MMS Gathering Comments on Cape Wind and Programmatic EIS

MMS has been busy with activities relating to its Renewable Energy Program for the Outer Continental Shelf. As this article,
End nears for Cape Wind comment (Cape Cod Times 7/5/06), MMS has taken over lead licensing responsibility for the Cape Wind Project from the Corps of Engineers and has sought additional comments on an MMS EIS.

And during May and June, MMS held a number of scoping sessions on a programmatic EIS on offshore renewables on the Outer Continental Shelf, as reported in this article (Cape Code Today, May 20, 2006). I was quoted as follows in the article:

Carolyn Elefant, CEO and legislative director of the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition, told CCT she represents a small, year-old trade association of ocean energy technologies other than wind.

"We are representing about sixteen entities, including a few law firms and several companies or developers in some cases ready to proceed," Ms. Elefant said. "We have wave energy project developers from the UK, an American firm looking at marine current turbines (basically, an underwater, slow-moving rotating 'propellor' that harvests energy from ocean currents), and a very small project using small buoys that produce energy from wave motion."
"Our concern, and the reason we generally support the way MMS is going about its process, is that we have to be sure that potential offshore energy sites are licensed to the best use for that site," Ms. Elefant said.
"For example, if a technology used in a particular project can develop only five megawatts, and another technology at that site might produce more energy or involve less risk to the environment, we believe this should be taken into account when site licenses are granted," she said.