National Park Service Rules Nantucket Sound is Eligible for Listing on National Register
Decision Confirms Need to Deny Cape Wind or Relocate to a Less Conflicted Site
HYANNIS, Mass., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound applauds today's National Park Service (NPS) determination that Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The decision agrees with the Massachusetts top historic preservation officer's opinion that Nantucket Sound is culturally significant for two local federally recognized Native American tribes - the Mashpee Wampanoag and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gayhead (Aquinnah) - and overturns the opinion of the Minerals Management Service (MMS).
Previously, State Historic Preservation Officer, Brona Simon, determined that Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a traditional cultural place. Simon's office, the Massachusetts Historical Commission, found "considerable archaeological, historical and ethnographic information that substantiates Nantucket Sound is historically significant." The proposed Cape Wind project would disturb the Tribes' religious rights, cultural practices, and submerged ancestral burial grounds.
According to Audra Parker, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, "The National Park Service determination confirms the historic significance of Nantucket Sound and why this unique and threatened body of water deserves protection. The Sound is absolutely the worst location for a 25 square mile industrial scale wind plant, and the only effective means to mitigate the myriad adverse impacts is to deny the project or relocate it to a less conflicted site outside of Nantucket Sound."
From the outset of the Cape Wind review in 2001, the problem with this proposal is the location of the site chosen by and adhered to by the private developer. The 25 square mile project location in the center of Nantucket Sound would create a navigation hazard for boaters and airplane pilots, ruin productive fishing grounds, desecrate sacred Tribal land, endanger birds and marine life, and completely devastate the majestic beauty of Cape Cod and the Islands. This historic decision further confirms that MMS should exercise the leadership necessary to move Cape Wind to another less conflicted location that will be supported and not opposed by all of the stakeholders that depend on and value Nantucket Sound.
Media Contact: Audra Parker, 508-775-9767 / 508-280-9082
SOURCE The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound
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