Cape Wind MMS DEIS Comments
Since the Cape Wind Project was first proposed, in 2001, the importance of addressing global warming, and the importance of significantly increasing the use of renewable energy toward that end, have become even more apparent.
Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast, a report issued in July by UCS and more than 50 scientists and economists, details how global warming could seriously harm the northeastern United States.
The report spells out clearly the consequences for Massachusetts and the rest of New England if we do not responsibly address climate change. “[I]f global warming emissions continue to grow unabated,” the report concluded, “Massachusetts can expect dramatic changes in climate over the course of this century, with substantial impacts on vital aspects of the state’s economy and character.”
Along with projecting severe impacts based on important sectors of the Northeast, the report shows that the majority of the consequences are avoidable. We have a choice in the emissions path we take, and in the extent and effect of climate change. Choosing a lower-emissions path to avoid the worst outcomes requires beginning immediately to implement a broad array of solutions—in transportation, in our buildings, in the agriculture sector, and in our use of energy—to reduce the U.S.’s global warming pollution on the order of 80 percent by mid-century.
By developing its renewable energy resources, the region can begin to mitigate the climate change risks and damage caused by coal, oil, and natural gas. Renewable energy is the only source of indigenous power available in New England, and offshore wind may offer the greatest potential for renewable energy development in Massachusetts.
UCS believes that wind and other carbon-reducing projects like Cape Wind should be permitted unless rigorous review and study shows significant environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated and that outweigh project benefits. We believe that with proper siting, careful design, comprehensive study, monitoring, and mitigation, wind power can and must play a significant role in this region’s electricity system.
Specifically, in its Final Environmental Impact Statement MMS should:
- discuss the important price-suppression effects of Cape Wind.
- correct the understatement of Cape Wind’s projected global warming reductions.
- include the value of Cape Wind as a precedent in its discussion of the project’s global warming reduction potential.
- more clearly state the global warming impacts of the “no-action alternatives”.
- more clearly state the environmental justice implications of the “no-action alternatives”.
- include the negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the “smaller project alternative”.
- discuss the negative financial consequences for New England consumers of the “no-action” and “smaller project” alternatives.
- reconsider its single use of the term “major”.
- provide guidance on managing any additional environmental effects.
