Governor: Wind farm’s in

Officially, feds must still OK massive Cape project

The fix is in for Cape Wind, the controversial plan to build 400-foot-tall wind turbines in Nantucket Sound, and you can take Gov. Deval Patrick’s word for it.

“We expect to have federal approval in the next few weeks,” Patrick told representatives from major energy and construction firms, including Iberdola, Hunt Oil and Gas and Bechtel Power Corp., a subsidiary of the Big Dig manager.

Patrick was speaking yesterday at a so-called Cape Wind Contractors Convention to businessman who came from as far away as Singapore to hear about how to cash in on the $1.6 billion, publicly subsidized, clean energy project.

The only problem is that, publicly at least, federal approval of Cape Wind is seriously in doubt.

U.S. Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar had told all the interested parties that he is weighing the merits of the controversial project, which is opposed by Native Americans as well as many Cape neighbors, and expects to have some sort of resolution by March 1.

In fact, state and federal agencies have recently determined that the 25-mile swath where developer Jim Gordon wants to build 130 wind turbines qualifies as tribal cultural property.

That means the two Wampanoag tribes that oppose Cape Wind are supposed to have a voice in federal deliberations about it.

In an ominous sign to Patrick, Massachusetts voters also just chose Cape Wind critic Scott Brown over Cape Wind supporter Martha Coakley for U.S. Senate.

Brown’s predecessor, interim Sen. Paul D. Kirk - who took over for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, also a project foe - recently fired off an anti-Cape Wind letter to Salazar.

“What truly offends the principles of good governance is the highly irregular and irresponsible way that (the U.S. Mineral Management Service) has behaved throughout the Cape Wind review,” Kirk wrote, referring to the push for federal approval of the project.

Because Cape Wind could receive as much as $1 billion in taxpayer subsidies, the federal government must make sure that the project complies with the law, Kirk said.

But those subsidies weren’t something Patrick, who has accepted political donations from Gordon and other Cape Wind backers, wanted to discuss yesterday.

In fact, details on project costs and the cost of electricity produced by Cape Wind have been hard to come by.

When asked by the Herald if he’s looking out for the taxpayers’ interests in what some critics say is a developer’s boondoggle, Patrick just walked away.