million each to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe but both tribes rejected the money.

Cape Wind said the payments would mitigate the impact of development on Nantucket Sound. They money was to be paid over 20 years.

"We would never consider selling our cultural landscapes at any price," Bettina Washington, the historic preservation officer for the Aquinnah Tribe, told The Martha's Vineyard Gazette.

The tribes say the 440-foot turbines proposed by Cape Wind will block their view of the sun and disrupt burial grounds and archaeological sites at Nantucket Sound. The sound was dry land that was occupied by Wampanoag ancestors.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wanted the parties to reach a compromise by March 1. But since nothing happened, he said he will make a decision on the project sometime in April.

Get the Story:
Tribe Spurns Offer From Cape Wind To Pay $1 Million (The Martha's Vineyard Gazette 3/5)

Relevant Documents:
Secretary Salazar Letter | Press Release

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