Secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Ken Salazar sent a letter to acting inspector general Mary Kendall regarding an investigative report on the previous administration's handling of the Cape Wind permit application process in 2008 and early 2009.
Although the inspector general's report found that the final Cape Wind environmental impact statement (EIS) was not the subject of improper political influence or otherwise deficient, Salazar is directing deputy secretary David J. Hayes to work with interior solicitor Hilary Tompkins to review the report and provide recommendations to him regarding issues that are material to the DOI's upcoming Cape Wind decision.
In addition, Salazar is directing Hayes, and assistant secretary Wilma Lewis, to consider how the report's findings might further strengthen the newly established framework for offshore renewable energy development, finalized in April 2009.
Although the Cape Wind EIS was completed prior to, and independently of, the new framework, the new regulations will bring added clarity and certainty to the permitting of future offshore renewable energy projects, according to DOI.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of the Interior
