The Bush administration has weighed in against a plan advancing in the U.S. Congress that would empower the Massachusetts governor to block the nation's first offshore wind farm from being built in Nantucket Sound.
David Garman, U.S. Undersecretary of Energy, said provisions in the $8.7 billion Coast Guard reauthorization bill that would empower Governor Mitt Romney to block the $900 million project are "unwise" because the New England region needs new energy supplies.
A House-Senate bargaining committee last month included a provision in the funding bill that would allow Romney to block a plan by Cape Wind Associates LLC to put 130 giant wind turbines near the tony resort islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.
Romney, a Republican, is an outspoken opponent of the project, as is U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat, and many wealthy residents who own coastal property and belong to exclusive yacht clubs in the area.
Backers say the project could generate enough electricity for most of Cape Cod and nearby islands.
Garman said blocking the wind farm would have a "chilling impact" on the administration's goal of expanding renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
Lawmakers should strip out the measure before they send the Coast Guard funding bill to President George W. Bush to be signed into law, Garman said. The House could take up the funding bill next week, and the Senate would likely act after that, aides said.
Garman's letter was released on Friday, a day after the two top lawmakers on the Senate Energy Committee said they will oppose final passage of funding bill in the Senate because it would block the 400 megawatt project.
Blocking the wind farm would set "a terrible precedent," said Sen. Pete Domenici, New Mexico Republican. , who said he will oppose the plan along with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico Democrat.
"To invent a new regulatory process designed simply to deliver a negative result would chill future investment in renewable energy," Bingaman said.
An odd alliance has formed to block the project, including the liberal Kennedy and two conservative Alaska Republicans -- Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
On a clear day, the windmills would be visible from many of the area's resort homes, including the Kennedy family compound in Hyannisport six miles away.
Studies show the area has some of the strongest, most consistent wind in the eastern United States. At peak output, the project would generate more than 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to meet the needs of some 400,000 homes on Cape Cod and the nearby islands.
The Cape Wind project is being developed by privately held Energy Management Inc. of Boston.