After being held up for nearly a decade due to conflicts over the economical benefits and potential environmental harms, the Cape Wind project will become the nation’s first offshore wind farm.

Cape Wind will consist of 130 wind-powered turbines that will be placed in the Nantucket Sound. This has sparked opposition from homeowners and environmentalists, and has played a role in the nine year delay of the project. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, stationed in Hyannis, Mass., said the turbines’ rotors could cause a catastrophic amount of kills in some of the six million birds that migrate through the region. Others have said that the fishermen working in the South Cape will be put out of business.

Also opposed to the project are leaders of the Wampanoag Indians, who have said that the turbine blades would destroy sunrise views that are essential for prayer ceremonies.

The late Senator Ted Kennedy also fought against this project’s development for many years. I am sure he had good reason, I mean, the turbines would be visible from the Kennedy family compound in Hyannisport. Not a pretty site, I would imagine.