Ritual to halt wind farm?

MASHPEE, Mass.

From a blustery perch over a Cape Cod beach, Chuckie Green gestures toward a stretch of horizon where he says construction of the nation’s first offshore wind farm would destroy his Indian tribe’s religion.

The Wampanoag - the tribe that welcomed the Pilgrims in the 17th century and known as “The People of the First Light” - practice sacred rituals requiring an unblocked view of the sunrise. That view won’t exist if 130 turbines, each over 400 feet high, are built several miles from shore in Nantucket Sound. They would be visible to the Wampanoag in Mashpee and on Martha’s Vineyard.

Tribal rituals, including dancing and chanting, are practiced at secret sacred sites around the sound at various times, such as the summer and winter solstices and when an elder passes.

The Wampanoags’ fight to preserve their ceremonies has become the latest obstacle - some say delay tactic - for a pioneering wind energy project that seemed at the cusp of final approval.

“We, the Wampanoag people, who opened our arms and allowed people to come here for religious freedoms, are now being threatened with our religion being taken away for the profits of one single group of investors,” Mr. Green said.

The Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag claim Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. The tribes say the designation, which would come with new regulations for activity on the sound, is needed to preserve not only their pristine views but also ancestors’ remains buried on Horseshoe Shoal, where the turbines would be built.

Cape Wind supporters say the tribes’ claim for a National Register listing for the sound is baseless and was sprung late, in league with the project’s most vociferous opponents, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

“I think this is clearly a tactic for delay, for delay’s sake,” said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for Cape Wind. “I think it’s fair to say, looking at the past eight years, that opponents to Cape Wind have tried every conceivable strategy to slow down or stop the project.”

Mr. Green bristles at the notion that the tribes, prodded by the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, are jumping in late just to gum up the works. Mr. Green and Audra Parker, the alliance’s executive director, said the alliance supports the Wampanoags’ claim, but didn’t engineer it.

Cape Wind, proposed in 2001 and expected to cost $1 billion, aims to provide up to 75 percent of Cape Cod’s power. Other offshore wind farm proposals are in earlier stages of development in several states, including Rhode Island, Delaware and Texas.

Cape Wind opponents say it would be a hazard to aviation, harm the environment, including fish and bird life, and mar historic vistas. The late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whose family compound would be in view of the project, fought the project until his death, saying it was a triumph of special interests over state interests.

A major decision on the Wampanoag claim is due within two weeks.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service, the lead agency reviewing the proposed wind farm, has recommended to Brona Simon, head of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, that the sound is not eligible for the National Register.

Miss Simon must decide by Nov. 12 if she disagrees. If so, the claim would be sent to the National Parks Service for a final ruling within 45 days.

Story Continues →