The Minerals Management Service (MMS), a department of the U.S. Department of the Interior, issues its 2,800 page Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on Cape Wind, the wind project proposed for development off the coast of Massachusetts. The FEIS confirms that the project will create new jobs, increase energy independence and fight global warming while being a good neighbor to the ecosystem of Nantucket Sound. From the MMS FEIS:
- Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound is environmentally and economically superior to the alternative site locations that were studied.
- Cape Wind will reduce regional air pollution emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury, pollutants that harm human health.
- Cape Wind will reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change by 880,000 tons per year.
- Building Cape Wind will create hundreds of jobs and generate over a half-billion dollars in non-labor purchases in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
- Cape Wind will not increase energy prices in New England and could help to lower energy clearing prices.
Cape Wind will help Massachusetts achieve its renewable energy requirements under the State'sRenewable Portfolio Standard. Cape wind will have no major impacts on navigation, fishing, or tourism. Now that the MMS has issued the FEIS, its Record of Decision on granting a lease to Cape Wind could come within 30 days. According to the MMS FEIS its, "final decision would account for the regional, state, and local benefits and impacts as well as for the overall public interest of the United States."
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