Cape Wind filed an Initial Petition with the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board on November 21st, for a Certificate of Environmental Impact and Public Interest. The move comes after the October 19, 2007 denial regarding Cape Wind’s proposed transmission lines by the Cape Cod Commission. Cape Wind’s filing will initiate a review by the Siting Board of the Cape Cod Commission’s decision.

Cape Wind believes the Cape Cod Commission’s decision was flawed and contrary to the public interest and inconsistent with the previous decision of the Siting Board to approve Cape Wind’s electrical interconnection. The Cape Cod Commission’s action stands in sharp contrast to its decision, during the very same time period, to waive any review of a substantially similar electric cable crossing the same body of water to serve the Island of Nantucket.

Cape Wind President Jim Gordon said, “With oil approaching $100 per barrel and calls from the scientific community to take action on climate change now, there is growing urgency to deliver the economic and environmental benefits of Cape Wind and we hope our filing today will help make that happen.”

In 2005, the Siting Board approved Cape Wind’s electrical interconnection at the conclusion of a 32-month review of unprecedented length that included 2,900 pages of transcripts, 923 exhibits and 50,000 pages of documentary evidence. The Siting Board found that Cape Wind would meet an identified need for electricity and would provide a reliable energy supply for Massachusetts, with a minimum impact on the environment at the least cost. The Siting Board’s approval of Cape Wind’s electrical interconnection was upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. More recently, on March 29, 2007, Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian A. Bowles certified that Cape Wind’s environmental impact report on the proposed transmission lines adequately and properly complied with the statutory requirements of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act.

The Siting Board was created by the Legislature to ensure the siting of needed, least cost and least environmental impact energy facilities. The Siting Board also has the statutory authority to grant a comprehensive approval to an energy facility it has previously approved, where that facility has been denied a permit by any other state or local agency in the Commonwealth.

The Siting Board will conduct its review over the next several months to determine whether Cape Wind should be granted the requested Certificate.