The Massashusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board opened hearings on Wednesday into the request by Cape Win Associates LLC for a composite permit for transmission lines that carry approvals on five state and four local permits. If Cape Wind secures the remaining permits and the almost inevitable legal challenge, the company will get to build its 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound.
The composite permit, if approved by the siting board, would allow the long-delayed wind turbine project to collapse whatever further wait is involved in obtaining the state and local permits.The company presented two expert witnesses: Craig Olmsted, the vice president for project development at Energy Management Corp. and the Cape Wind project manager, and Christopher Rein, senior vice president and principal of ESS Group, the lead environmental consultant on the wind farm project.
Excerpted from CapeCodToday.