On Tuesday, the Ocean Advisory Commission, which includes several Cape and Islands politicians and planners, will meet in Boston to discuss the state's draft ocean management plan. Released in July, the draft plan lays out where ocean projects should and should not be located.

Public hearings follow on the Cape and Vineyard mid-month for anyone who wants to comment on the plan's contents.

On Sept. 17 in Hyannis, the second annual Ocean Energy for New England Conference, hosted by the Marine Renewable Energy Center at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth will be held for those interested in planning for projects and the policies that make them possible.

And an Oct. 15 conference in Fall River on renewable energy technology will include information on the type of underwater turbines being considered for the Muskeget Channel project.

The conferences and the state's decision to designate areas off the Cape and Islands for renewable energy development are helpful in getting the public involved, Johnson said.

A final version of the state's ocean management plan is scheduled to be released Jan. 1. An area southwest of the Elizabeth Islands and Nomans Land — a small island three miles off Martha's Vineyard — appears appropriate for up to 170 wind turbines, according to the draft plan.

And, in Muskeget Channel there is enough tidal flow in some areas to generate electricity, said John Miller, director of the Marine Renewable Energy Center.

The renewable energy center is working with Edgartown as the town collects more data on the Muskeget Channel area in exchange for the opportunity to install a permanent stand to test technologies, Miller said. The center, he said, hopes to expand the testing area 30 miles to the south. The National Offshore Renewable Energy Innovation Zone would give researchers a location to test tidal, wave and wind-energy generation technology.

"People need to become more familiar with the technology ... how underwater turbines operate and how they might look," said Mark Forest, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., who has supported the Marine Renewable Energy Center and more planning for ocean waters.

While Delahunt is often painted as strictly an opponent of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, he has long called for a "time-out" on all such projects until proper federal and state planning can take place, Forest said.

Although generally pleased with the state's draft ocean management plan, local officials are watching closely to ensure state officials consider islanders' concerns.

"The big thing in our minds right now is the definition of 'community benefit,'" said David McGlinchey, executive director of the non-profit Vineyard Energy Project.

The term, a requirement for commercial and small-scale wind turbine projects built in the waters off the coast, is not clearly defined in the draft plan, McGlinchey said.

Next door on Nantucket, officials, who have worked with Edgartown on the Muskeget Channel project, have a broader array of concerns.

The omission from the plan of Nantucket's planning agency raised early alarm bells, said Andrew Vorce, director of the Nantucket Planning and Economic Development Commission.

While assurances by state officials that the island commission will have a voice in local developments are welcome, the waters around Nantucket are largely excluded as the site of potential projects because of bird habitat, Vorce said.

"The mapping of sea duck habitat is a concern for us," he said.
source: www.capecodonline.com