Finalizing Decision Would Send World Strong Message on U.S. Clean Energy Commitment, Says Chairman Markey

WASHINGTON (November 9, 2009) – With less than a month before pivotal international climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen, Denmark, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) today urged the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to complete a decision on the Cape Wind energy project before those negotiations occur, saying it would send a strong signal to the world that the United States is committed to advancing carbon-free clean energy.“Approving the Cape Wind project as the nation’s first commercial offshore wind project before the start of the U.N. conference would send a strong message to international negotiators about the United States’ commitment to developing sources of clean energy and reducing global warming pollution,” said Rep. Markey, Chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and co-author of the Waxman-Markey climate and clean energy legislation, in the letter. “I strongly support the development of clean, renewable energy, and I believe that wind projects both onshore and offshore hold tremendous promise for our nation and for New England.”

The Interior Department has already completed the environmental review of the Cape Wind project, which Markey notes in the letter is “the bedrock on which valuable and safe energy projects are built.” In the letter, Rep. Markey commends the Obama administration for also “finalizing the regulations for all offshore renewable energy projects on which the Bush administration had dragged its feet for more than three years.”

“With the Obama administration's initiatives and the additional clean energy legislation currently pending before Congress, the tide has turned from the near total focus on fossil fuel extraction towards a comprehensive plan that includes the clean energy promise of the winds and the tides. Approving the Cape Wind project would be another important step towards a clean energy future,” Rep. Markey concludes.

The letter can be viewed here: http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/letters?id=0040#main_content

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