The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) is preparing final comments to present to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar regarding its recommendations on historic preservation issues relating to the Cape Wind project that is proposed for Nantucket Sound, Mass.
The ACHP will hold a public meeting on March 22 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tilden Auditorium at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable, Mass. It will also accept written comments until March 29.
As a key part of this process, ACHP Chairman John L. Nau III has created a five-member panel to oversee the development of recommendations. The panel will review the case, make a site visit to the area and gather public comment before providing ACHP with final comments to Secretary Salazar no later than April 14. The members of the panel include Nau; Julie King, expert member; John L. Berrey, tribal/native Hawaiian member; Stephen T. Ayers, head of the Architect of the Capitol; and Linda Lawson of the Department of Transportation.
The action comes in the wake of Salazar's March 1 decision to terminate the Section 106 process of the National Historic Preservation Act. That provision requires federal agencies to consider the impacts of their actions or undertakings on properties listed, or eligible for listing, on the National Register of Historic Places.
The ACHP has 45 days to provide its final comments on historic preservation and Section 106 issues when termination of consultation occurs in a Section 106 case.
SOURCE: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
