Yesterday, OREC sent out an action alert to our 500 person mailing list, asking for action to oppose an amendment by Congressman Don Young to the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act that would sink the Cape Wind offshore wind project and set dangerous precedent for any other offshore renewable project proposed in the United States.
As our email explained, the Young Amendment would prevent construction of offshore wind farms located less than 1.5 miles from shipping lanes, impose additional standards of review by the Coast Guard on offshore wind facilities and preclude any offshore wind development until such standards are in place. Young's letter in support of the amendment offers further detail, but as a thorough counter-letter by Cape Wind bears out, Young's position is full of inconsistencies. For example, the 1.5 mile barrier is far more stringent than barriers imposed for oil and gas or for offshore renewables in the UK or other countries. And the Coast Guard already has regulations in place for reviewing impacts of offshore renewables on shipping, so added standards are not necessary. Essentially, as the Cape Wind letter points out, the Young Amendment is nothing more than an attempt to have Congress override the environmental review of the Cape Wind Projects undertaken by multiple agencies merely because a few well connected constituents oppose the Cape Wind Project.
The Young Amendment would set a dangerous precedent for several reasons. First, destroying the first proposed offshore wind project in the United States will set the nascent offshore renewable industry back several years. Second, the Young Amendment would lay the ground for Congress to disapprove future projects approved through a fair environmental review process anytime a single interest group opposes the project. As a result, developers would be able to attract investment when permit decisions are subject to ad hoc reversal. Finally, the Young Amendment could eventually be expanded in scope to apply not just to offshore wind but offshore wave as well.
We urge you to visit the Cape Wind site and follow the directions contained in the press release to register your opposition to the Young Amendment.
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