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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Interior Department seeks comments on wind energy projects off the Rhode Island coast

Public meeting scheduled for Monday in Narragansett
By Will Collette

The Interior Department plans to gather public input on the concept of major off-shore wind energy development off the south coast, especially in Block Island Sound.

While Department of Energy maps show less-than-encouraging potential for commercial-sized wind turbines on land, even right on the coast, the data shows great potential for harvesting wind energy in the off-shore waters.

 

 

Since wind energy has become so controversial – and in Charlestown, we certainly know about that – the Interior Department is proceeding cautiously by holding information and public input sessions, and asking for written comments as well.

 

Click here for the general news release from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

 

Click here for the fact sheet on wind energy in the waters off Rhode Island the southeast Massachusetts.

 

Public comments are due by August 2.

 

The Interior Department is also holding an informational meeting in Narragansett on Monday. I don’t have the details on the time and location yet, but will update this article as this information becomes available.

 

Barring unforeseen hitches, the Interior Department will conduct an auction for leases to stretches of ocean off our coast for wind energy development.

 

Though the Whalerock wind farm project is still in court, the odds of it ever actually getting built seem pretty slim, given the technological challenges to land-based wind farms, not to mention the embarrassing problem the Town of  Portsmouth is having with its system.

 

Then there is the stiffening resistance from local neighbors to new wind projects, of the kind that just recently killed Westerly's municipal wind proposal for Bradford

 

But there could end up being several hundred turbines in our waters, arrayed from Montauk Point to Cape Cod.