Wampanoag tribes challenge wind energy project
Friday, November 13, 2009
Filed Under:
Environment
The
Aquinnah Wampanoag
Tribe and the
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe are hoping to block a controversial wind energy project.
The tribes say the 440-foot-tall turbines that will be erected by
Cape Wind will block their view of Nantucket Sound. They are also worried about the impact on sacred and cultural sites in the sound, which used to be dry land and features prominently in Wampanoag history.
"The very meaning of ‘Wampanoag’ rendered in English as the phrase ‘People of the First Light or Dawn’ refers to their relationship to Nantucket Sound . . . is both temporally literal — they have always been/are/will be the first people to see the sunrise over the water — and symbolically referential: they are of the place, it is how they identify themselves and how others know them," the
Massachusetts Historical Commission said in a recent opinion
The opinion says Nantucket Sound should be listed on
National Register of Historic Places, a designation that could prevent the Cape Wind project from moving forward.
Get the Story:
Tribe Scores a Key Win In Fight Over Cape Wind
(The Martha's Vineyard Gazette 11/13)
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Letter backs Massachusetts
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Interior
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Editorial: Reject tribal claim on wind turbine site
(11/2)
Massachusetts tribes fight wind
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Obama declined
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Letter: Tribal opposition to wind energy
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NYT
Blog: Salazar on Indian Country rights-of-way (03/25)
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