January 5, 2010
Source: USA TODAY
The Obama administration is stepping into the nine-year battle over a proposed wind farm off Nantucket after the National Park Service declared the area as eligible for listing as a historic site because of submerged archaeological areas sacred to Wampanoag tribes, The Boston Globe reports.
The tribes claim that putting up the 130 windmills would degrade their view of the ancestral area and disturb the land.
For example, the sacred rituals of the Wampanoags, "The People of the First Light," require an unblocked view of the sunrise.
Supporters and environmentalists have clashed for years over the project, which would be the country's first large offshore wind farm, the Offshore Wind blog notes.