Huffington Magazine Issue 39 | Page 41

AP PHOTO/STEPHAN SAVOIA SINKING IN BUREAUCRACY where from Maine to New Jersey: Horseshoe Shoal. The shoal itself was sandy and shallow — generally less than 45 feet deep — which makes anchoring the turbines to the seabed easier, and the entirety of the 25 square mile project area, surrounded by the cape to the north, the islands of Martha’s Vineyard to the west, and Nantucket Island to the east, would be protected from the often punishing, 50-foot swells of a stormy North Atlantic sea. HUFFINGTON 03.10.13 Sending the power generated by the giant turbines back to shore would be a relatively simple affair via undersea cables, and unlike the multiplying land-based turbines in the windy midsection of the country from West Texas to Nebraska and the Dakotas, Cape Wind would be comparatively close to the power-hungry metropolitan areas of the Northeast — another advantage, supporters noted. All of the turbines would also be at least five miles away from coastal properties — a sufficient distance, the developers had hoped, to avoid undue imposition on residents and Mark Rodgers, communications director for Cape Wind, stands on a beach 6.5 miles away from the patch of water where 130 wind turbines would be built.