Radio Ads to Call for Termination of Cape Wind Lease

windfarmHYANNIS – A radio ad campaign calling for the termination of Cape Wind’s lease will run throughout the summer across the Cape and Islands beginning today.

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound launched the campaign after Cape Wind recently sought to renew permits with the state to build transmission lines.

The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound’s President and CEO Audra Parker said the project remains viable as long as Cape Wind holds a lease.

“It’s good for 28 years,” she said. “Giving them the right to build for that length of time or even transfer the lease to another developer.”

National Grid and Eversource Energy, who was NStar at the time, terminated power purchase agreements with the Cape Wind project after construction deadlines were not met by December 31, 2014.

The terminations were believed to have derailed the project, but Parker said the fight is not over.

“We are definitely winning the fight to protect Nantucket Sound but Cape Wind has not given up,” she said. “There is probably no short-term threat, but in the long term, as long as they hold that lease, Nantucket Sound is still vulnerable.”

State permits allowing Cape Wind to build transmission facilities in the sound expired on May 15, but a temporary extension is in place while Cape Wind seeks a more permanent extension to resolve its financial issues.

The company is pursuing legal options to try to get the Eversource Energy and National Grid contracts back in place.

“It’s a new day on Nantucket Sound. The sun is a little brighter. The wind, a little fresher. The seas, a little calmer,” the ad will state. “Thank you for the support so many of you have given to the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind has been dealt a major blow.”

Parker said the goal of the ads is to remind the public, especially on the Cape and Islands that the threat to Nantucket Sound is still real.

The alliance, the town of Barnstable, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and numerous other plaintiffs have lawsuits pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. looking to terminate the lease.

Cape Wind officials did not return a call for comment.



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