Cape & Islands News

Another CC Commission meeting on Cape Wind's cables

More questions about Cape Wind's transmission line
Decision from commission expected by Oct. 21

By Jack Coleman, capecodtoday reporter

BARNSTABLE VILLAGE - Once again, the Cape Cod Commission is seeking more information from Cape Wind Associates about the company's plans to build a 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

Commission subcommittee members who met Thursday for more than two hours with Cape Wind representatives requested more information on how two underground cables brought ashore from a Cape Wind transformer platform and connecting to a substation in Barnstable after passing through Yarmouth would affect local residents, water supplies and natural habitat.

Commission staff planners outlined their concerns about the cabling in a 29-page report released Sept. 4, two days before the commission opened its public hearing on the cabling aspect of the project.

10 hours over 5 days and countless questions 

The hearing that began on Sept. 6 was continued into the following day and ended on Sept. 10 after nearly 10 hours of public comment from local residents and officials on both sides of the Cape Wind divide.

A five-member subcommittee comprised of commission representatives from across the Cape is considering Cape Wind's proposal to connect its cables with the substation on the Cape. The subcommittee is expected to make a recommendation to the full commission for a vote expected by Oct. 21.

The extent of commission jurisdiction in the matter is disputed by Cape Wind, which contends that the state Energy Facilities Siting Board's approval in May 2005 of Cape Wind's application to connect to the regional grid, a decision made after a lengthy review process and which has withstood a legal challenge from the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, is binding on the commission.

Will meet again next Monday 

The commission subcommittee looking at the matter will meet next on Monday at 10 a.m. in the Assembly of Delegates Chamber at Barnstable District Court in Barnstable village.  The subcommittee, chaired by Elizabeth Taylor of Brewster, also includes Frank Hogan of Orleans, Alan Platt of Wellfleet, minority representative John Harris and Chuck Lockhart of Yarmouth.

Cape Wind agreed last week to extend the commission's review by two weeks to allow for a full commission vote by late October.

The 29-page report from commission staffers outlined where Cape Wind's application was "inconsistent" or did not provide sufficient information for 25 of 33 minimum performance standards.

If and when the Cape Wind project is approved, the cabling work through Yarmouth and into Barnstable between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. and would not take place during the tourist season between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, as dictated by the Energy Facilities Siting Board approval of two years ago.

One of the areas of concern discussed Thursday was the extent to which Cape Wind will have to restore open space by the underground cable work.

"We have agreed that open space is required," said subcommittee chairwoman Elizabeth Taylor. "We're just talking about how much."

Yarmouth Selectmen Chairwoman Suzanne McAuliffee expressed displeasure with Cape Wind for Yarmouth officials learning from the Energy Facilities Siting Board and not Cape Wind of changes to construction work planned by the company. Charles McLaughlin, an attorney for the town of Barnstable, complained to the commission that Cape Wind had not contacted the town about road work needed in Barnstable for a half-dozen streets, including the busy Mary Dunn Road.

Cape Wind offers 24/7 "hotline" 

Cape Wind has vowed to maintain a 24-hour hotline to field complaints from local residents affected by construction work needed for the underground cable work.
Both Cape Wind and the Alliance, its chief nemesis, have declined to state whether they will legally challenge an unfavorable commission decision, but litigation appears inevitable based on maneuvering by both during the commission's review.

At the outset of the public hearing on Sept. 4, Cape Wind attorney David Rosenzweig contended that the legal timeframe for the hearing had expired, a procedural point serving little purpose except to provide at least a partial basis for a legal challenge.

At the continued public hearing to follow on Sept. 10, the Alliance retained a stenographer to record a legal transcript of the proceedings.Jack Coleman is a capecodtoday reporter and editor who blogs about Cape Wind at Renewable Energy Revolution and worked last year as media adviser to the pro-wind farm Clean Power Now non-profit.