Cape Wind DEIS Has Issued!

The Corps of Engineers 4000 page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (click previous link to view) is now available to the public as reported in this article
Report boosts wind farm fortunes, Doreen Leggett, TownOnline, (11/11/04). At least one public hearing will follow as well as a public comment period before a final EIS is issued, possibly as early as the spring. The DEIS concludes that the project will have several positive impacts including less pollution and more jobs, and few, if any, adverse impacts to birds, fishing, tourism and property values. The report, does also note aestheric impacts - the turbines are visible by day and at night are illuminated by flashing lights.

The opinions of project opponents remain unaltered by the Corps' EIS. They claim that the Corps report relies too heavily on data generated by consultants hired by Cape Wind and continue to criticize the project for evading more programmatic review and bypassing payment for use of Outer Contintental Shelf lands.

From my own perspective, it seems that with the thumbs up from the Corps in the DEIS, it's going to be difficult for the project opponents to halt the project in the absence of legislative action (and that's going to prove difficult at this late point, now that the Corps has issued the DEIS). At some point, some of the opponents may decide that it might be preferable to negotiate mitigation measures instead of opposing the project outright. Time is running out for more more meaningful opposition.