US House vote completes Congress' turnaround on Cape Wind bill

Washington (Platts)--27Jun2006

The US House approved without a dissenting vote a bill that would give
the Coast Guard final say over a wind farm planned in federal waters off
Massachusetts, completing a sharp turnaround by Congress. The bill will now
head to President Bush for his signature.

The measure agreed to by House and Senate negotiators in April had
contained a provision that would have effectively scuttled the landmark
project that Cape Wind Associates plans to build in Nantucket Sound.

But opposition to the bill from key senators and the Bush administration
forced lawmakers to take the rare step of revising the compromise legislation,
which had given Massachusetts' governor, an opponent of the project, a veto
over the 420-MW Cape Wind facility.

The House and Senate ultimately agreed to Massachusetts Democratic
Senator Ted Kennedy's proposal to replace the veto provision with one giving
the Coast Guard commandant the authority to determine whether the project
should get clearance from the government. The agency will work with the
Interior Department, which is responsible for energy and non-energy projects
on the Outer Continental Shelf.

The House on Monday and the Senate on June 22 passed a concurrent
resolution amending the bill, which authorizes Coast Guard operations.

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