Family Life

07.28.09 | FL News Team

The first offshore wind farm could be coming to Cape Cod. The proposed Cape Wind project would feature spinning wind turbines on 130 towers located 440 feet above the surface of Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind would produce 420 megawatts of power, which would provide energy for 336-thousand homes. While awaiting approval by the Department of the Interior, project developers are busy trying to find more than one-billion dollars to complete Cape Wind in about two years' time. Developers in Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island have also proposed wind farms. Other possible future wind farm sites include off the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes region.

But the Cape Wind project is not without its opponents. One is Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy. He says the towers could be a risk to watercraft. Kennedy owns a home on the cape. While locals have endorsed the idea of Massachusetts leading the way in wind power production, many are concerned of Cape Wind's affect on tourism by the footprint the project would leave. Cape Wind proponents hint that some of the project's critics include wealthy owners of Cape Cod property who are afraid their ocean views would be marred.