May 8, 2013 — The state's top environmental and energy official said today he's “absolutely convinced” that the South Terminal in New Bedford will be the primary staging area for Cape Wind, despite the offshore wind farm's developers exploring other options in Rhode Island.
The port project, also known as the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, was announced in 2010 as a coup for the SouthCoast fishing port that would bring hundreds of immediate and long-term jobs to the city. Since then, Cape Wind developers have met with officials in Rhode Island to discuss the possibility of using the port of Quonset, in North Kingstown, R.I., for some staging work.
“I am absolutely convinced that New Bedford will be the primary staging port for Cape Wind and future developments that are not Cape Wind related,” Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard Sullivan told the State House News Service.
Sullivan testified before the House Bonding Committee, chaired by New Bedford Democrat Rep. Antonio Cabral, on the Patrick administration's $911 million bond bill for environmental and energy capital spending that includes roughly $24 million for the South Terminal project.
The new port is expected to cost $100 million, including permitting and design, construction, the dredging of the harbor and environmental remediation and mitigation to clean the polluted waters of the harbor and reseed the impacted shellfish population.
Sullivan said the project is on a tight 19-month construction cycle to meet the timetable for Cape Wind for the start of 2014, but said he understands why Cape Wind officials would be exploring contingency options should any part of the project not go “perfectly” and get delayed.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times