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The construction of the Cape Wind project could start by the end of the year, the U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told the Associated Press in an interview.
Cape Wind, a USD 2.6 billion offshore wind project in Massachusetts, has been delayed for more than a decade due to environmental and financial issues.
Mr. Salazar said that nobody had actually focused on offshore wind energy until President Obama came into office. “Cape Wind wasn’t even processed under the authority of this department. They ended up in this morass where it took them 10 years to work through that process,” he told the AP.
He said that great progress has been made with regulatory improvements and designation of wind energy zones, which brought U.S. offshore wind development to reality and can help other offshore wind projects follow more quickly.
[mappress]
Offshore WIND Staff, April 10, 2013; Image: doi