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.
