A Long and Windy Road

Compromise in Congress keeps Cape Wind project above water

The beleaguered Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound is keeping its head above water, thanks to good old-fashioned compromise. A provision to allow the Massachusetts governor to veto the planned wind project was holding up a Coast Guard reauthorization bill in Congress; a new version of the legislation drops the governor veto and gives the Coast Guard authority to mandate "reasonable" changes if the project is judged a navigational hazard. The Coast Guard has already reviewed the project and raised no major objections, but will look more closely in the next several months. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), an outspoken opponent of the wind farm, helped to craft the compromise legislation; he has claimed the project is a government handout to the developer, and denied that the view from his family's oceanfront property has anything to do with his opposition. If completed, Cape Wind's 130 turbines could power up to 400,000 homes in the Cape Cod area.