After 46 years in the U.S. Senate, the late Edward M. Kennedy now appears to be influencing government decisions from the grave. Yesterday Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced approval of the Cape Wind renewable energy project on federal submerged lands in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts. But the approval came with several concessions made to the concerns of the late Hyannis Port resident, who had sailed in the sound for decades. Kennedy and members of his family had been the most prominent influential coastal residents fighting the project.
"In a nod to the concerns of the Kennedys — and presumably other property owners in the area," the New York Times reported today, "Mr. Salazar said he had ordered Cape Wind to limit the number of turbines to 130 instead of the initial 170, to move the farm farther away from Nantucket and to reduce its breadth to make it less visible from the Nantucket Historic District." The statement released by the Interior Department said special care was taken to reduce the visual impact from "the Kennedy Compound Historic District."
The turbines will be painted off-white to reduce their contrast with the sea and sky, while still remaining visible to birds, and their lights be turned off during the day and dimmed more at night than originally planned, Salazar said.
Read the complete story at New American.