Yarmouth, Mass., would get wind farm windfall

The Boston Globe --Dec. 27

Like other Cape and Islands communities whose horizon could be forever altered by offshore windmills, Yarmouth is officially opposed to a wind farm in Nantucket Sound. The five-member Board of Selectmen in the mid-Cape town of 25,000 issued a unanimous, symbolic vote against the project two years ago; only one member elected since then supports the project.

But unlike those other communities, Yarmouth is set to reap a direct gain from the renewable energy project -- $9.5 million in taxes that the selectmen negotiated from the developer, Cape Wind Associates. This isn't hush money to buy the town's support, though: The agreement expressly allows Yarmouth officials to continue to loudly oppose the lucrative project.

"It's certainly money the town can use," said Suzanne McAuliffe, chairwoman of the selectmen. "But from my perspective, it's money that I don't care if we ever see."

The plan to build 130 wind turbines in a 24-square-mile area of Nantucket Sound has ignited fiery opposition from people who fear it will hamper fishing and boating and convert a pleasant beachfront into an industrial landscape. Underground transmission lines are necessary to deliver the power to the electric grid. Cape Wind Associates President Jim Gordon has proposed a nearly 6-mile route below Yarmouth streets as the most efficient.

So Yarmouth, where Gordon's mother lives, took a pragmatic view of a project the town will be powerless to block if it wins approval by the state: If Gordon builds it, the town collects.

"We don't have control over what's going to happen," McAuliffe said. "So we have to do what it takes to make it livable or tolerable."

In July 2003, the selectmen and Cape Wind quietly agreed on conditions for the construction of transmission lines. Cape Wind said it would avoid construction during summer tourism months, consider building an operations center in town, and coordinate construction with road repaving schedules.

Cape Wind also agreed to pay for the nuisance its work could pose to Yarmouth -- $25,000 to supervise road construction and $125,000 for improvements to nearby Englewood Beach. Each year, Cape Wind will pay $250,000 in lieu of taxes on the transmission lines -- 2 times its estimated annual tax bill of $100,000 -- plus $100,000 to the charity of the town's choice. The annual payments will rise with inflation, reaching about $9.5 million over two decades.

"When I saw that they got this agreement over 20 years, I thought it was a good thing that it would help reduce some of the taxes," said resident Evelyn J. Cave, who hopes library hours could be extended with the additional revenue. Cave was already a fan of the project, joining a group called Clean Power Now after she moved to South Yarmouth three years ago. Those who are bitterly opposed to the project seem unmoved by a financial offer.

"We absolutely believe and have never doubted that the Town of Yarmouth is one of the strongest opponents of any town on the Cape," said Ernie Corrigan, a consultant for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the group formed to oppose the wind farm.

Cape Wind's lone supporter on the Board of Selectmen, Daniel Horgan, has not faced reelection since he stated his position. He fears it will alienate him from residents. "I feel extremely exposed by taking the position that I've taken," he said. "But my concern about doing what I feel is in the best interests of the residents of Yarmouth and Cape Cod is overwhelming."

Cape Wind's agreement with Yarmouth is unusual because it doesn't stipulate that the town refrain from publicly opposing the project, said Ken Kimmell, the attorney who handled negotiations for the selectmen.

"We made it clear from the very beginning that we weren't going to negotiate whether the town officials were going to be able to continue to oppose the wind park," Kimmell said. The agreement even includes language forbidding anyone from equating the written agreement with town support.

Still, some believe Yarmouth approves of the project when they hear the developer talk about a local hurdle the project has already overcome, McAuliffe said.

"I've been told that at different hearings I'm not attending that it's been spun that 'everything's all set in Yarmouth,' " McAuliffe said. "Mr. Gordon has a tendency to present things in a sort of a way that favors his project."

Spokesman Mark Rodgers countered that Cape Wind is careful to avoid suggesting that the agreement constitutes support.

The Town of Barnstable, where the switching station would connect the transmission lines to the electric grid, may be the only other community with potential to collect revenue from the wind farm, which would be built in federal waters.

McAuliffe is frustrated that Cape Wind has not yet been required to supply a map showing where light oil would spread if 40,000 gallons stored in a transformer station in Nantucket Sound were to escape. Yarmouth would likely be the town hardest hit by such a spill, which the developer says is extremely unlikely.

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